We're are being urged to go over to Electric cars to help?

Question

with the ozone thing. But don't you have to charge these cars up with electricity to keep the battery good? And won't that mean that we end up using more electricity when we're being told to conserve it? I'm confused on this issue.

Answer 1

But electricity can be generated without harming the environment. That is the point behind it.

Answer 2

Considering the amount of misinformation special interests are putting out, I can understand being confused. Especially since a lot of science articles aren't veryclear. So, here goes:

First--the urge to shift away from buring fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas) is not about ozone, its about the release of too much carbon dioxide (CO2)into the atmosphere. The problem with the ozone is an entirely different issue--and essentially a solved problem. Ozone is a form of oxygen that is consentrated in a high level of the atmosphere--and protects us from excess ultraviolet light. Chemicals (called CFC's) break down the ozone. CFCs are now banned--have been for years--and the ozone layer is beiginning to recover.

But burning massive amounts of oil, etc. creates a different problem-and a much bigger one. When all that CO2 into the air, it acts as a "greenhouse gas"-in effect a blanket that traps heat. The global warming that is resulting is beginning to change the climate worldwide-and will change climate in large and disasterous ways in the next few decades if we don't take steps to curtail it by reducing cO2 emmissions drastically.

Thats where the conservation comes in. Strictly, we don't need to conserve electricity--but much of our electric power is produced by burning coal--which realeses CO2 in huge amounts. So we can help cut cO2 emmissions indirectly by reducing electric use (thus power companies will need to burn less coal).

Now, about the electric car. Your point is well taken--you have to charge the batteries somewhere--and that means producing more power. But let's take this a step at a time:
1) cars today burn oil (as gasoline) and so release Co2. Ovviously, since that's the biggest single part of our energy use, changing that is a big part of the solution. So--as far as it goes, electric cars are a great idea.
2) You put your finger on the snag in that idea--you still need to produce the energy. But there are ways to do this without burning coal. One is to increase use of solar energy. Anoter is to use things like wind power, biofuels, and even nuclear power ( if the safety issues can be resolved).
3) So--what we need is a "package" of different technologies and ways to save energy that, put together, will eliminate burning fossil fuels. There is no single thing that will do the whole job (a shame, it would make this easier). In the case of your question, part of the solution is to switch to electric cars. But the other part is to develop and implement alternative ways of producing the energy/electricity to charge all those cars' batteries. So, electric cars will be a big part of the solution--but they will be part of a combination of technologies that, when you put them together, will eliminate the need to burn large amounts of fossil fuels. JUST building electric cars isn't the whole story, even though its a important part.

Answer 3

Patricia you are absolutely correct. Electric cars reduce the pollution at the point at which they are used. Therefore town centres and motorways will have wonderful pollution free air. However in order to make 10 kilowatts of electricity, assuming at best that a power station is 70% efficient, that means that 13 kw energy will be needed to make that 10kw. If every car in the country went electric the power stations would be sending out 30% additional carbon and other pollutants into the atmosphere and the air in the immediate area of the power stations would be unbreathable as well as adding just as much to the greenhouse effect. I am not sure what the actual efficiency of a power station is so the figure I give is for illustration only.
The Ozone layer problem is not due to carbon emissions but the release of CFC from pressurised cans but his seems to have been corrected to a certain extent and the holes in the Ozone layer are gradually closing. Hope you understand my ramblings and that I have given you a clearer insite to the problem. Your instinct in this was spot on.

Answer 4

As others have said electric doesn't have to come from burning fossil fuels that increase Co2.

but even if they do use fossil fuel, coal, oil or gas) larger generators, constantly monitored & maintained, running at optimum temperature & load, using less refined fuel close to source, and a very efficient delivery grid, are far more efficient than small infernal combustion engine (ice), that never reach optimum temerature on most journeys & maintained one a year at most. Also charging cars at night smooths out the load on the power stations, and can be sold back to the grid at times of peak demand if you don't use it - essential if we use renewables like wind when the supply occurs when the wind blows, not when we want to boil a kettle.

Electric motors are also better suited to traction than ice becuse they generate max torque at 0 rpm, so no complicated gear box required, (this is why trains are diesel-Electric), no warm-up required, no energy use when stationary, energy recovery when slowing down - this is why hybrids give better mpg.

BUT the main reason we should go over to electric is that they are more fun, more pleasent & more relaxing to drive. refuel conviniently at home or work;

also cheaper to run: £0 UK road tax; free parking in some cities like Westminster and no congestion charge, because they emit no particulates that kill thousands in our cities (source UK cheif scientific advisor) They also have fewer moving parts so are simpler to make, more reliable & cheaper to maintain. cheaper to make & recycle contain no exotic metalurgy nano-LI batteries have a life >20years (and they can be charged in 10 minutes, see Phoenix 90mph SUT)

unfortunatly the UK motoring press go on so many fossil fuel guzzling jollies they don't have the brains to understand & communicate anything clearly if it isnt in an official press release from their sponsors. eg someone mentioned the Tesla, a car that does 0-60 in 4 secs & 250 miles per charge, is built by Lotus Norfolk UK, but there is no mention in the UK motoring media.

Answer 5

Actually, I think we’re talking about CO2 production from cars effecting global warming, rather that the ozone layer – that’s CFCs, and has long been sorted out. The hole in the ozone layer is shrinking nicely.

The difference between the ‘ozone hole’ problem and the ‘CO2 causing global warming’ problem is that the former was real science, so it was dealt with swiftly, whereas the latter is dodgy science and thus there is a lot of resistance to it – and rightly so.

The answer to your question is, of course, that we simply have to use forms of electricity generation that don’t produce CO2, and the best candidate for that is nuclear. France, for example, is around 80% nuclear and has half the UK’s carbon footprint.

Also, if we went nuclear, we could completely forget about this nonsense of “don’t leave your TV on standby” and “everyone must use energy efficient light bulbs” etc., etc., because with nuclear power we’d have all the electricity we’d need without a single gram of CO2 being produced, so we could use as much electricity as we wanted without any problems.

I’m a great believer that all these green ideas are fine, but only if they don’t adversely effect my quality of life. So there is no way that I’m going to give up my car, for example. On the other hand, I have solar panels on my roof, to heat my hot water. I’m happy with that, because it just does its thing when the sun is shining, without effecting me at all – I can completely forget that they’re there.

So, that’s the future for me. Let’s make changes that allow us to maintain our high standard of living.

BTW, ‘John M’, above, is actually the one who is talking… no, I won’t lower myself to his level. Suffice to say that he is misinformed. Mankind only contributes a small amount, less than 10%, of the total CO2 production of the planet. (http://www.opinionet.com/cms/staff/bobwebster/globalwarmingseries05.shtml#note4 ) All living things produce CO2. Dead things do too, in the form of rotting vegetation. But the vast majority of CO2 comes from the oceans - they release CO2 as they warm and 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by ocean.

Answer 6

Electricity comes from all sorts of sources. Conserving energy means shutting of the lights when you leave the house so your bill isn't too high. All in all, the amount of electricity you use to drive a mile costs less than the gasoline, plus its better for the environment.

Answer 7

hiya, Reece! that's no longer the respond you prefer.yet... i actually needed a very electric vehicle until i found out one concern: nevertheless the electrical powered vehicle is the cleanest available you nevertheless bypass away a carbon print on the flexibility era station. a minimum of in my part of the country, ninety% of our electric ability comes from burning coal. using an all electric purely provides that far extra pollutants. i'm going decrease back to re-examine the Hybrid that makes use of little or no gasoline and takes advantage of breaking and different issues to grant me 40-60+ mpg. that's beneficial to to re-examine the comparable.

Answer 8

But there is not choice when we want to buy an electric car. The only viable electric is the Tesla . Priced at $100k, it is for the very wealthy. The Tesla does get 1 mile to the cost of 1cent of electricity.

Answer 9

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What we need here is the big picture.
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Yes, electric cars need electricity. But so do gas cars. You heard me right. Large amounts of electricity are used to refine gasoline.
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Here's something else to consider. Many powerplants just can't be turned off. It takes too long to restart them. So they run all night, even after demand for electricity has died down, and let the energy go to waste. Now, guess when most electric cars charge their batteries?
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It turns out that millions of electric cars can charge just on the electricity from reduced gasoline demand, and on electricity that goes to waste overnight. And after that, there's plenty of reserve capacity available at night. If there are ever enough electric cars out there that we need new electric plants, lets build clean and efficient plants. Even new designs for coal plants are up to 85% efficient.
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You also have to compare this to gasoline. Nothing is worse than gas. Gas makes pollution when its refined, it makes pollution when it's delivered by thousands of trucks to gas stations (electric cars fuel by wire - at 95% efficiency - no trucks), and of course, gas makes pollution when you use it.
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A little extra electricity consumption is nothing compared to this. Check out the link underneath for more info on exactly why electric cars DO NOT pollute anywhere near what gas cars do.
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Answer 10

The entire issue is clouded.

When human input to global warming is only 0.001% when compared to natural warming its no small wonder that all we hear about are the negatives and often extremely daft ideology. If the whole world was to change its light-bulbs to nice efficient ones, stopped the burning of fossil fuels and went completely to Hydrogen or Electric cars, the difference it would make is still microscopic. The world is heating because of natural cycles, the CO2 is coming from nature as it warms.

Your sensible conclusion is of course correct unless of course you dont plug it into the national grid. If you were to use wind-power or the like it would at least be clean.

But at the end of the day, its all going to come to nought, bar of course the obvious fact that Oil will run out at some point and alternative fuel sources WILL need to be found.

Answer 11

You are correct, today's electric cars merely shift the emission of greenhouse gases from the car tailpipe to the power stations smokestack, and that won't change until they either pull their heads out about nuclear power or come up with a truly efficient means of storing electricity for immediate use after sunset on windless nights.