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Will Electric Cars Crash The Grid?
IBD Editorials ^ | August 14, 2009 | INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY

Posted on 08/14/2009 6:55:25 PM PDT by Kaslin

Conservation: The Chevy Volt is said to be able to get 230 miles per gallon. That's if it's continually plugged into a fragile and overburdened power grid. Where will you be when the lights go out?


The folks at GM, now affectionately known as Government Motors, have made this astounding claim. Before you drive one off the lot, you should read the fine print. Chevrolet's caveat is that this assumes "a Volt driver (will) plug into the electric grid once each day" to get "40 miles of electric-only, petroleum-free driving."

That depends on where you live, according to Adam Victor, president of TransGas Energy, who has been fighting with the city of New York and its resident Nimbys to build an environmentally friendly natural gas cogeneration facility in Brooklyn to generate electricity these cars might plug into.

Writing in the New York Post, he notes that in much of the nation, particularly in flyover country, many utilities use heavy fuel oil to generate that electricity. So the more electric cars you plug into the grid, we may actually be increasing pollution and carbon emissions by using oil that's not included in miles-per-gallon computations.

As Victor puts it, "If a few thousand well-meaning dupes plug a few thousand new Chevy Volts into electrical outlets (especially in urban centers), you could actually add millions of pounds of dangerous, dirty unregulated pollution and carbon into the air we breathe — possibly more pollution than would be offset by putting the Volts on the road."

(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: chevyvolt; electriccars; energy; ibd; powergrid
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To: webboy45

I’m amazed at the knee jerk reaction on a conservative forum to this. Generating electricity with oil or nat gas may be silly, but the major sources (coal, nuclear, hydro) are great and we can build more coal and nuke plants. There are huge economies of scale involved. If the United States of America can’t beef up the electrical grid to handle electric cars then we are in trouble.

I would like my FRiends to consider how great it would be if these cars become cost-efffective. Islamic extremists could see what they could peddle their dinosaur fluid for then.


21 posted on 08/14/2009 7:12:29 PM PDT by MoTiger
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To: Kaslin

It is not likely electric cars will crash the grid. Most of the charging can be timed for off peak hours. The increase in demand (mostly off peak) will be very gradual taking decades to be realized. Power companies will be able to run their hardware at a more constant load thereby increasing efficiency , and profit. Right now the batteries suck so the cars will probably suck too.


22 posted on 08/14/2009 7:14:37 PM PDT by rsobin
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To: Kaslin

One has to wonder who is spending the most effort to control people lives, those against electrical cars and innovation are those against it. Seems the liberals have a lot of competition from some so called republicans. I say republicans, because a conservative would never stoup to controlling people.


23 posted on 08/14/2009 7:18:46 PM PDT by org.whodat (Vote: Chuck De Vore in 2012.)
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To: MoTiger
and we can build more coal and nuke plants

No We Can't

Not it this president has anything to say about. He has expressly said that we wont't be allowed to build more coal or nuclear plants. He expects electricity to be created by magic (wind and solar)

24 posted on 08/14/2009 7:20:02 PM PDT by NathanR
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To: MoTiger
Not to mention what it would do to the dreams of Putin and his next great Russian empire.
25 posted on 08/14/2009 7:20:13 PM PDT by org.whodat (Vote: Chuck De Vore in 2012.)
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To: Florida native

The objective of the envirowhackos is to get you to drive around with your chin on your knees.

They’re almost there.

Just look around at the lemon-drops driving down the road.


26 posted on 08/14/2009 7:20:28 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: VastRWCon
Yes, electric cars will crash the grid. Liberal ideas always are based on feelings, not logic.

Exactly right!

Another "unexpected" repercussion of the electric cars is that, the utility companies may raise their electric rates for those consuming over an allotted limit in consumption.

The electric companies know when the electricity usage for homes and businesses spike upwards. In the same way that my water company charges me $20 extra for going over an allowed monthly limit, the electric companies may have to do the same with the spike in electricity usage.

So, instead of getting what some might have thought was better mileage for their dollars, the electric car owners may end up paying a lot more than if they were just using gasoline engines.
27 posted on 08/14/2009 7:22:10 PM PDT by adorno (Where is Branch 4?)
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To: Kaslin
More likely demands on battery production will deplete world reserves of Lithium. Most light atoms are fairly common however Lithium is not.
28 posted on 08/14/2009 7:22:47 PM PDT by Zathras
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To: Kaslin

Good thing we threw away nuclear power, which emits NO carbon, provides plentiful power, uses an existing distribution infrastructure, requires us to kiss NO Arab ass, and uses an input we have plenty of ourselves, along with Canadians and Aussies...

GOOD THING..!!


29 posted on 08/14/2009 7:22:53 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: Kaslin

I don’t see any problem whatsoever.

Obama will give each of us X kwH to use each day. Once we charge up our electric car we can use what is left over to run the AC or heat for an hour or two.

Where is the problem.


30 posted on 08/14/2009 7:25:47 PM PDT by George from New England (escaped CT 2006; now living north of Tampa Bay)
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To: Kaslin

Yes they probably will. The enviromentalist want coal power plants shut down with nothing to repace them except wind and solar as they release something that will make more demands on the grid. It’s insane! 70% of our current electric comes from coal and they want to try to replace it with something projected to replace 25% while increasing demand?


31 posted on 08/14/2009 7:27:22 PM PDT by chris_bdba
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To: OrangeHoof
Here’s what a Smart Car does in a test crash with a Mercedes at 40 MPH.

Yea but the dummy walked away, perfect for DUmmycrats! Put all the rats in GMobama mobiles and abort the left overs. Stick all the enviromentablists in the path of Hurricane Hussein and we can get back to normal living without idiots messing up the world.

32 posted on 08/14/2009 7:28:10 PM PDT by Leo Carpathian (fffffFRrrreeeeepppeeee-ssed!)
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To: org.whodat

No conservative, and probabaly no republican, will ever stop people from using their own money to build or buy an electric car.

It’s the idea that the only way to have an electric car is with other peoples money causes us to dig our heels in.


33 posted on 08/14/2009 7:30:24 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: Kaslin

Wonder how many gallons of fuel oil, or the equivalent BTUs in coal, are required to generate (AND DELIVER) the electricity to charge up the Volt?
Wouldn’t it be fair to factor THAT number into the Volt’s fuel economy number?


34 posted on 08/14/2009 7:33:59 PM PDT by Redbob (t.."</I><PL>S)
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To: Balding_Eagle

Then you need to turn off your electricity, because it has be subsidized from day one and still is.


35 posted on 08/14/2009 7:35:41 PM PDT by org.whodat (Vote: Chuck De Vore in 2012.)
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To: Redbob
Before you get into lefties BS, you need to understand the millions of volts that are used nightly to power load banks to keep the system running.
36 posted on 08/14/2009 7:39:03 PM PDT by org.whodat (Vote: Chuck De Vore in 2012.)
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To: George from New England

Uh huh, if you say so


37 posted on 08/14/2009 7:39:39 PM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for 0bama: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: webboy45
Since the cars will be charged at night the grid will be just fine. As for the pollution, power stations are considerably more efficient than cars.

You are naive. Yep, some of them will be plugged in at night, not all, the work force doesn't only work dayshift. Added to that is the fact that even if only 10% of car owners buy one of these, or a similar type car, the grid simply will not handle it. The grid doesn't handle what we have now and Bozo and the boys want to eliminate some of the power generation we use now and replace it with wind and solar which simply can't handle the job. Use your brain and not what you want to happen. Yep, in a perfect world we would all drive pollution free cars, electricity production wouldn't cause any pollution and Unicorns would all sh** skittles.

In the real world it doesn't work that way. over 48 percent of our power is generated by coal and the demand increases daily. The greenies, which you evidently are, don't want Nukes which are the cleanest source of electricity we can possibly use and somehow think solar and wind will magically produce the electricity we need, they won't.

38 posted on 08/14/2009 7:43:36 PM PDT by calex59
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To: Kaslin
"Did you burn them hydrocarbons or did you get someone to burn them for you?" I find it amazing that people can talk about electricity as if it is economically or environmentally free.

How come there isn't a prominent analysis of the energy consumption of the car, including the impact of the battery, and a comparison to a more conventional car? This triple digit mileage BS based on the assumption that charging doesn't count is insultingly foolish.

39 posted on 08/14/2009 7:46:14 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine (Is /sarc really necessary?)
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To: org.whodat

I have been posting IBD editorials for over three years


40 posted on 08/14/2009 7:53:19 PM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for 0bama: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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