Why large EVs may cook the planet
Last week Alan Moran, director of the Institute of Public Affairs' deregulation unit, wrote in The Australian Financial Review an article titled, “Era of cheap energy needn’t be over” (January 11). Critiquing Resources Minister Martin Ferguson’s white paper on energy, where the minister asserts that “the era of cheap energy is over”, Alan Moran concludes “we are not running out of cheap coal or gas”.
Alan’s assertion might be correct if one overlooks the staggering ecological cost associated with burning coal and gas (methane) and the economic and social impact on society as oil production plateaus. In just 100 years, mankind has released half the CO2 stored up by nature in the form of oil, contributing to a global warming trend. Now that this resource is diminishing Moran appears to suggest continuing with business as usual by burning the equivalent amount in coal – this despite the fact that coal has only half the energy of oil and releases twice the CO2.
It could be argued that the headlong rush to extract coal seam gas marks the tipping point where we can no longer extract enough oil to meet our voracious demand for energy. Renewables are in no position to fill the energy gap and as we turn to coal we must account for the fact that, weight for weight, it has half the energy of oil and releases twice the CO2, along with sulphur and particulates. Fossil fuels like coal and gas have an environmental cost that we choose to ignore at our peril. For now, however, they are our only means to fill the energy gap left by oil.
Which brings me to the issue of switching from petrol to electric cars – in particular, big electric cars. As Alan Kohler noted, “At a factory in Port Melbourne, just up the road from General Motors Holden, a group of parts makers led by Better Place and Futuris have built a Holden Commodore EV at their own expense – with some money from the government – to prove to GMH and the government that it can be done cost-effectively” (Carr's chance to rev the EV engine, January 12). This government assistance meant a total $3 million from the taxpayer.
Today those promoting big electric cars assure consumers that these cars will only use green renewable energy such as wind, solar and wave energy. However, this is a myth. Of the 80 million barrels of oil consumed world wide per day approximately 56 million barrels per day are used for transportation. Of these, 30 million barrels a day are used to move people and there is no way that renewable sources will replace this level of energy demand any time soon – if ever. Should we choose to run big electric cars like a Commodore we’ll need to burn a lot more coal, as the energy gap widens, than would have been needed had the well meaning consortium selected a smaller vehicle. Keep in mind that the best coal was burned during the industrial revolution, leaving us lesser quality fuel with associated release of sulphur, soot and heavy metals.
Big cars are attractive in terms of their comfort and safety, but we also need to consider that an electric Commodore could require in the order of 32kW hours to travel a practical 100km on Australian roads. That’s more than twice what the smaller Mitsubishi iMiev or Blade Electron require to travel the same distance. Figuratively speaking, if the roads filled with big electric Commodores, we might end up cooking the planet to run them. More likely, as we finally start to pay for the CO2 we emit, sales of an electric Commodore could quickly go in the same direction as its petrol cousin. Add to this the cost to upgrade the grid to cope with the additional demand created by EVs and in this context GMH and Minister Carr would be wise to avoid the temptation of a big electric car fix for the ailing Commodore. GMH and the planet will do better to stick with its smaller Volt.
The era of cheap energy is over and it is time, as a society, to cut back our energy consumption, not increase it – at least until a cheap non-fossil alternative is put in place. This means smaller, energy efficient housing, greater use of rail for transporting people and goods, consumer products that are made to last longer (say, 25 years) and smaller cars that require ‘less to do more’. For the next 50 years at least, the only cheap non-fossil fuel alternative to oil for our primary electricity, heating and transport needs is nuclear – preferably thorium, which is 1000 time less radioactive than uranium and which creates waste that decays in 30 years, compared to 10,000 years for uranium waste. After Fukushima, however, it is far from certain that we’ll choose the nuclear option. If we reject it, the only sustainable choice open to us is to radically cut back on our energy consumption permanently and in this context, if personal transport is to survive, it will be in the form of small electric cars.
Comments on this article
This topic is something that
This topic is something that I have been looking into for a while now and your insight is exceptional. Thanks for sharing this information.classroom sets books
A few comments
An interesting article and I agree with much of it, particularly that we need to think smaller not bigger, but a couple points seem to be missed/wrong:
1. Electric vehicles are 3+ times more efficient than internal combustion engines (ICEs), so relative to a comparable sized ICE, the electric still emits about 20% less when charged with coal-generated electricity. Obviously with renewable generated electricity the emissions are very low relatively. (See Curtin University Sustainability Policy Unit – Andrew Simpson’s publications under: http://sustainability.curtin.edu.au/research_publications/renewable_transport.cfm )
2. Renewables can provide for all of our transport requirements using only a small amount more grid production (13% per Better Place http://www.betterplace.com.au/media/technical-notes.html) if they are charged off peak hours and/or with demand management capability on the car chargers. Beyond Zero Emissions also shows in its Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Report how much primary energy use would decrease with the use of electric vehicles, largely because of the relatively high efficiency of EVs. You can download the report free at: http://beyondzeroemissions.org/about/bze-brand
3. If we wait for the Thorium and other next gen reactors, there are a fair amount of unknowns and we still end up with radioactive waste, even if it is less so than from uranium reactors, whereas we have the renewables technologies to start our low-carbon economy without all those associated issues of nuclear.
Volt Fires
For prosperity I found a link to the people that were handling the investigation.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2012/NHTSA+Statement+on+...
They have little detail on the possible causes that i could find but the conclusion is:
"no discernible defect trend exists and that the vehicle modifications recently developed by General Motors reduce the potential for battery intrusion resulting from side impacts."
cont.
7-Probably the same people who used to run Service stations/ Parking meters or a contractor to a parking lot manager.
8- THe Neighbor i think. Though he'd probably be charging it in his Garage with a socket in the wall I've heard they cost about $150, fast charfge costs a hell of a lot though. Then again it codl be wireless of induction charging wich would have no wire, but be expensive too. The other option is that they'd use a rental from a carshare system which would mean no car or Garage near their house at all.
9- I don't know the cause of the Volt's Fire and I haven't heard of any results to teh investigation yet. I'd guess it's overheating or something from the case being cracked.
But on that though there is to other pages
.Here is an article I read recently about that with some food for thought. I guess the comparativly high price and limited sales are a blessing in disguise.http://www.plugincars.com/car-fires-recals-and-politics.html
Sorry for the long post. Also it added a lot of code at the start that i don't know how to remove after spell checking the post in MSWord. Sorry about that could a mod try to fix it for me please? I'm not used to this format.
Sorry about the Text dump
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
I thought I'd try genuinely answering Touchan's questions.
1- I'd imagine the same was you would any other Car.
2- I have heard that lots of torque is what you want, something that electric engines excel at. However if you don’t go too often you could rent a swish 4x4 for the adventure and commute with the Hybrid. I don't caravan sorry so i don't know.
3-From where? Bris and Melbourne are about 950Km. Looking at Vehicle specs it's range is ~550Km total. So that would be one charge/refill, During lunch? Pure EVs would have an issue though as their range is around 160km. But I would rent or take the Train if going interstate.
4- 4 hours with a 240V plug. UIltimatly Fast charge would be teh method though that can be 10 - 40min. You might just fill up the Fuel tank and it would run off that since it's a range extended hybrid though.
5-With battery swap systems (like that one) they would need to be standardized for manufacturers to design cars so I reckon yes. Also that system is more or less exclusive to Plugs for long range. I think the trial places take 30-60sec. I couldn't find an official report sorry that is something I remember from a news story.
You are completely correct
You are completely correct Senor Toucan!
Producing EV's will be too hard, too many issues to overcome. We should just give up now and continue down the same road that we are on and cross our fingers that it all works out in the end.
If everyone had the same opinion as you, we would still be riding horses to Sydney, a horse would be pulling our wagon or sailing boat around, hours would be added to your journey waiting for your horse to recover, your horse would not accept a non-genuine saddle and would only drink Evian water etc etc etc.
Any idiot can point out problems with anything. Thankfully there are intelligent people working to provide solutions to all of the petty issues that you identify.
@SenorToucan
with all due respect and no malice intended:
maybe 3 children was too many
caravan, speedboat!! you are part of the problim sir.
why would you want to go to Sydney?
waiting for a battery to charge? boo hoo Bet a bike, become part of the solution.
if you trip over your neighbours charging cord then too bad. you should watch where you're going. and you could probably sue him or the council i guess, just as you can already. Public liability is a scourge on our nation.
Volts are probably catching fire because they are made cheaply and shodily due to car manufacturer (Chev) being broke and simply trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of their low paid workforce. because most people will not pay for quality anymore.
Costs
The big issue for me is why the electric cars being offered on sale in Australia are about 40% more expensive than in North America. The Nissan Leaf will sell in the us for under$30,000 in the US and in excess of $50,000 in Australia with the Australian and US dollars at parity. Import duties don't explain it.
We recently bought an economical petrol powered car for $13,000 new. We would have considered spending maybe twice that amount for an equivalent electric car but four times is utterly out of the question.
I expect we will have to wait for the Chinese EVs to come on to the market so we can charge it with the Chinese solar panels on the roof.
price rise
There is just so much that the people will take as the price of energy keeps rising, people will eventually retaliate against the rising cost of living as not doing what need to keep the country going!
confused story here
When fuel comes free direct from the big nuclear reactor in the sky (the sun) via wind, solar, why does energy have to be more expensive than coal, oil, gas? ... just need to get over the scale-up of capturing the energy, which is happening; eg China now plans for 1000GW wind by 2050.
Why can't renewables transport people en masse in electric trains etc (they already do)? Big car, small car, truck, train ... electric versions of all are possible.
Why the hassle of building nuclear reactors with issues around cost, safety, disposal of waste, when we have a very big nuclear reactor in the sky?
Must stop coal, oil, gas or we are generating energy for an unliveable planet.
Populist
This statement:
Keep in mind that the best coal was burned during the industrial revolution, leaving us lesser quality fuel with associated release of sulphur, soot and heavy metals.
is wrong as far as Australia goes. As far as the US goes they have mandated huge clean up of stack emissions and China too.
This is simplistic:
Add to this the cost to upgrade the grid to cope with the additional demand created by EVs
and shows no idea about how grids may be managed.
Finally:
The era of cheap energy is over..
Currently US gas prices are about $2.50/GJ all from shale gas and electricity prices are through the floor all because of shale gas. The same will happen here and many other places world wide. The issue of leaks and fugative emissions won't be as dramatic as people think because the leaks are mostly fro the small pipes and millions of connections in the local to the home networks. Big transmission of all this gas to power stations won't have anything like the leaks in terms of total mass escaping.
The interim will be gas for at least the next 20 years supplanting coal until (when this author finally makes an accurate statement):
at least until a cheap non-fossil alternative is put in place.
In the meantime the renewables will only grow slowly solely because of Govt subsidy. The central Australian gas and oil shale fields aren't on anyones radar yet, but the gas cometh.
A few questions for the EV pundits....
How do I fit my wife and three teenage children in a Volt with all our luggage?
How does a Volt go at towing a caravan or speedboat?
How many charges does it need to get to Sydney?
How much downtime is added to my journey in waiting for the battery to charge?
Will my vehicle manufacturer accept non-genuine batteries mandated as swap-outs under Evan Thornley's expensive EV network?
With all the disgusting service stations now replaced by shiny new apartment blocks where are all the charging stations going to be?
Who will maintain the charging infrastucture?
Who is liable if I trip over a charging cord running from my neigbours house to his car that traverses the footpath outside his home?
And finally...
Why are all those Volts catching fire in the US?