Question:
If we switched every car to electric, that would mean 590 million passenger cars worldwide would need to be plugged into somekind of outlet for recharging. Wouldn't that strain our electrical grids? Wouldn't we need to burn oil, burn more coal, create more nuclear power plants to produce more electricity? Am I wrong?
Answers:
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First, only about half the electricity created comes from burning coal, but this is still our major pollution worry. Only 3% comes from oil.
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But much electricity is wasted in the evening, and at night, because most powerplants can't be turned off when demand goes down. Electric cars charge mostly at night. There is currently enough wasted electricity to charge millions of electric cars, before more plants will need to be built. No new pollution will be created by using electricity that otherwise goes to waste.
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But how about when electric cars catch on, and new plants have to be built? Hopefully these will be clean plants. But even if they are coal plants, new designs for coal generated electrical plants are 85% efficient, far more efficient than your sub-25% efficient gasoline engine. Greater efficiency means more miles on less fuel, and therefore less pollution per mile.
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But even if all the above were not true, electric cars would still produce much less pollution than gas cars, because of the greater efficiency of electric drive (electric motor, 95% efficient, versus gas engine, 25% efficient.) Delivering energy by wire to electric cars (95% efficient) is also much, much more efficient than trucking gas to thousands of service stations.
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The proof of all this is right in the fuel prices. Gasoline costs about 10 to 15 cents per mile. Electric cars drive around for only about a penny per mile. The difference comes from efficiency. Much greater efficiency = much less pollution.
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Betcha didn't realize that your gas car uses electricity. Yep, large amounts of electricity is used to refine gasoline. Gasoline makes pollution during refining, it makes pollution when it's being delivered to gas stations, and it makes pollution when you use it.
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Incidentally, hydrogen cars are also electric cars, with the hydrogen fuel cell serving as the battery. But they are less efficient than battery-powered cars, because of the extra electricity required to extract the hydrogen, and the wasted energy of transporting hydrogen to service stations.
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Well... even if they are connected to the electrical grid, and in the United States, that means that they're using coal-generated electricity, it would still amount to a 60% reduction in energy usage. And besides, we could further improve the situation by switching to clean electricity sources like clean coal, renewable energy (in areas where they would be feasible), and most importantly, nuclear energy (which would of course require proper storage, but its less damaging than all the CO2 we put out)What is the general maximum mileage a car can take?
That's why they're looking into renewable resources for electricity production as well.Small pickup with great gas milage?
This is why we are going through the hybrid phase. There is a lot of wasted energy going out the pipe on current cars and they are trying to reclaim some of it through the braking systems and shutting them down at idle. As soon as renewable fuel, air, sun and water power technology overtakes fossil fuel, yes, we will be plugging our PTD's (personal transportation devices) in.You got it.
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A better answer would be alternative fuel vehicles, but they aren't ready to take over the market.
Hybrid cars don't deliver the fuel economy they promise. Their real world mileage varies so far from the claimed mileage that the EPA is going to change the way it calculates their mileage. Expect the fuel economy ratings to drop by about 30% starting with the 2008 model year.
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Flex fuel vehicles show promise, but there aren't enough service stations selling E85 yet. The problem with E85 vehicles is that they are tuned to run primarily on gasoline, with the capability to run on E85. Because of this, they don't run as well on E85. If there were enough fueling stations to properly support E85, the engines could be tuned to run primarily on ethanol like in Brazil. E85 is 105 octane. If vehicles made to run on this fuel had a higher compression ratio and the correct valve and ignition timing, they would run more efficiently.
Hydrogen fuel cell technoligy is the best answer but is no where near ready for prime time. Hydrogen is our most abundent element. These vehiles are zero emmision. The down side, with today's technology, a base model hydrogen fuel cell vehicle would cost over 100,000 USD. There is no infrastructure to fuel these vehicles so you may need to trave a long distance for fuel. Once you find the fuel, you would be paying the equivalent of $8 a gallon for gasoline.
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The bottom line is what is profitable for the car manufactures and fuel retailers. Gasoline is still relatively cheap to make and distribute compared to alternative fuels. Gasoline powered cars are relatively cheap to manufacture.
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Until someone comes up with a fuel that is profitable for the retailer and can be sold at a price the consumer is willing to pay, gasoline is here to stay. The same goes for the car manufacturer. They must be able to build a car that is profitable for a price that the consumer is willing to pay. Untill then, all we will hear is talk.
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