Dude was misinformed as to energy consumption & opportunity cost, so I did my best to set him straight...
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Actually, this is what I initially thought, as well, however, it boils down to thermal efficiency (for now). Here's why EV's are more energy efficient than ICE's:: Thermal efficiency:
An ICE (internal combustion engine) has a thermal efficiency of around 20% for gas, 30% for diesel.
An electric motor, on the other hand, has a thermal efficiency of 95%, or more than 4x more efficient than a Honda.
Now, let's suppose all electricity plants burned gasoline. While there are losses in power transmission, storage, etc., a gallon of gas would propel an EV 3-4 times further than a Honda (of equivalent weight & drag coefficient). Now who would be against a 300-400% improvement? Rhetorical question.
Now, not counting states producing more than their share of clean energy (Oregon?), we would have to concede that, in general, technology advances. It doesn't roll back. With that in mind, with highways full of EV's, we've now centralized energy production (removed it from a few million engenes), so we've made it easier to apply the inevitable future advancements in non-toxic energy technology, while reducing civilization's categorical energy requirements.
Oil & gas are stored energy, are they not?
Cheers,
Nathan Abbott
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/11/the-short-strange-trip-of-nathan-abbott-a-cautionary-tale/
Sent from my iPad
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Actually, this is what I initially thought, as well, however, it boils down to thermal efficiency (for now). Here's why EV's are more energy efficient than ICE's:: Thermal efficiency:
An ICE (internal combustion engine) has a thermal efficiency of around 20% for gas, 30% for diesel.
An electric motor, on the other hand, has a thermal efficiency of 95%, or more than 4x more efficient than a Honda.
Now, let's suppose all electricity plants burned gasoline. While there are losses in power transmission, storage, etc., a gallon of gas would propel an EV 3-4 times further than a Honda (of equivalent weight & drag coefficient). Now who would be against a 300-400% improvement? Rhetorical question.
Now, not counting states producing more than their share of clean energy (Oregon?), we would have to concede that, in general, technology advances. It doesn't roll back. With that in mind, with highways full of EV's, we've now centralized energy production (removed it from a few million engenes), so we've made it easier to apply the inevitable future advancements in non-toxic energy technology, while reducing civilization's categorical energy requirements.
Oil & gas are stored energy, are they not?
Cheers,
Nathan Abbott
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/11/the-short-strange-trip-of-nathan-abbott-a-cautionary-tale/
Sent from my iPad
_______________________________________________
| REPLYING: address your message to xxx@xxx.xxx.edu only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
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| OPTIONS: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev