
Questioning electric vehicles' green cred - yitchelle
http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160316-questioning-electric-vehicles-green-cred
======
dalke
In short, the questioning finds that electric cars have a lower carbon
footprint then gasoline ones. Here are the most relevant quotes which address
that:

"If you get an electric car running on electricity made from coal, its impact
would probably be about the same as a gasoline car. If you run on anything
else it gets much better."

We don't use only coal for power generation. "Based on the average current mix
of renewable and non-renewable electric power sources in the US, the average
of well-to-wheels greenhouse-gas emissions for current battery-electric
vehicles is 214 g/mi ... In comparison, the average for current gasoline-
powered vehicles ranges from 356 g/mi for direct fuel injection to 409 g/mi
for traditional fuel injection."

~~~
yitchelle
Then the question becomes the location of the power station. If Singapore only
has coal power status, the studies from the US is not relevant as the car is
primarily driven in Singapore.

In a country like Paraguay where electricity is 100% hydroelectric, the gains
would be fantastic!

[0] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Paraguay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Paraguay)

~~~
dalke
Singapore's power grid uses primarily natural gas [1], at 0.5 g CO2/Wh [2].

Coal is about 0.9 g CO2/Wh [3].

One of the links in the article is to
[http://www.climatecentral.org/news/a-roadmap-to-climate-
frie...](http://www.climatecentral.org/news/a-roadmap-to-climate-friendly-
cars-2013-16318) , which shows the places in the US where it's better to have
a hybrid than an electric vehicle, if your primary concern is CO2 emissions.
These include West Virginia, where 95.5% of the electricity comes from coal.
[8]

I've been looking for a country where there are only coal powered power
plants. The developed countries countries which use the most coal as a
percentage of electricity generation include Australia and Greece [4], at
about 75% [4,5]. China is also at 75% [6], while it's 61% in India [7].

There are, it therefore seems, very few places where an electric car is not
significantly better than a (non-hybrid) gasoline vehicle with respect to CO2
emissions.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Singapor...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Singapore)
; [2] [http://www.techspot.com/news/64063-singapore-first-tesla-
mod...](http://www.techspot.com/news/64063-singapore-first-tesla-model-s-
owner-hit-11000.html) ; [3]
[http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=74&t=11](http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=74&t=11)
lists 2.07 pounds CO2/kWh = 2.07/2.2 grams/Wh. ; [4] [http://www.world-
nuclear.org/information-library/country-pro...](http://www.world-
nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-
a-f/appendices/australia-s-electricity.aspx) ; [5]
[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greece_and_coal](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greece_and_coal)
; [6]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_China)
; [7]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_India](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_India)
; [8] [http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=WV](http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=WV) ;
[9] Enough footnotes? :)

------
mchahn
I see electric cars as the first of a pair of technologies that will
dramatically improve emissions. When combined with renewable energy like
solar, wind, etc. you get the ideal situation.

Since both technologies have to be developed, what's wrong with one maturing
first, even though not perfect.

