Received this email today thought Id share. Its some answers to some electric vehicle questions. Here are some answers to questions you might like to use the next time someone asks you why you are interested in electric transportation: Electric vehicles (EV’s) are not suited for my lifestyle. For 80% of us our commute is less than 35 miles a day and most of us have a place to park at night where we could plug in. We often fear change, but the change is not as daunting as you might think. We all take for granted that we can safely transfer a flammable liquid (gasoline) into our cars, capture all the explosive fumes transport it daily with us as we all travel safely and without incident, but we hesitate when confronted with the prospect of plugging in our vehicle each night. The data show that electric powered vehicles are safer than internal combustion vehicles. On average one person dies and several people are injured as the result of car fires - per day! EV’s don’t give me enough range. Technology has been available since 1910 to supply a vehicle that can travel over 45 miles on a charge. Current production technology offers a vehicle that can dependably travel over 300 miles on a charge, but a reasonably priced vehicle today offers 35-100 miles range. We are used to pulling up to the pump and purchasing 300-400 miles range of fuel. The electric vehicle is different, when you plug it in each night you are filling up just for the next day or half day if you can charge at home again or at your place of business. In this context, 50 miles is a lot of range. You can see how it will work for you by writing your daily mileage down for a month and see how much range you use. EV’s don’t work for travelling long distances. Today’s EV’s are best suited for our daily commutes where you will plug them in when you get home or plug them in at your place of business. If you are going on a trip, use your other vehicle (hopefully a plug in hybrid) or rent one specifically for your vacation. It is not that they can’t do it. A couple of years the MEAA hosted a couple from Denmark who were on their way travelling around the world in an electric vehicle, a feat they did complete travelling through the most remote areas of USSR, Mongolia, China and our own US south west. They were driving an electric vehicle with 100 miles range, but other vehicles better suited for this task. Why would we want to go to electric drive instead of spending our efforts improving gas vehicles? The early part of the 20th century saw the race between electric vehicles and internal combustion vehicles to select the most dominant form. Gas powered vehicles eventually won because for the first time we could travel long distances in an automobile, just by refilling the tank. There is an underlying fact that will guarantee electric drives will be a part of our future. An internal combustion vehicle delivers 20-35% of the energy you put in the fuel tank to the driven wheels. An electric drive vehicle delivers 85 – 95% of the energy used to charge batteries or drive the electric drive a roughly 3 fold improvement in efficiency hence the average 30 MPG gas fueled car will inevitably be replaced by a 100 MPG electric vehicle. This fact has been well proven out since the 1920’s as the train locomotive transitioned to the diesel electric drive all locomotives use today. If I give up my gas powered vehicle I will give up performance? The Tesla is the second fastest production vehicle made, Smith Electric supplies 16 ton delivery vehicles for Frito Lay and FedEx that can travel 100 miles per charge. The Tesla Model S has been named Car of the Year by Car & Driver, rated the safest passenger vehicle ever made by the National Highway Transportation Safety Adminisrtration (NHTSA) and Consumers Report gave it its highest rating. Arent I just trading problems with oil companies for problems with electric companies? Oil is an imported commodity vs. electricity which is inherently domestic thereby reducing the trade imbalance with countries hostile to the United States and keeping our dollars and workers here at home. How about the CO2 from coal fired electric plants? Our electricity in the Midwest is mostly supplied by coal fired plants. Even the worst coal fired plant releases less CO2 per electric driven mile than the average internal combustion driven mile. EV’s also have the distinction of only getting cleaner as they get older because new coal fired plants are much cleaner than our current aging generators and our grid is becoming greener all the time as renewable solar, wind and hydro generators come on line. And we cannot forget the fact that every gallon of fuel not refined saves 6 KWH of electricity in the refining process. There is also a system in testing now that grows algae fed by the CO2 captured from the stacks of legacy coal plants and turns the algae into biofuel a cleaner burning fuel. Won’t we put the national electric grid at risk by adding electric charging to our system? A little known fact is that the refining of oil uses about 6 Kilowatt hours (KWH) of electric energy per gallon according to the DOE. Electric cars generally travel 20-30 miles on 6 KWH of electricity so for every average gas powered vehicle replaced by an electric or hybrid vehicle we save up to 1.5 KWH’s of load on the electric grid plus electric vehicle’s charging load generally happens at night when the grid is idling with lots of cheap surplus KWH’s of energy available. I like the idea of EV’s and hybrids but I can’t afford the purchase price. The EPA projects $9600 savings over 5 years for the consumer between the cost of gas for an average new car (25mpg) and a Chevrolet Volt. Companies that look at the life costs of electric vehicles vs. internal combustion vehicles conclude that the purchase cost differential disappears in 5-6 years or half the life of the vehicle providing a $10,000 - $12,000 savings over the life of the vehicle. A Focus Electric or a Honda Fit Electric will pay back the difference in purchase price between the electric versions and the gas version in 4-6 years for someone driving 10,000 mile per year. Sooner if you drive more miles. Recent reductions in the price of EVs have all but eliminated the difference between the cost of a plug in vehicle and the equivalent luxury vehicle.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 20:02:33 +0000
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