Benefits of Electric Car

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Dr Andrew Simpson, who specialises in technology and policy for electric-drive vehicles (EVs) says that electric vehicles can solve a lot of problems.

1. Tailpipe emissions

While of course there will be some emissions if the electricity used by the electric vehicle is produced by burning fossil fuels, the emissions are no longer concentrated in areas of high traffic density. Furthermore, if the electricity is produced from renewable sources (hydro, wind, solar) there are no emissions at all.

2. Existing electricity infrastructure

For electric vehicles the ‘fuel’ distribution network already exists… and, furthermore, it is distributed widely on a house-to-house level. This is a huge advantage over other ‘alternative’ fuelled cars – compare it, for example, with hydrogen… a fuel currently available effectively nowhere. (More on electricity infrastructure in a moment.)

3. Near-equivalent functionality and performance

Electric cars can provide similar packaging, performance and styling to current vehicles. In most applications, their range is also sufficient. No one needs to be ‘sold’ on the concept of a car – unlike some other new technologies, the idea is familiar to all.

4. No oil

It’s a much overlooked point, but as this graph of Australian installed generator capacity shows, almost no electricity is generated by burning oil. Coal, natural gas, hydro, solar, wind – but oil, very little indeed. So if one of the aims of developing alternatively powered cars is to move away from a dependence on oil, electric cars immediately achieve that outcome.

5. Improved Greenhouse Gas Emissions

It’s often assumed that moving to electric vehicles does not give a clear-cut improvement in greenhouse gas emissions. After all, the logic goes, the power has to be generated somewhere.

But as this graphic shows, short range electric vehicles have immediate benefits, and in the future, long-range electric vehicles are likely to have considerable advantage over petrol-powered cars.

This graph shows that the modelled greenhouse gas emissions of a large Australian family car is about 280 grams of CO2 per kilometre, and a hybrid petrol electric vehicle of the same size produces 220 grams/km.

An electric car using lithium ion batteries and powered from a coal-fired electricity generator already has an improved greenhouse gas performance – 260 grams/km, if a 200km range is assumed. If a 500km range is factored-in, the heavier battery pack boosts greenhouse gas emissions to 340 g/km.

Power the same electric vehicle from a natural gas power station and there is a huge advantage over current petrol-powered cars – 100 grams/km (for a 200km range) or 140 grams/km for a 500km range.

And for electric vehicles, things will only get better. Deriving oil from shale or tar sands, or gaining liquid fuels from gas or coal, all have much worse greenhouse gas signatures than current oil production. On the other hand, use of renewable electricity energies like wind and solar have vastly reduced greenhouse gas emissions – the future even better suits electric vehicles.

6. Reduced Cost of Motoring

Andrew Simpson’s modelling has shown that, right now, electric vehicles have lower running costs than conventional petrol-powered cars. And that takes into account battery replacement costs!

Again working on the basis of a large sedan, the modelling used an electric vehicle with a 40 kWh battery, battery cost of AUD$12,600, and a lifetime distance of 445,000km (3200 battery cycles). He calculates a lifetime cost of 2.8 cents/km - depending on the price charged for electricity, a total cost of 4 – 8 cents/km. That compares with the modelled running cost of the petrol engine car of 10-15 cents a kilometre (the variation depending on fuel price).

In short, the running costs are about halved.

Now you can argue that, since the greatest cost of owning a new car is depreciation, and that very few cars of any sort travel over 400,00km, such a cost calculating exercise is full of holes – and there probably are some. However, in overall terms, the modelling clearly shows that it is quite likely that electric vehicles will have cheaper running costs than current cars.

And, when you add the vastly lower maintenance requirements of an electric vehicle into the equation, the electric car benefit will become even clearer.

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March 16, 2009 · Filed Under Electric Car Conversion Blog

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