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Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?

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Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?

#91

Post by greglindahl »

stephengillie wrote: post #85
greglindahl wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big city air can look great and still kill young children and old folks due to small particles. Most cities in Europe have terrible air thanks to the popularity of diesel autos, the low standards for pollution controls, and European governments being willing to ignore automakers who break the rules. Do you have a source for most pollution coming from large trucks?

Simply from the weight they carry, the energy required for this. Supplying a large city is neither cheap nor easy, and requires dozens or hundreds of daily shipments from dozens or hundreds of logistics companies. The majority of these happen during off-peak hours, to reduce load on the highway network. Lithium batteries still can't approach 10% of gasoline's energy density, so gasoline is mandatory for trucks, and w…

For how people die from air pollution, you can start with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution#Mortality

For Europe's special problem with diesel cars, try Googling [europe air pollution diesel]. It brings up a bunch of good news articles.

Lithium batteries don't have to approach gasoline energy density to handle local deliveries. Also, these trucks don't use gasoline, they are diesel.

Again, where is your source for "the majority of pollution is coming from large trucks"?

Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?

#92

Post by greglindahl »

himlion wrote: post #87
mcv wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Amsterdam, the city creates an electric car parking spot (with charger) near your house if you get an electric car. This is effectively a private parking spot if you're the only electric car owner in the street, and that's incredibly valuable in a city where parking spots are hard to find.

This will not scale as more and more people make use of this though. I agree it's a very strong incentive though.

The version that scales better is inexpensive pay charging stations.

Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?

#93

Post by greglindahl »

hnnsj wrote: post #83
YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 wrote: post #57

I'd say a better title for this article/graph would be "How would electric cars affect CO2 output in European countries?" or something along that line. There's far more to a specific car being a good idea considering the differences between EVs and ICEVs (but of course the needs vary inside countries as well). However, an electric car is much less attractive in a land of long distances where you often need to keep th…

E.g. Norway, the country where EVs are the most popular in the world?

Norway, land of hydropower, and where natural gas is more common than coal.

Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?

#94

Post by lordnacho »

afarrell wrote: post #28
hengheng wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gasses yes, but a large part of the particulates is actually emitted by the tires (through abrasion).

If you have a car with regenerative braking, doesn't that also keep brakepad dust out of the air?

I wonder if he means that it's the tyre against the road that creates the dust?

Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?

#95

Post by _ph_ »

smsm42 wrote: post #69
_ph_ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Bavaria, every single wild boar shot still has to be checked for radioactivity, quite a few have to be destroyed for too high radiation values. Equally, it is recommended not to eat too many mushrooms from the forest. All of this due to the Chernobyl accident more than 30 years ago.

I have very hard time believing anything harmful can get from Chernobyl to Bavaria and still be dangerous by now. I think it's just overreacting. There are millions of people living between Chernobyl and Bavaria, including cities such as Kyiv (3 mln people, less than 100km from Chernobyl), and there seems to be no sign of mass morbidity and mortality from any of radiation related causes. Makes it kinda hard to believ…

No believing involved, this is just science and using geiger counters. Here is the relevant link: https://www.bfs.de/DE/themen/ion/umwelt/lebensmittel/pilze-w...

The thing is that there are long living isotopes in the upper soil of the forests. As they are long living, they have not decayed yet enough and are not going to in the next decades. Something does not need to kill 80% of the population to be a significant health risk. With the isotopes relevant in Bavaria, they are only dangerous when eaten. So there is nothing dangerous about living in those regions. However mushrooms tend to aggregate the radioactive particles and so do the wild boar eating from the mushrooms. Not every animal is contaminated, but every single one has to be scanned for radiation, before they can be eaten, and quite a few have to be destroyed every year.

Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?

#98

Post by captainmuon »

Wait, you can choose what kind of energy you are using. In Germany at least, you can choose a utilities company who gives you 100% renewable energy (at a slightly higher price).

(Of course, I know that you get the same electrons - electricity is fungible. But you do increase demand for renewable energy, and in the long term change the energy mix.)

Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?

#99

Post by captainmuon »

Reason077 wrote: post #20

Electric 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 w…

Yeah, but does anybody do that?

If I had an electric car, I'd charge it overnight. I don't get different pricing at different times. There has been talk of introducing that for decades now (in Germany), but I'm not sure it is coming soon, nor that I'd like it. Probably, it would become just more expensive when I need it most, without being able to change my usage patterns much.

Re: Where in Europe is electric car a good idea?

#100

Post by gchadwick »

captainmuon wrote: post #99
Reason077 wrote: post #20

Electric 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 w…

Yeah, but does anybody do that? If I had an electric car, I'd charge it overnight. I don't get different pricing at different times. There has been talk of introducing that for decades now (in Germany), but I'm not sure it is coming soon, nor that I'd like it. Probably, it would become just more expensive when I need it most, without being able to change my usage patterns much.

In the UK off peak tariffs are available. It's a bit of a pain because it requires two meters but if someone was installing an electric charging point I imagine many would add an economy 7 (the name of the off peak tariff) meter at the same time.
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