The Problem With Electric Battery Vehicles
Why Electric Cars May Not Be The Best Solution For the Environment
Jun 1, 2009
In May 2009, U.S. President Obama announced a plan that would ensure that all cars made in the U.S. have an average fuel economy of 35.5 mpg by 2016 in order to be better for the environment. The automakers' solution: the purely electric hybrid car.
Difference Between Hybrid and the Plug-in Electric Hybrid
There are currently a few hybrid cars on the market, such as the Toyota Prius (average 44 mpg) which operates on fuel when it is running and on electricity when it is idle. Idling is usually when a car burns the most gas, so using electricity when idling is what makes a hybrid car more fuel-efficient. The electric cars batteries are charged from power generated by its wheels. Electric cars available in 2010 will be purely plug-in hybrid electric cars that runs on a battery that can be recharged by simply plugging it into any ordinary power outlet.
Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Environment?
Purely electric cars do not emit any pollutants, which is definitely better for the environment. However, the U.S. power plants that produce the electricity are still predominantly coal-fired and one of the major sources of air pollutants in the U.S. The large amounts of C02 that they release contribute to global warming. The long-term goal is that electric battery cars will run on electricity from renewable sources such as wind instead of the pollutant coal. But wind is currently only 1 percent of the energy supply market, and renewable resources are only expected to reach 25 percent of the market by 2025 according to a recent RAND study conducted for the Energy Future Coalition.
Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Economy?
The U.S. government sees the electric car as an economic solution in that electricity is a domestic resource whereas oil is a foreign resource. But the truth is the United States has historically imported power from Canada and Mexico to meet demand. While it is only about 7 to 9 percent of overall use, the amount of megawatt-hours imported has increased every year, based on the annual statistics released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The reason for the imports is that the power grid in the U.S. is already overtaxed and frail, causing the major blackout in the North Eastern U.S. and Canada in 2003. Now imagine what would happen to this grid with everyone plugging in a car at night. If the current U.S. grid is not updated, then there will be no choice but to increase imports from other countries to meet demand.
Will Electric Cars Really Be Cheaper to Run?
It is believed that the cost to operate an electric car will be substantially lower because running a car on electricity is about ten times cheaper than running it on gasoline, and that may be the case in the beginning. But history and economics have shown that when demand goes up, prices usually increase unless supply expands even faster than demand.
Time will tell if electric cars are the solution. In the meantime, hopefully automakers are exploring other options as well.
 |
 |
