Governments are about to force electric cars on us, just as they forced CFLs ten years ago.
Electric vehicles
Electric vehicles and the Gartner hype cycle
Electric vehicles are at the peak of inflated expectations. The faster we dispel the myths about them, the faster we’ll go to the plateau of productivity.
Battery charge/discharge efficiency
If you addup the efficiency of the electric motor, the charge/discharge efficiency of the battery, the efficiency of the power plant, and the energy needed to construct the battery, electric vehicles seem to need more energy.
Amen
“For policymakers, encouraging high income consumers to purchase electric vehicles with questionable environmental benefits is not the answer.”
How hazardous is battery production?
Whether something is environmentally friendly or not is not only a matter of how much CO₂ it produces.
Electric vehicles: real vs imagined benefits
I like Volvo’s marketing of their electric trucks, because it doesn’t feature imagined benefits such as energy savings and “zero emissions.”
EV vs ICV: Zero evidence on which needs less energy
There is not any evidence whatsoever that electric need less energy than internal combustion vehicles.
When “zero emissions” means zero emissions
“Zero emissions” vehicles produce nonzero emissions, unless you can ensure all electricity comes from hydro or nuclear.
Zero cows
Milk bought at a supermarket doesn’t need cows.
What is the energy required to construct a battery?
Batteries seem to take quite a lot of energy to manufacture. If you take that into account, electric cars are not energy efficient.
Are batteries environmentally friendly?
Electric motors are cool, but before we conclude that batteries are environmentally friendly, we need to answer some questions.
Batteries won’t necessarily become better
Are you waiting for batteries to become better? Don’t hold your breath!
Specific energy matters
Electric is good for some uses, but on vehicles, ships and planes there’s the problem of specific energy of the batteries.
Zero emissions redux
The definition of a zero emission vehicle is… strange.
“Zero emissions”
“Zero emissions” actually means nonzero emissions.