Has anyone done a similar study in the US? I'd love to learn if electric cars here are really helping the planet.
This is oldish https://www.citylab.com/environment/2015/06/where-electric-v...
Thanks!
Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
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Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
#12English isn't my first language, but this title doesn't sound right. Not sure if it's incorrect but it just doesn't taste right. I'd say "where [..] are electric cars a good idea" or "where [..] is an electric car a good idea". Am I crazy? (This OT grammar nazi question was triggered by the author pushing his grammar book right at the page top)
As a native English speaker, I can confirm you are not crazy; it needs an article.
That or change it to talk about electric cars in general.
Where in Europe are electric cars a good idea?
edit: Also I think we'd have something that breaks Betteridge.
Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
#13Even if the CO2 balance would be a close call right now - one needs to take into respect that over the lifetime of an electric car, the electricity production in most places is going to have a much reduced carbon footprint. And of course, electric cars don't produce local pollution and create much less noise. Finally, electrical cars are an important step in producing batteries cheap enough for energy storage applications.
Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
#14Even if the CO2 balance would be a close call right now - one needs to take into respect that over the lifetime of an electric car, the electricity production in most places is going to have a much reduced carbon footprint. And of course, electric cars don't produce local pollution and create much less noise. Finally, electrical cars are an important step in producing batteries cheap enough for energy storage applica…
Indeed. When everyone has a combustion engine, the problem is completely decentralised and hard to solve. When everyone has an electric engine, the problem is centralised (the power plants).
Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
#15A huge benefit of electric cars is removing pollution from cities; this seems to be forgotten. Surely if the pollution is killing thousands of people a year this is an issue.
It's not forgotten by the authorities! In the SF Bay Area the local air quality council subsidizes electric car chargers. EVs reduce the total pollution and moves what's left out of the prone-to-atmospheric-inversions Bay Area.
Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
#16“Countries where electricity is mainly generated from natural gas. Electric car carbon footprint is globally equal to diesel car or gasoline car”
Is this true? My understanding is that EV’s power by electricy generated from natural gas is better than gas powered cars.
This Scientific American article gives a lot of detail on where EV’s are better in the US
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/electric-cars-are...
Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
#17Has anyone done a similar study in the US? I'd love to learn if electric cars here are really helping the planet.
Are you only interested in the answer today, or what the answer will be for today's EVs when the grid is cleaner in 10 or 20 years? That's one of many interesting aspects that this study isn't looking at.
Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
#18English isn't my first language, but this title doesn't sound right. Not sure if it's incorrect but it just doesn't taste right. I'd say "where [..] are electric cars a good idea" or "where [..] is an electric car a good idea". Am I crazy? (This OT grammar nazi question was triggered by the author pushing his grammar book right at the page top)
As a native English speaker, I can confirm you are not crazy; it needs an article.
This could just be elaborate marketing for that book...
Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
#19Has anyone done a similar study in the US? I'd love to learn if electric cars here are really helping the planet.
Are you only interested in the answer today, or what the answer will be for today's EVs when the grid is cleaner in 10 or 20 years? That's one of many interesting aspects that this study isn't looking at.
Oh for sure! I was looking mostly for current numbers but it's very important that we work to make the grid cleaner in order to make EVs make sense in the future.
Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?
#20Electric vehicles can be charged overnight and at off-peak times, so it's reasonable to assume they use a higher-than-average share of low-carbon energy.
For example, around 50% of the UK's electricity production is from low-carbon sources (renewables and nuclear). But a much higher percentage of off-peak power is low-carbon. After midnight, close to 100% of the grid is low-carbon because the gas turbines spin down while the wind turbines and nuclear reactors keep running. EVs and smart chargers/smart grids will help us make better use of clean off-peak power!
Also, grids will continue to get cleaner over time. An EV purchased today will have lower and lower emissions as it ages, but a combustion vehicle will only get worse!