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Originally Posted by infamous
Very true, however, but you need to remember that much of the electricity produced in this country is done so by burning fossil fuels. Soooo, I ask you then; Why compound the efficiency loss by first burning the fossil fuel at the station and then adding to it the transmission over the grid?
....................................Infy
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You have to remember that fossil fuel burns much more efficiently at a big powerplant than it does in a little auto engine.
Then it's just a matter of multiplying out the efficiency numbers I provided. Greater efficiency means less energy is needed to move a vehicle the same distance, and therefore less pollution is generated. We will compare efficiencies as they relate to the production of pollution:
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Efficiency of an internal combustion vehicle:
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Efficiency of gasoline:
-After electricity used for refining: ~90%
-Reduction in efficiency for transportation costs: average about 20 cents/gallon,
from ratio of this to cost of gas, about ~92%
-Efficiency of internal combustion engine: ~25%
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Result: ~20.7% efficient (Today we won't even consider the losses in the vehicle's transmission, which an EV doesn't need.)
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Efficiency of an electric vehicle:
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-Approximate combined fossil fuel efficiency of various power sources on the electric grid:
50% from coal and oil at 37% -- 8% from natural gas at 48% -- 42% from from nuclear/hydro/wind/ at 100% (100 because no fossil fuel used)= average 64%
-Efficiency of electric power transmission grid: ~95%
-Efficiency of battery power input and output: ~88%
-Efficiency of electric traction motor: ~93%
-Efficiency adjustment for energy reclaimed from regenerative braking: ~ 110% (increase result upward by 10 %)
Result: ~55% efficient
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That's at least 2.7 times more efficient, with a corresponding reduction in pollution. I'm being conservative here. The EV advantage is almost certainly greater than this.
