Comments on: Electric car use could ‘lead to rise in emissions’

By: Dave Henderson

Dave Henderson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:16:41 +0000

It is arguable whether electric cars are more (or less) efficient than internal combustion engines.

The point is they don’t work because they only go for a few miles before recharging which takes hours. That’s why there aren’t any. Look out of your window!

By: marc

marc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:56:58 +0000

This is spin from the petrol and internal-combustion engine lobby which is not backed up with any figures.

Electric vehicles are between 75% and 90% more efficient than petrol and diesel engines. While coal is burned to produce electricity, right now in the UK 20% of electricity is produced from non carbon sources (nuclear and renawables). Add the this the efficiency of EV’s the switch from oil powered fuels to electric gives a reduction on C02. Not an increase.

As for air pollution. Electric vehicles produce no tail pipe emissions. It is estimated that 19,000 deaths a year can be directly attributed to road
traffic emissions (tinyurl.com/ydlyxcw). Coal fired power station emissions can be controlled and limited at source.

Ecotricty (www.ecotricity.co.uk) have calculated that you would only need a 12% increase in grid capacity to run all the cars and vans in the UK as electric vehicles. This is due to the efficiency of electric vehicles, the fact that you can charge them at night when the grid has low demand. That 12% could be covered by renewables, which would produce 0 increase in C02 emissions.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:23:37 +0000

“The problem is this: the overall fuel efficiency of the total energy chain from coal to el-car movement is aprox half that of a modern car engine”

Um…why do you compare the whole energy chain for electric vs JUST the engine in the non-electric?

If you compare apples to apples you’ll find they’re pretty similar and THAT assumes a current situation where it is powered by 100% coal and disregards any improvements in reducing the percentage of carbon in electric generation which is a KEY goal of most governments.

The same idiot people that smugly exclaim that electric vehicles are being “powered by coal” are the ones holding up the introduction of non carbon alternatives. Eg… “No way! We can’t use electric cars because they’re powered by dirty coal. No way! We can’t built solar and wind because they are intermittant and we have no large storage system in place”

Anyone else see the stupidity in this argument? Electric cars are the perfect solution….the ONLY thing holding them back is price and this will come down with mass production and as technology improves.

By: Ola Dahl

Ola Dahl — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:52:11 +0000

The problem is this: the overall fuel efficiency of the total energy chain from coal to el-car movement is aprox half that of a modern car engine. That’s not all: local pollution from powerstations are often a much greater cause for health issues than that of car exhaust since petrol is a much cleaner fuel than coal, and the engine technology for cars is well in advance of that of powerstations. My nine year old Mercedes estate car consumes from 5,1 to 7,5 l/100km. It is capable of pulling a 2100kg trailer, handles well even in snowy winter roads, has great comfort and reliability (has done more than 400000km) and is great value. In my opinion electric cars will never come close to that of a modern diesel. Someone got an alternative?

By: Tim Raine

Tim Raine — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:26:55 +0000

“Electric cars are also counted as ‘zero emissions’ despite the fact that the electricity they use can come from high-carbon fossil fuels such as coal.” Why do all articles make this quote yet never mention that electric motors are much more efficient than petrol engines so contribute less CO2 even if the source is a Coal Power Station.