Perhaps the most common question I encounter relates to the relocation of pollution due to electric vehicles. The question is usually “Aren’t electric vehicles simply moving the problem of pollution to the electricity supplier?”
The simple answer to this question is a qualified "Yes", (I know there are really no simple answers, but people walk off at cocktail parties if I give the whole story) and although the electicity generaton may be polluting, the efficiencies of creating and distributing electricity versus gasoline are far better, and it's theoretically easier to control emissions centrally, (at a power station) versus distributed control, (on millions of vehicles).
Not convinced? The Electric Power Research Institute and the Natural Resource Defense Council in the United States recently conducted a comprehensive study of the effects plug in vehicles have on both pollution and air quality. Their results showed significant improvements in both categories even with poor adoption of only plug in hybrids combined with current energy sources as a test scenario. In another scenario using broader adoption of plug in vehicles, and the likliehood cleaner electricity sources, the study showed not only an excellent reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide, but more interestingly it showed a positive economic impact through increased spending and employment as a result of decreased importing of oil.
The research seems to show that, althought the pollution source is indeed shifted to the electricity supplier, the net effect is better than driving your old gas vehicle down the highway.
To read the research click on this link: http://my.epri.com/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=223132&mode=2
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Welcome
Who killed the electric car? Who wouldn’t want to drive an EV? Weren’t people driving electric cars almost a hundred years ago? How far can a Hybrid car go on batteries? Are’nt electric vehicles just shifting the pollution from the vehicle to the power provider? How far can an electric car go on a single charge?
As someone that works in the electric vehicle industry these are some of the most common questions I receive. With so much interest, investment and mis-information surrounding electric vehicles, I have decided to publish this blog to discuss the facts and fiction of the industry.
As someone that works in the electric vehicle industry these are some of the most common questions I receive. With so much interest, investment and mis-information surrounding electric vehicles, I have decided to publish this blog to discuss the facts and fiction of the industry.
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