Electric Cars Aren't An Improvement

I know the title is a bit of a shocker, but in certain circumstances it is true. GM's new Chevy Volt is causing quite a bit of commotion with their 230MPG claim, but let's take a look at the other side of the coin.

Here's a letter to the editor that I found from the Las Vegas Sun. It's got some good points to it.

General Motors announced production of an electric battery-operated car that will get 230 miles per gallon. What gallon? Gallon of hot air perhaps?

Charging that battery requires an electric plug; that plug has to be fed electric power from somewhere — most likely from a coal-fired power plant. The energy equation for that is negative — it takes more energy to drive that electric car than a normal gasoline-powered car.

And its “carbon footprint” is larger. That idea of battery-operated cars was tried in the 19th century and found wanting, and this retired engineer with a Ph.D. in heat transfer and thermodynamics finds this old idea beyond ridiculous.

Again, what gallon exactly is that “g” in the 230 mpg car?

The first point is the fact that the car does need to be plugged into a wall to charge it. This is where the marketing kicks in because they're not accounting for how that power is produced. If that power is produced from a coal fired plant than you're not really reducing your carbon footprint. The only way that you would be reducing your carbon is if the energy is produced from hydro-electric or some other renewable source.

I also find the 230MPG claim quite laughable. I've been doing preliminary work for our electric car tutorial and my calculations aren't even close to 230MPG. You may not remember, but old Volt commercials were saying 65 miles on a single charge. That's quite doable. The Volt is a hybrid, but it's what's know as a series hybrid.

A series hybrid simply means that only the electric motor drives the car; however, there is a gas engine which functions as a generator. Since we used to run a generator I know how much gas it takes to produce power. In an electric car you need at least a 10KW electric motor. The battery pack will allow you to run it for about 1 - 1.5 hours. It takes about 1 gallon to generate 10 KW so you'd be around 3 hours of electricity. Which puts you in the 150MPG range. I'm talking about the smallest motor you could use here the Volt's motor is probably in the 20KW range.

I think the electric car is being looked at the wrong way. It's great that it runs on electricity, but we still need to change our power plants to renewable sources. Otherwise we're just shifting the carbon outputs around. Which means that GM can say you're driving a 'green' car, but you may not be if your power plant is coal or nuclear.

What are your thoughts?

Comments

Electric cars and electric car philosophy

by Robb (not verified) - 12/01/2009 - 11:10

Elecric cars with no gasoline motors have been around for many years. I am not refering to the early years of cars [early 1900's], but in the late 1970's and early '80's. The idea behind personal electric cars is to reduce each individuals polution output. First, it took alot of polution just to produce the plastic, rubber and metal that make up the car [that fact is mostly forgotten by people.] Then producing the electricity to charge the batteries for that vehicle requires more polution to produce. So what has been reduced, polution wise? Nada. So what is the use to use electric vehicles? None. Now, we have to go to the PHILOSOPHY behind the use of electric vehicles. The conscious effort and the active desire to reduce each persons individual negative impact on the environment is the real advance and most important effect of the whole reason for electric vehicles.

Electric Vehicle vs. Other Alternative Energy

by Anonymous - 09/22/2009 - 13:13

We need to separate the concept of Alternative Energy from Renewable Energy. The primary goal of alternatives is to wean ourselves from oil. The primary goal of Renewable is to switch to a source that is not finite. Reducing air pollution is a secondary goal to both. I have to disagree with Mr. Retired PhD... An electric motor is much more efficient than an ICE (80-90% vs. <60%). Less than 50% of our electricity in this country is coal-generated. I live in a state that is almost entirely renewable. An electric vehicle makes sense for me and my environment. Yes, the electric vehicle has it's shortcomings, and my opinion is that the hybrid model is inefficient - although it is addressing the range problem of a pure electric. The common Achilles heel between alternative energy and renewable is efficient/affordable storage batteries. In a vehicle it has to be portable and safe. Let's hope we make strides in this area over the next few years and don't just shift our dependence to Chinese imports. J.D. Kennedy

Personally I don't think

by andrew1056 - 09/18/2009 - 11:14

Personally I don't think 'weaning' is going to be enough. Weaning would simply replace the source of pollution.

Electric Car

by Anonymous - 09/15/2009 - 22:21

Consider that the stationary power plants can provide additional environmental devices not practicle for mobile cars. It should be possible to provide much cleaner energy even if coal / fossil fuel is still used. Even more important than the environmental impact, is the reduction in reliance on foreign sources of energy. To survive in the long haul, we absolutely must wean ourselves from off shore energy! I understand the USA has plenty of coal for many hundreds of years.

I'd just like it if they were

by andrew1056 - 08/26/2009 - 12:09

I'd just like it if they were honest about the MPG. The cars themselves aren't bad, but we still need to produce clean energy to power them.

I was glad to see that an

by Anonymous - 08/25/2009 - 23:51

I was glad to see that an article like this has been written. I am not the smartest man on the planet but I have enough sense to know that there are some issues with these auto's.

Bring About Green