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Nope, not really. More of a sales tactic to attract tree huger (and their wallets) than anything.
Same argument as hot air dryers vs paper towels in public bathrooms. They always have signs telling you how their saving the environment by using the dryers right? Let's think about that!
using paper towels means recycling (it's always a % recycled whether sold that way or not, including when it's thrown in the trash, it gets sorted out)
Now lets think about how those dryers are powered, ELECTRICITY! So that means a couple different choices
1. Still a LOT of coal plants out there (which make people mad because they don't realize how far clean coal systems have come)
2. Natural Gas Plants. Getting gas means drilling and fracking, which also pisses people off.
3. Nuke Plants, by far the cleanest way to make power, yet makes people the maddest at all.
4. Solar, while they are catching on, the reality is they cost more to run and far from efficient so if we were to shift to them with current technology we wouldn't be able to afford electricity to begin with. PLUS solar plants are great for killing birds if that goes into your equation.
So is the electricity REALLY the best way for the environment? Now picture the power demand if electric cars actually caught on!
Are electric cars more friendly (for the environment)?
Quote:
Originally Posted by snatale1
Nope, not really. More of a sales tactic to attract tree huger (and their wallets) than anything.
You are sort of right but sort of wrong.
The reality is:
- Electric cars are more energy efficient. It gets more miles per unit of energy-storage than a gas car. And that is true by a significant margin.
- Electric cars can be 100% zero-emission. Gasoline cars can never be zero-emission.
- Whether an electric car is good for the environment becomes a question of how is the electricity produced that is used to charge it? If it is produced by renewable energy, than the E-car is great. If it produced by fossil fuels, it is still better than a gas car but not perfect. The nice thing here is that the E-car is all set up for when/if we have more dominant production of renewable power. You cannot say the same thing about a trad car; it will always be dependent upon carbon based fuels.
I agree there is a bit of a hype-factor with e-cars but eventually it will become a reality. I still think that hydrogen is an equally viable fuel for the future.
So is the electricity REALLY the best way for the environment? Now picture the power demand if electric cars actually caught on!
The grid could cope. We can't make cars fast enough to matter. Even at full production, if every manufacturer switched to pure EVS starting tomorrow, would take 50 years to replace all the cars in the US alone. I think we can figure it out in 50 years.
And yes, electricity is the cleanest form of energy distribution available and getting cleaner every year. Way cleaner than any gasoline powered cars. when well to wheel is concerned, and especially after, as burning petroleum is dirty and every car is getting dirtier every year as it gets used.
It's more cost effective and functional to clean up a centrally located power plant than it is to keep a million (or 200 million as is the case in the US) individual point sources of pollution clean.
And hydrogen is not viable as it take s MORE electricity to produce it than it lets off in a fuel cell or whatever. batteries can use that electricity directly and are therefore much more efficient at using and delivering electricity than hydrogen (i.e. it's more efficient to use the electricity directly in a battery than it is to use it to make and use hydrogen).
Nope, not really. More of a sales tactic to attract tree huger (and their wallets) than anything.
Same argument as hot air dryers vs paper towels in public bathrooms. They always have signs telling you how their saving the environment by using the dryers right? Let's think about that!
using paper towels means recycling (it's always a % recycled whether sold that way or not, including when it's thrown in the trash, it gets sorted out)
Now lets think about how those dryers are powered, ELECTRICITY! So that means a couple different choices
1. Still a LOT of coal plants out there (which make people mad because they don't realize how far clean coal systems have come)
2. Natural Gas Plants. Getting gas means drilling and fracking, which also pisses people off.
3. Nuke Plants, by far the cleanest way to make power, yet makes people the maddest at all.
4. Solar, while they are catching on, the reality is they cost more to run and far from efficient so if we were to shift to them with current technology we wouldn't be able to afford electricity to begin with. PLUS solar plants are great for killing birds if that goes into your equation.
So is the electricity REALLY the best way for the environment? Now picture the power demand if electric cars actually caught on!
Wait, you think paper towels that say X% recycled mean they recycled the paper towels???
No, that term means that they are MADE FROM some percentage of recycled paper, usually newspaper but not paper towels.
Seriously, read your toilet paper packaging some time, it usually is some percentage recycled as well. You don't think they are actually recycling the TP do you? Anyway...
As for the rest of your post, most power companies allow customers to choose to buy from more environmentally friendly source of electricity. That gets rid of all of the issues you mentioned.
I'm 50-50 when it comes to the thought that they are more environment friendly. There are advantages and disadvantages of these electric cars. The biggest advantage is of course it doesn't require gas plus no emissions. About the disadvantages well it consume electricity since you need to charge it and also electric cars are usually limited by range so I doubt if you can go to provinces using your electric car.
Electric and hybrid cars may be ideal for urban/suburban commuting but none of them will take me from Fargo ND halfway to Billings MT at 90 mph on cruise control on one tank of gasoline like my 2004 Corvette C-5. Not all driving is just for work. Some is for play.
The future is clearly driverless cars which is why I think investment in certain forms of public transit are a waste of money and resources.. one example the "streetcar" in Milwaukee which will never get much use. They've got engine design these days to where even small SUVs can get 25+ MPG on the interstate so I don't see the extra expense of an electric vehicle to ever get back your investment in gas savings. The best bang for the buck is something like a used Toyota Camry or something if you want maximum lifespan with decent gas mileage. I have a 2012 in V6 and the thing still does 30+ MPG on the interstate and I love the extra power.
Electric and hybrid cars may be ideal for urban/suburban commuting but none of them will take me from Fargo ND halfway to Billings MT at 90 mph on cruise control on one tank of gasoline like my 2004 Corvette C-5. Not all driving is just for work. Some is for play.
Not all of us are poor enough to have to only have one car, either.
I'd have it right now, in the bright blue they came in.
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Are electric cars more friendly (for the environment)?
