help support the most conservative online site
donate today!
Posted on 07/02/2013 12:10:48 PM PDT by thackney
Duh. Thinking people have known this for a long time. Cradle to grave, electric cars are NOT more environmentally friendly than internal combustion cars.
Plus, if only one third of the people in your neighborhood/my neighborhood suddenly bought an electric vehicle, the current infrastructure for charging these things would be woefully inadequate.
How do you get to post more than three hundred words??????
HerrBlucher ~:” Duh. Thinking people have known this for a long time. Cradle to grave, electric cars are NOT more environmentally friendly than internal combustion cars.”
Most people’s simplistic thoughts about electric cars; sorta like thinking that all “ milk comes from a milk jug “.
They never think about it logicaly.
My understanding is that current batteries are woefully inefficient as ‘power storage units’.
I recall a statement that it takes 16 -18 times the power in order to load electrical power into a battery ,
and that electric generation has to come from some source (natural gas , coal , hydro, wind, solar ).
There is no free ride. The energy to push a car must come from somewhere. In an electric car, it comes from the batteries. The batteries get their energy from electricity. The electricity gets its energy from a generating station, which gets its energy from coal/oil or some other fossil fuel.
Every conversion of energy involves a loss of energy, in the form of heat.
This is obvious to someone who last took physics in high school.
Making the batteries involves an energy cost. Disposing of them when they fail (inevitable) involves a cost.
IEEE Spetrum, and many other sources, do not require excerpting.
or rather IEEE “Spectrum”, when spelled correctly...
These are, of course, elements not compounds.
It’s not about efficiency, saving fuel, cleaning the air or saving the planet. It’s about feeling morally superior while driving around in an electric vehicle.
Even when they are telling you that the Electric Car’s greenness is mythical they can’t help but tell you that some other nanny state restrictions on freedom will make everything all better.
Should have “Compounds made from”...
I ran all the numbers once, and if I remember aright the electric cars were something like 20% more efficient just going down the road.
Yup. Though copper is often used as an element.
Their wind/rolling resistance may be 20% less than that of vehicles not specifically-designed for peak performace in those areas, but they also have a lot of losses in getting the electrical energy from where it’s generated to where it ultimately goes into the battery.
That, and wanting everyone who sees you to know you’re morally superior.
“I recall a statement that it takes 16 -18 times the power in order to load electrical power into a battery”
No, it’s nowhere near that bad. There are losses in the generating, transmission, and charging stages, but as the article states, even with those the electric cars are still about on par, or slightly better than gasoline powered cars. Most modern gasoline powered cars manage only about 25% thermal efficiency (diesels are quite a bit better). Thermal generating stations (coal, oil, natural gas) can manage close to 50% thermal efficiency in generating electricity, although most of that advantage is subsequently lost in (as mentioned) transmission and charging losses. Plus electricity can be generated from relatively non-polluting and/or renewable resources, such as wind, solar, nuclear, etc (although the latter 2 of those typically have some major issues as grid electricity sources).
The major problem with electric cars, as I see it, is that they just aren’t as practical or flexible as internal-combustion powered cars. Heavy, limited storage space (as the battery packs take up quite a bit a room) and limited range (that’s the big one, and not close to being economically solved, yet). Plus there’s little environmental benefit in them, and they cost more - so what’s the point?
Ack.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.