Unclean at any speed

[Master Shake]

A timely read, given EJ's mention of Tesla in his latest article.

http://m.spectrum.ieee.org/energy/re...n-at-any-speed

Excerpt

Two dozen governments around the world subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles. In Canada, for example, the governments of Ontario and Quebec pay drivers up to C $8500 to drive an electric car. The United Kingdom offers a £5000 Plug-in Car Grant. And the U.S. federal government provides up to $7500 in tax credits for people who buy plug-in electric vehicles, even though many of them are affluent enough not to need such help. (The average Chevy Volt owner, for example, has an income of $170 000 per year.)

Some states offer additional tax incentives. California brings the total credit up to $10 000, and Colorado to $13 500—more than the base price of a brand new Ford Fiesta. West Virginia offers the sweetest deal. The state’s mining interests are salivating at the possibility of shifting automotive transportation from petroleum over to coal. Residents can receive a total credit of up to $15 000 for an electric-car purchase and up to $10 000 toward the cost of a personal charging station.

There are other perks. Ten U.S. states open the high-occupancy lanes of their highways to electric cars, even if the car carries a lone driver. Numerous stores offer VIP parking for electric vehicles—and sometimes a free fill-up of electrons. Mayor Johnson even moved to relieve electric-car owners of the burden of London’s famed congestion fee.

Alas, these carrots can’t overcome the reality that the prices of electric cars are still very high—a reflection of the substantial material and fossil-fuel costs that accrue to the companies constructing them. And some taxpayers understandably feel cheated that these subsidies tend to go to the very rich. Amid all the hype and hyperbole, it’s time to look behind the curtain. Are electric cars really so green?

[snip]


Upon closer consideration, moving from petroleum-fueled vehicles to electric cars begins to look more and more like shifting from one brand of cigarettes to another. We wouldn’t expect doctors to endorse such a thing. Should environmentally minded people really revere electric cars? Perhaps we should look beyond the shiny gadgets now being offered and revisit some less sexy but potent options—smog reduction, bike lanes, energy taxes, and land-use changes to start. Let’s not be seduced by high-tech illusions.

[c1ue]

Re: Unclean at any speed

There is one part missing: an electric vehicle is, in a real way, a method of pre-paying transportation fuel costs. The prepayment is in the form of the batteries - the energy required to manufacture them is significantly proportional to the lifetime gasoline expenditure equivalent.

Thus the subsidies noted above aren't all for the purchase of the vehicle - they're also for the gasoline spending which would otherwise have occurred.

Isn't that even more extra special?

[FrankL]

Re: Unclean at any speed

can't say I'm surprised with the reported findings.

However, there are several other important reasons to electrify your transport grid:
- Pollution is concentrated at power plants and battery disposal sites, rather than at every car exhaust. Small particle pollution from combustion engines is an especially nasty form of pollution for your lungs. On top of that, pollution measures are likely to be cheaper and easier to implement at the power plant scale than in every car, which has more stringent size, weight and costs limits.
- Electrification of the transport grid makes you less dependent on oil, as you can chose from a range of other sources for the electricity.


Personally, I'm not that convinced that switching to hybrid cars will be fixing that much, as most people will still drive one car per person as they do now. I think much bigger gains can be might by connecting suburbs to city centres with light-rail/trams, and longer distances with conventional and high-speed trains. Those can operate at much higher efficiency rate, and one nearly full tram/train will replace a huge amount of car usage for transit from home to work and back.