The part that flabbergasted me the most was when he described the forum post with the guy making the turn over and over and noticing his car get better at it. I knew we were living in the future but I had no idea just how far into the future!
That and what about those doors. Reminded me of the Delorean. I'm doing more research but I want my next car to be a tesla
How do so many people not know that a power plant is far more efficient and less polluting than a gas engine? Shifting the burden to a utility scale generator, even a coal one, is still a win.
That's kind of why I want to see the hybrids use a gas generator to charge the battery. You gain a lot of efficency that way which puts you close to the level the powerplants will be at without needing the infrastructure.
As for Hydrogen, that's another can of worms but many agree that the problems creating hydrogen make it a poor choice. In short you expell more energy making the hydrogen than you would simply charging a battery. Hydrogen doesn't exist in nature after all. Well not on earth at least. I'm not going to research that point.
How do so many people not know that a power plant is far more efficient and less polluting than a gas engine? Shifting the burden to a utility scale generator, even a coal one, is still a win.
That's kind of why I want to see the hybrids use a gas generator to charge the battery. You gain a lot of efficency that way which puts you close to the level the powerplants will be at without needing the infrastructure.
The Volt uses that structure, and has nowhere near utility efficiency. If you don't go more than ~50 miles (which is almost everyone) then you are carrying the extra 300+ pounds of engine for no reason. After you use up the battery, the engine is only getting ~40mpg and you are carrying 400+ pounds of battery for no reason.
Originally posted by: mkiker2089
As for Hydrogen, that's another can of worms but many agree that the problems creating hydrogen make it a poor choice. In short you expell more energy making the hydrogen than you would simply charging a battery. Hydrogen doesn't exist in nature after all. Well not on earth at least. I'm not going to research that point.
Yup, and transportation/storage alone makes it a problem at mass scales.
it only interests me if you can charge the car with something connected to a solar panel, wind turbine, or any other non depletable energy. as it stands it sounds like the fuel source is still fossil fuel, unless your power grid is being run on ethanol, wind, etc
Yes you can power your car with a solar, wind, or even more wildly, a hydroelectric or a wacky sci-fi geothermal power source. All you need to do is wire it up to the system if you have access to it. But using the fact that power plants use expendable fuel is a false argument in any situation.
First, a power plant is far more efficient at burning fuel than a single car.
Second, a power plant is far more efficient at scrubbing pollutants like NOx and CO2 than a single car with a tiny little cataltyic converter.
Third, a power plant can be located far away from people, wheras a car leaves pollution wherever it goes...just like the horse and carriage did before it.
Finally, all energy sources have their drawbacks. Truly green energy is impossible since there are no "perfect" options. Nuclear is straight up dangerous even with Thorium, Wind is noisy and weather dependant, Solar is also weather dependant and requires heavy metals to be dug up out the ground to make them, Hydroelectric requires flooding an area, Geothermal can cause earthquakes, Ethanol requires a lot of farming space which means less room for food farms, even from algae.
Again, truly green energy is a lie, we'll never achieve it. It's all marketing to get a slice of the energy pie into someone elses pocket...is it better, yeah. But it's still greenwashing.
...
I'm still waiting until the next generation (maybe 2 generations) of these things come out. Tesla still needs some solid competition in this area to be where I want them to be. But once there's a solid following I'm making the switch and never looking back at gas again. Heck, in a couple generations we might even switch our company trucking from diesel to electric if they come out with something that can haul a literal truckload of stuff.
I dont really care as long as they ask me to continue to install charging stations. Charging stations and the infrastructure behind them is like 15% of my workso it helps pay my paycheck.
I actually just finished my certification last week on the chargepoint 4000 so now I can comission them, do site surveys etc. keep them coming!
Please come to Canada! We are still completely lacking the infrastructure.
How do so many people not know that a power plant is far more efficient and less polluting than a gas engine? Shifting the burden to a utility scale generator, even a coal one, is still a win.
That's kind of why I want to see the hybrids use a gas generator to charge the battery. You gain a lot of efficency that way which puts you close to the level the powerplants will be at without needing the infrastructure.
The Volt uses that structure, and has nowhere near utility efficiency. If you don't go more than ~50 miles (which is almost everyone) then you are carrying the extra 300+ pounds of engine for no reason. After you use up the battery, the engine is only getting ~40mpg and you are carrying 400+ pounds of battery for no reason.
Originally posted by: mkiker2089
As for Hydrogen, that's another can of worms but many agree that the problems creating hydrogen make it a poor choice. In short you expell more energy making the hydrogen than you would simply charging a battery. Hydrogen doesn't exist in nature after all. Well not on earth at least. I'm not going to research that point.
Yup, and transportation/storage alone makes it a problem at mass scales.
I don't fully understand the Volt. I suspect something isn't being reported properly. Diesel electric trains do well and the Fisker Karma had better stats if I recall correctly. The google stats come it at 55mpg. I also wonder if that isn't including charge time when the gas engine isn't running. A properly designed system should be able to charge faster than the car uses the electricity. I still think there's room for improvement to make this a better system than the current models that depend on long charge times and expensive batteries.
Over 270,000 reserved vehicles to date, and I'm hoping that figure keeps growing. I'm currently designing components for this vehicle. That's about all I can say for now, but I'm really excited to be a part of it!
How do so many people not know that a power plant is far more efficient and less polluting than a gas engine? Shifting the burden to a utility scale generator, even a coal one, is still a win.
That's kind of why I want to see the hybrids use a gas generator to charge the battery. You gain a lot of efficency that way which puts you close to the level the powerplants will be at without needing the infrastructure.
The Volt uses that structure, and has nowhere near utility efficiency. If you don't go more than ~50 miles (which is almost everyone) then you are carrying the extra 300+ pounds of engine for no reason. After you use up the battery, the engine is only getting ~40mpg and you are carrying 400+ pounds of battery for no reason.
It's not even about carrying the extra weight that is the efficiency problem, though.
Simply stated, a small gas engine (even if they had it optimized for a single-speed best operating condition), is nowhere near the efficiency of a full-sized power plant, even when you include the transmission losses of the line infrastructure.
There are just so many things you can do to eek out improvements at a large-scale facility, where weight and size are not a constraint, that cannot be considered with a small or portable power producer like a gas generator.
Add to that, the total-cost-of-operation goes up dramatically the more sources of power you are carrying around, since they all represent systems that require maintenance or eventual replacement (and require technicians trained to operate on the specific architecture).
Toting around a gas generator is a nice stop-gap until portable electricity storage (batteries, or something else) overcomes the current weight and capacity problems.
But nobody should kid themselves that is in the ballpark of large-scale plant efficiencies.
I don't know whether this makes me more qualified to respond or not, but I make Volts all day at the only production facility for them in the world, (Detroit exports a few things besides crippling depression) so every Volt on the market goes through my hands. I will say currently they're a pretty novel idea, but I think given another generation or two as capacitance and charge times improve they will overtake solely gas powered cars. Even the difference between the first and second generation Volts impressed me enough. We have a ton of charging stations here at work because so many people have started to adopt them. We also produced the Cadillac ELR up until a few weeks ago, but production was ceased due to poor sales. I don't think there was ever a demand for an electric Cadillac plus it ran on generation 1 volt hardware up until the end, so it was already out dated. Anyway my two cents
That shows how scale matters. Like Nathan said when weight/size doesn't matter you can get more efficiency. Hybrid gas engine = 2L, diesel loco engine = 250L. Of course the incredibly low resistance of steel wheels on steel rails helps too
Originally posted by: mkiker2089
Fisker Karma had better stats if I recall correctly. The google stats come it at 55mpg. I also wonder if that isn't including charge time when the gas engine isn't running.
I don't know whether this makes me more qualified to respond or not, but I make Volts all day at the only production facility for them in the world, (Detroit exports a few things besides crippling depression) so every Volt on the market goes through my hands. I will say currently they're a pretty novel idea, but I think given another generation or two as capacitance and charge times improve they will overtake solely gas powered cars. Even the difference between the first and second generation Volts impressed me enough. We have a ton of charging stations here at work because so many people have started to adopt them. We also produced the Cadillac ELR up until a few weeks ago, but production was ceased due to poor sales. I don't think there was ever a demand for an electric Cadillac plus it ran on generation 1 volt hardware up until the end, so it was already out dated. Anyway my two cents
Keep on building! Are you going to build the Bolt or is it going to another plant?
Keep on building! Are you going to build the Bolt or is it going to another plant?
You know I was hoping we'd do the Bolt after I saw it at the North American International Auto Show and got to be a little hands on with it. Since we produce all the other electric hybrid options I thought for sure we'd get it, but we're also the only plant producing the newest luxury model of Cadillac the CT6 and that's our biggest priority I think. We just started as the only domestic producer of the Buick Lacrosse as well, so it's pretty busy at Detroit/Hamtramck these days. We have a new shift starting soon for increased production so things are going pretty well I'd say.
Planning to get a loaded Audi A4 as my next car. Looking at a 2013-2015 in a year from now when I've got my current car all paid off. Still got connects at the dealership I used to sell for so I'm hoping for under 50K miles and maybe $20000 USD walking out the door.
Keep on building! Are you going to build the Bolt or is it going to another plant?
You know I was hoping we'd do the Bolt after I saw it at the North American International Auto Show and got to be a little hands on with it. Since we produce all the other electric hybrid options I thought for sure we'd get it, but we're also the only plant producing the newest luxury model of Cadillac the CT6 and that's our biggest priority I think. We just started as the only domestic producer of the Buick Lacrosse as well, so it's pretty busy at Detroit/Hamtramck these days. We have a new shift starting soon for increased production so things are going pretty well I'd say.
Glad to hear that, especially after what the industry went through a few years ago.
Next car will probably be a GM again, or the Tesla Model 3 depending on the price in CAD$ and availability in a few years.
Nice shouldn't be hard to get at your price range and the fact you have connection which is always awesome to have. I'm still rockin my 04 Audi TT 3.2 quattro S line which I love but the only problem I have is very one that has a sport car always wants to try to race and I'm not about that.
Anyone here own a Tesla? Way beyond my price range, but their upcoming Model 3 will be far more affordable. Also, just read news on Tesla's superchargers
I always shed a hot little tear whenever an AlexElectric thread pops back up from the great beyond.
What happened to him?
I believe he was summoned back to his home planet of Melmak and entered into an interdimensional portal located in his kitchen, never to return. At least that's what I heard, but it sounds legit.
When electric cars become the norm, the cost of electricity will likely skyrocket. Not sure about Canada but here in the U.S., about 70% of our electricity comes from burning coal. So I don't see this as being a solution, at least not yet.
That was always the issue I found to be interesting. By stopping pollution via gas engines, you create pollution by burning coal to produce electricity.
True, but that's not the only way you generate electricity. Coal accounts for about 1/3 of the USA's electricity.
And an electric vehicle, or anything that requires electricity really, doesn't care where that electricity comes from. Invest in more "clearn" energy, pollute less. I think the more pressing issue is what are we going to do with all these large dead batteries?
When electric cars become the norm, the cost of electricity will likely skyrocket. Not sure about Canada but here in the U.S., about 70% of our electricity comes from burning coal. So I don't see this as being a solution, at least not yet.
That was always the issue I found to be interesting. By stopping pollution via gas engines, you create pollution by burning coal to produce electricity.
True, but that's not the only way you generate electricity. Coal accounts for about 1/3 of the USA's electricity.
And an electric vehicle, or anything that requires electricity really, doesn't care where that electricity comes from. Invest in more "clearn" energy, pollute less. I think the more pressing issue is what are we going to do with all these large dead batteries?
Yeah, a powerplant doesn't have to move around and fit in a garage, so it doesn't have as many compromises in terms of emissions equipment. You can have much better scrubbers in place at a powerplant for coal.
Added that some states like California and have their primary electricity come from sources other than coal (California - natural gas, Washington - hydroelectric, etc. In fact, both those states have only one coal firing plant.)
Power production is one of those things that gains efficiency in larger scale, from all sorts of loss recapture methods that can't be done on a smaller scale.
That said, I won't be surprised if some of the environmental arguments are ignoring the impacts of battery disposal and battery manufacture, since battery materials are highly toxic and commonly are strip mined. Lots of contamination/release along the way.
Better for the air quality in cities, but I don't know that it is really decided science whether it is better over all, in terms of long term impacts and water quality in disposal and extraction regions.
The resources and shipping methods of getting those batteries for electric cars are far more dirty for the environment than they save, plus if you get into an accident and there's damage to the battery, instant call to the EPA. They have benefits, but they're still not worth it IMO.
The resources and shipping methods of getting those batteries for electric cars are far more dirty for the environment than they save, plus if you get into an accident and there's damage to the battery, instant call to the EPA. They have benefits, but they're still not worth it IMO.
When electric cars become the norm, the cost of electricity will likely skyrocket. Not sure about Canada but here in the U.S., about 70% of our electricity comes from burning coal. So I don't see this as being a solution, at least not yet.
That was always the issue I found to be interesting. By stopping pollution via gas engines, you create pollution by burning coal to produce electricity.
True, but that's not the only way you generate electricity. Coal accounts for about 1/3 of the USA's electricity.
And an electric vehicle, or anything that requires electricity really, doesn't care where that electricity comes from. Invest in more "clearn" energy, pollute less. I think the more pressing issue is what are we going to do with all these large dead batteries?
I suppose that's true. and the batteries are a great point. Any way to recycle them for parts? I don't know much about them.
I've always wanted to go solar myself, and I've always wondered what would happen if they set up a field of solar panels out here, what that would end up doing locally for power.
The resources and shipping methods of getting those batteries for electric cars are far more dirty for the environment than they save, plus if you get into an accident and there's damage to the battery, instant call to the EPA. They have benefits, but they're still not worth it IMO.
Comments
The part that flabbergasted me the most was when he described the forum post with the guy making the turn over and over and noticing his car get better at it. I knew we were living in the future but I had no idea just how far into the future!
That and what about those doors. Reminded me of the Delorean. I'm doing more research but I want my next car to be a tesla
How do so many people not know that a power plant is far more efficient and less polluting than a gas engine? Shifting the burden to a utility scale generator, even a coal one, is still a win.
That's kind of why I want to see the hybrids use a gas generator to charge the battery. You gain a lot of efficency that way which puts you close to the level the powerplants will be at without needing the infrastructure.
As for Hydrogen, that's another can of worms but many agree that the problems creating hydrogen make it a poor choice. In short you expell more energy making the hydrogen than you would simply charging a battery. Hydrogen doesn't exist in nature after all. Well not on earth at least. I'm not going to research that point.
How do so many people not know that a power plant is far more efficient and less polluting than a gas engine? Shifting the burden to a utility scale generator, even a coal one, is still a win.
That's kind of why I want to see the hybrids use a gas generator to charge the battery. You gain a lot of efficency that way which puts you close to the level the powerplants will be at without needing the infrastructure.
The Volt uses that structure, and has nowhere near utility efficiency. If you don't go more than ~50 miles (which is almost everyone) then you are carrying the extra 300+ pounds of engine for no reason. After you use up the battery, the engine is only getting ~40mpg and you are carrying 400+ pounds of battery for no reason.
As for Hydrogen, that's another can of worms but many agree that the problems creating hydrogen make it a poor choice. In short you expell more energy making the hydrogen than you would simply charging a battery. Hydrogen doesn't exist in nature after all. Well not on earth at least. I'm not going to research that point.
Yup, and transportation/storage alone makes it a problem at mass scales.
it only interests me if you can charge the car with something connected to a solar panel, wind turbine, or any other non depletable energy. as it stands it sounds like the fuel source is still fossil fuel, unless your power grid is being run on ethanol, wind, etc
Yes you can power your car with a solar, wind, or even more wildly, a hydroelectric or a wacky sci-fi geothermal power source. All you need to do is wire it up to the system if you have access to it. But using the fact that power plants use expendable fuel is a false argument in any situation.
First, a power plant is far more efficient at burning fuel than a single car.
Second, a power plant is far more efficient at scrubbing pollutants like NOx and CO2 than a single car with a tiny little cataltyic converter.
Third, a power plant can be located far away from people, wheras a car leaves pollution wherever it goes...just like the horse and carriage did before it.
Finally, all energy sources have their drawbacks. Truly green energy is impossible since there are no "perfect" options. Nuclear is straight up dangerous even with Thorium, Wind is noisy and weather dependant, Solar is also weather dependant and requires heavy metals to be dug up out the ground to make them, Hydroelectric requires flooding an area, Geothermal can cause earthquakes, Ethanol requires a lot of farming space which means less room for food farms, even from algae.
Again, truly green energy is a lie, we'll never achieve it. It's all marketing to get a slice of the energy pie into someone elses pocket...is it better, yeah. But it's still greenwashing.
...
I'm still waiting until the next generation (maybe 2 generations) of these things come out. Tesla still needs some solid competition in this area to be where I want them to be. But once there's a solid following I'm making the switch and never looking back at gas again. Heck, in a couple generations we might even switch our company trucking from diesel to electric if they come out with something that can haul a literal truckload of stuff.
I dont really care as long as they ask me to continue to install charging stations. Charging stations and the infrastructure behind them is like 15% of my workso it helps pay my paycheck.
I actually just finished my certification last week on the chargepoint 4000 so now I can comission them, do site surveys etc. keep them coming!
Please come to Canada! We are still completely lacking the infrastructure.
Idk man, he couldn't troubleshoot a surge strip
How do so many people not know that a power plant is far more efficient and less polluting than a gas engine? Shifting the burden to a utility scale generator, even a coal one, is still a win.
That's kind of why I want to see the hybrids use a gas generator to charge the battery. You gain a lot of efficency that way which puts you close to the level the powerplants will be at without needing the infrastructure.
The Volt uses that structure, and has nowhere near utility efficiency. If you don't go more than ~50 miles (which is almost everyone) then you are carrying the extra 300+ pounds of engine for no reason. After you use up the battery, the engine is only getting ~40mpg and you are carrying 400+ pounds of battery for no reason.
As for Hydrogen, that's another can of worms but many agree that the problems creating hydrogen make it a poor choice. In short you expell more energy making the hydrogen than you would simply charging a battery. Hydrogen doesn't exist in nature after all. Well not on earth at least. I'm not going to research that point.
Yup, and transportation/storage alone makes it a problem at mass scales.
I don't fully understand the Volt. I suspect something isn't being reported properly. Diesel electric trains do well and the Fisker Karma had better stats if I recall correctly. The google stats come it at 55mpg. I also wonder if that isn't including charge time when the gas engine isn't running. A properly designed system should be able to charge faster than the car uses the electricity. I still think there's room for improvement to make this a better system than the current models that depend on long charge times and expensive batteries.
How do so many people not know that a power plant is far more efficient and less polluting than a gas engine? Shifting the burden to a utility scale generator, even a coal one, is still a win.
That's kind of why I want to see the hybrids use a gas generator to charge the battery. You gain a lot of efficency that way which puts you close to the level the powerplants will be at without needing the infrastructure.
The Volt uses that structure, and has nowhere near utility efficiency. If you don't go more than ~50 miles (which is almost everyone) then you are carrying the extra 300+ pounds of engine for no reason. After you use up the battery, the engine is only getting ~40mpg and you are carrying 400+ pounds of battery for no reason.
It's not even about carrying the extra weight that is the efficiency problem, though.
Simply stated, a small gas engine (even if they had it optimized for a single-speed best operating condition), is nowhere near the efficiency of a full-sized power plant, even when you include the transmission losses of the line infrastructure.
There are just so many things you can do to eek out improvements at a large-scale facility, where weight and size are not a constraint, that cannot be considered with a small or portable power producer like a gas generator.
Add to that, the total-cost-of-operation goes up dramatically the more sources of power you are carrying around, since they all represent systems that require maintenance or eventual replacement (and require technicians trained to operate on the specific architecture).
Toting around a gas generator is a nice stop-gap until portable electricity storage (batteries, or something else) overcomes the current weight and capacity problems.
But nobody should kid themselves that is in the ballpark of large-scale plant efficiencies.
Diesel electric trains do well
That shows how scale matters. Like Nathan said when weight/size doesn't matter you can get more efficiency. Hybrid gas engine = 2L, diesel loco engine = 250L. Of course the incredibly low resistance of steel wheels on steel rails helps too
Fisker Karma had better stats if I recall correctly. The google stats come it at 55mpg. I also wonder if that isn't including charge time when the gas engine isn't running.
That 55 is mpge, not mpg. Stats for hybrids include an already charged battery, run down to empty. Karma gets ~30 miles on batteries, then ~20 mpg on gas. It is also 1500 pounds heavier than the Volt which contributes to its poorer stats. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisker_Karma#/media/File:Fisker_Karma_EPA_label.jpg
I don't know whether this makes me more qualified to respond or not, but I make Volts all day at the only production facility for them in the world, (Detroit exports a few things besides crippling depression) so every Volt on the market goes through my hands. I will say currently they're a pretty novel idea, but I think given another generation or two as capacitance and charge times improve they will overtake solely gas powered cars. Even the difference between the first and second generation Volts impressed me enough. We have a ton of charging stations here at work because so many people have started to adopt them. We also produced the Cadillac ELR up until a few weeks ago, but production was ceased due to poor sales. I don't think there was ever a demand for an electric Cadillac plus it ran on generation 1 volt hardware up until the end, so it was already out dated. Anyway my two cents
Keep on building! Are you going to build the Bolt or is it going to another plant?
Keep on building! Are you going to build the Bolt or is it going to another plant?
You know I was hoping we'd do the Bolt after I saw it at the North American International Auto Show and got to be a little hands on with it. Since we produce all the other electric hybrid options I thought for sure we'd get it, but we're also the only plant producing the newest luxury model of Cadillac the CT6 and that's our biggest priority I think. We just started as the only domestic producer of the Buick Lacrosse as well, so it's pretty busy at Detroit/Hamtramck these days. We have a new shift starting soon for increased production so things are going pretty well I'd say.
Really nice car but I'm more of an Audi guy
Planning to get a loaded Audi A4 as my next car. Looking at a 2013-2015 in a year from now when I've got my current car all paid off. Still got connects at the dealership I used to sell for so I'm hoping for under 50K miles and maybe $20000 USD walking out the door.
Keep on building! Are you going to build the Bolt or is it going to another plant?
You know I was hoping we'd do the Bolt after I saw it at the North American International Auto Show and got to be a little hands on with it. Since we produce all the other electric hybrid options I thought for sure we'd get it, but we're also the only plant producing the newest luxury model of Cadillac the CT6 and that's our biggest priority I think. We just started as the only domestic producer of the Buick Lacrosse as well, so it's pretty busy at Detroit/Hamtramck these days. We have a new shift starting soon for increased production so things are going pretty well I'd say.
Glad to hear that, especially after what the industry went through a few years ago.
Next car will probably be a GM again, or the Tesla Model 3 depending on the price in CAD$ and availability in a few years.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/13/technology/tesla-supercharger-pricing/index.html
"It will soon cost some Tesla owners $15 to charge up for a drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and $120 to go from L.A. to New York."
$120 for a drive from LA to NY? That is freakin' amazing! It would easily cost you over twice that on a gas-powered car.
I always shed a hot little tear whenever an AlexElectric thread pops back up from the great beyond.
What happened to him?
I always shed a hot little tear whenever an AlexElectric thread pops back up from the great beyond.
What happened to him?
I believe he was summoned back to his home planet of Melmak and entered into an interdimensional portal located in his kitchen, never to return. At least that's what I heard, but it sounds legit.
When electric cars become the norm, the cost of electricity will likely skyrocket. Not sure about Canada but here in the U.S., about 70% of our electricity comes from burning coal. So I don't see this as being a solution, at least not yet.
That was always the issue I found to be interesting. By stopping pollution via gas engines, you create pollution by burning coal to produce electricity.
True, but that's not the only way you generate electricity. Coal accounts for about 1/3 of the USA's electricity.
http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=electricity_in_the_United_States
And an electric vehicle, or anything that requires electricity really, doesn't care where that electricity comes from. Invest in more "clearn" energy, pollute less. I think the more pressing issue is what are we going to do with all these large dead batteries?
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093810_electric-car-batteries-what-happens-to-them-after-coming-out-of-the-car
When electric cars become the norm, the cost of electricity will likely skyrocket. Not sure about Canada but here in the U.S., about 70% of our electricity comes from burning coal. So I don't see this as being a solution, at least not yet.
That was always the issue I found to be interesting. By stopping pollution via gas engines, you create pollution by burning coal to produce electricity.
True, but that's not the only way you generate electricity. Coal accounts for about 1/3 of the USA's electricity.
http://www.eia.gov/energyexplaine...
And an electric vehicle, or anything that requires electricity really, doesn't care where that electricity comes from. Invest in more "clearn" energy, pollute less. I think the more pressing issue is what are we going to do with all these large dead batteries?
http://www.greencarreports.com/ne...
Also, if we get to a point where all fossil fuels are only burned at power plants, it will be easier to sequester the carbon and other byproducts.
Added that some states like California and have their primary electricity come from sources other than coal (California - natural gas, Washington - hydroelectric, etc. In fact, both those states have only one coal firing plant.)
That said, I won't be surprised if some of the environmental arguments are ignoring the impacts of battery disposal and battery manufacture, since battery materials are highly toxic and commonly are strip mined. Lots of contamination/release along the way.
Better for the air quality in cities, but I don't know that it is really decided science whether it is better over all, in terms of long term impacts and water quality in disposal and extraction regions.
The resources and shipping methods of getting those batteries for electric cars are far more dirty for the environment than they save, plus if you get into an accident and there's damage to the battery, instant call to the EPA. They have benefits, but they're still not worth it IMO.
we agree.
When electric cars become the norm, the cost of electricity will likely skyrocket. Not sure about Canada but here in the U.S., about 70% of our electricity comes from burning coal. So I don't see this as being a solution, at least not yet.
That was always the issue I found to be interesting. By stopping pollution via gas engines, you create pollution by burning coal to produce electricity.
True, but that's not the only way you generate electricity. Coal accounts for about 1/3 of the USA's electricity.
http://www.eia.gov/energyexplaine...
And an electric vehicle, or anything that requires electricity really, doesn't care where that electricity comes from. Invest in more "clearn" energy, pollute less. I think the more pressing issue is what are we going to do with all these large dead batteries?
http://www.greencarreports.com/ne...
I suppose that's true. and the batteries are a great point. Any way to recycle them for parts? I don't know much about them.
I've always wanted to go solar myself, and I've always wondered what would happen if they set up a field of solar panels out here, what that would end up doing locally for power.
The resources and shipping methods of getting those batteries for electric cars are far more dirty for the environment than they save, plus if you get into an accident and there's damage to the battery, instant call to the EPA. They have benefits, but they're still not worth it IMO.
we agree.
Talk about a NintendoAge miracle lmao
http://sundown.me.uk/technology/mercedes-aa-class.mp4