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Originally Posted by Boerseun
Electric cars won't achieve anything, unless charged with clean power. If your grid is fed with coal- or oil burning plants, you're simply transporting the pollution somewhere else.
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This point has been raised and refuted before. It is simply not true as the electric engine is more efficient than the internal combustion engine (ICE) well to wheel.
Even if there was no efficiency gain, coal and oil only accounts for 53% of electricity generation in the US. So 47% of it is 'cleaner'.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boerseun
The powerplant now has to burn more coal because you've purchased an electric "environmentally friendly" car.
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Not true if you are charging at night (when most people would). At night many power plants continue operations even though demand has dropped below the rate they supply the energy. Basically wasting some of that energy. This way it has a use
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boerseun
Switching to electric vehicles without changing our entire electricity supply source from fossil to nuclear or renewable/non-polluting is utterly pointless.
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This seems a bit of a straw man argument. Do you expect the entire transportation fleet to switch to EVs in one day? What if I am the only one to switch, would it still be entirely pointless?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boerseun
If an entire city were to switch to electric, and everybody parked their cars in their garages, plugged them in so they can be ready and charged for the morning commute, it will completely crash the grid.
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Good thing no one thinks that would be possible to do
Adoption of EVs will not occur overnight. It will start slow and grow over time giving the grid time to grow.
In addition, with the wasted energy now there is a lot of slack which the early adopters can use with NO additional power production needed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boerseun
Charging an electric vehicle is no small feat, not even close to anything you charge on a daily basis.
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I think you overstate the magnitude of this. How much energy is required to heat a swimming pool?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boerseun
People are switching to energy saving lightbulbs, because they might save a few pennies on using lower Wattage per bulb, but are willing to purchase an electric vehicle that will make your meter run as if you've got ten ovens running on full blast for ten hours at a stretch, every day. If every house in every street had ten ovens running full-blast, the grid will crash.
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Interesting position, lets try it out:
Measuring my oven on 'full blast' it uses 2.5Kw. So 10 ovens on 'full blast' would be 25Kw. For 10 hours a day that would be 250Kwh.
For now, lets stick to one house on the block.
Now, if I could afford one, my Tesla Roadster would have a 52Kw battery. So if I had to charge it from empty to full every day that would be a total of... 52Kwh. A tad less than you 250Kwh.
But wait, there's more!
Since the average travel distance per day is less than 220miles (the range) the amount needed to charge is not the full 52Kw. For me I would need to recharge every 4 or 5 days. Lets give your position the benifit and say 4 days. So 52Kw/4=... 13Kw. (Hey, that is about the maximum return on my solar panels!!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boerseun
Swithching to electric without re-engineering the entire electricity supply grid, from source to domestic power outlet, is futile and pointless - the grid can't handle it.
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I think I have shown it can. As for everyone driving an EV, it will never happen. And as more people use EVs the grid can grow. It won't happen overnight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boerseun
The most obvious answer would be to drive less. Shop over the net, telecommute, and when you actually have to go somewhere, use a bicycle if close by, or public transport.
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Here I agree with you completely. These are wonderful and helpful ideas. Combined with EVs I think the whole picture gets even better.
