ABSURD ARGUMENTS BEHIND ELECTRIC VEHICLES

 

People do not realise basic physics. If your vehicle weighs one ton then the Laws of Physics determines that you will always need the same amount of energy to move that car from A to B at a certain speed. You cannot change that equation.

Whether petrol driven, electric driven etc you will still need the same amount of energy to drive your car from your house to the office everyday.

Having an electric vehicle does not change that equation even a little bit. The only change is instead of burning a few litres of petrol in your car's engine the power company will now burn that same amount of gas in their power station (far away from your house and office) to produce that electricity that will now power your car.

So what happens is that your immediate neighborhood (around your house, your office etc) will suffer zero smoke emission. Your immediate surroundings become cleaner. But the power station far from your home will be producing more smoke and more emissions. It is hoped that the power station will do a better job of trapping that extra smoke they will be producing and stop that smoke (CO2) from being released into the atmosphere. Thats about it.

Will the earth be consuming less energy? Especially less fossil fuel energy? I dont think so.

They say the electric vehicle is more efficient than a petrol driven vehicle in moving a car or vehicle.    EVs can convert 77% of  B A T T E R Y electrical energy into power at the wheels. Petrol cars are at best 30% efficient.  

SO EVs LOSE 23% OF POWER BETWEEN THE BATTERY AND THE WHEELS OF THE CAR. KEEP THIS IN MIND.

The problem is BEFORE the battery can be charged up, electric power is already lost over the long power transmission cables from the power station to the charging point. That is Ohm's Law.

Then not all the power that goes into the battery is captured 100% in the battery. There is some power loss there as well. 

And then finally, after all this, there is that "EVs LOSE 23% OF POWER BETWEEN THE BATTERY AND THE WHEELS OF THE CAR" . 

Taking all this into consideration will the EVs really 'save the world'? Or even save energy for the world?

And dont forget that internal combustion engines are also improving and increasing in their efficiencies. The fellows at Toyota have invented yet another super efficient engine. 

What will carry the day for EVs will be cheaper and more efficient batteries. That 1000 km per charge battery is still elusive.

And of course no one will object to exhaust free roads. I will support that any day.

But will it save the world, save energy for the world etc?  Hmm..

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.