Can a fully electric car be really green, if you have to charge it at home on your own electric supply....?

Question

Basically if we were all to buy these 100% electric cars, the extra demand on power stations to produce electric to charge these cars, would cause extra pollutants from the power stations.....

Answer 1

It is far easier and more manageable to control the pollutants coming out of the power plant smokestack than the millions of vehicle exhaust pipes. But your point is valid that it not 100% renewable as long as the power plants are using natural gas, coal, etc. for fuel. But it is definitely possible to charge the batteries for an electric vehicle using solar panels. That technology exists now.

What has the been the main obstacle to wide-spread adoption of solar power is the high cost of the panels. I was recently quoted over $35k for my house. But I know of a company that will rent a homeowner all the panels needed for no upfront investment. And the rental rate will be less than what the utilities currently charge. If you would like more info on this let me know; [e-mail]

Answer 2

Imagine that you are in a traffic jam in a tunnel under your city for a few hours. All motors around are diesel because they are the most efficient for petrol based fuels. Black smoke and nitrogen oxides would make the situation desperate. What if instead all cars were equipped in the same situation with electrical motors: no fumes, noise, or vibrations and moreover stopped when the car is stopped. The air of our cities, and the world, are closed systems, so better to avoid pollutants. New safe and clean nuclear power stations are much better in this respect compared to fossil fuels. Cheap energy could be also a bonus for smokestake type of industry, that would avoid oil and use instead electric based systems.

Answer 3

Possible but probably not economically feasible. It takes twice as much energy to charge a battery as a battery holds and solar photo-voltaics are currently around the $8 a watt range. Even if your electric vehicle only had a 1/5th of the range of a comparable gas car and that an electric vehicle is 90% efficient compared with the 25% efficiency of a gasoline car and only using half the range of the car per day, you're still talking about 20 KWh and if you assume that you have 8 hours of decent sunshine to work with that means 2,500 KW worth of Solar Panels or $20,000 just for the panels. Since batteries are the major part of the cost of an electric vehicle, you're probably talking about $60,000 to have an electric vehicle, two sets of batteries, the solar panels and the control circuitry to charge them daily. The difference between that and an economical fuel efficient gasoline car pays for an awful lot of gas.

Answer 4

Electric cars are the best alternative fuel solution we have, if reduction of pollution and energy independence are our goals.
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Despite oil-industry propaganda being spread far and wide, electric vehicles do NOT cause anywhere near the level of pollution that gas-based vehicles do. It's true that many powerplants burn dirty fuel (like coal), but even these dirty fuels are burned with a far greater level of efficiency (newer plants, 85% efficient) at the plant then they could ever be burned in your car (gas engine, 25% efficient).
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Greater efficiency means more miles driven on less fuel - and much less pollution per mile.
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Electric motors are also far more efficient than gas engines are (up to 95%). But here's the best part. Electric cars are the only vehicles that fuel by wire - and the electric grid that moves electricity around the country is about 95% efficient. Compare this with the vast, inefficient oil-industry system that trucks gasoline to thousands of service stations around the country - and creates still more pollution in the process.
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Plus, don't forget that additional pollution is created when gasoline is refined - a process that uses LOTS of electricity!
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In the near term there will be no extra load on powerplants at all - if people charge their cars at night. Presently, much electricicity goes to waste at night - because many of the largest powerplants can't shut off when demand for electriciity goes down. I've seen estimates that say from 30 to 50 million cars can charge overnight before expansion of the grid is necessary.
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The best proof that EVs use less energy per mile is reflected right in the cost of fuel. In most places, the electricity to run an electric car only costs about a penny per mile. Gasoline costs closer to ten times that! Here's a breakdown of what it costs to buy and run an electric vehicle:
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http://www.squidoo.com/cheap-electric-car/
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SEE BELOW FOR DOCUMENTATION

Answer 5

No form of transport, even foot or cycle is "really green".
everything we do has an environmental impact.
but for personal transport sollutions electric vehicles are far greener than infernal combustion engine (ice) alternatives, oil., bio-fuel or hydrogen

Tesla, www.teslamotors.com, recon you could provide enough electric to meet your average transport requirements from $30,000 of photo-voltaics on your roof (Tesla is a high performance sports car, made by Lotus Norfolk UK, which will out perform a ferrari and do 250 miles per charge)

Basically electric motors are far more suited to traction than ice, because max torque at 0 rpm, no warm up period, no consumption when stationary, recharge batteries when slowing down; fewer moving parts = more reliable, less maintenance.
Modern bateries could have a 20 year life, and be rechaged in 10 minutes http://www.altairnano.com/

The generating electric at a big power station is more effiient (produces less overall polution) than small ice because reduced refining of fuel, close to source (less pipelines & tankers), always operating at optimum temperature & load, constantly monitored and maintained, and basic laws of thermodynamics = bigger the better for energy conversion.

Electric cars can be refuled at home or work, quieter, smell free, just a much more enjoyable & relaxed driving experience. listen to the tesimony of drivers in the film who killed the electric car
www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com. This will also fully answer your questions about polution from powerstations

Answer 6

that is correct so what we must concentrate on is producing electricity in a way that does not pollute. Wind power (which is in progress). Tide and wave power (Limited) Solar power which is an area ripe for research and development. I read somewhere that enough power from the sun falls on 200 square miles of the Sahara desert every day to provide all the power the earth needs. What is required is the money spent to exploit such power.

Answer 7

How about cars where you would take a card to a petrol station, get it credited for £10-£20, put it in a slot on the car & it reads off how much credit you have on it, & tops up your car with the equivalent of the price of petrol, which should last a week. If you can do this with gas & electric meters, why not cars?

Answer 8

If we all buy the electric cars and we force the electric co's to go wind, solar and hydro plus you put in solar and wind at your house I would think there should be enough plus extra left over. And we would be "really green" as you put it. Even the public and make hydrogen to run their heat from or even solar space heaters with a heat storage under ground. It would not be that hard to do. It will just take the big boys to find a way to make money from it all before they will get the ball rolling.

See my profile for a good link to learn how to build solar electric and do your part..

Answer 9

Your main problem is u don't recognize air pollution . What u say about CO2 ,what u think if CO2 is not a pollutant. Mother nature has recycled our air with plants for millions of years . The main thing is that the plants need CO2 as much as u need oxygen. They want u to think that the CO2 has increased 30% and that is a lie. Go get some good data and u will find that CO2 has not increased any in the last 30 years.

Answer 10

If you're going to generate energy using fossil fuels, it's more efficient to do so centrally rather than have a petrol burner in each car. It would only be green if the electricity to power your car came from renewable resources.