Do Electric Cars Make Sense?
Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 6:00AM 
Looks Cool, But Does It Make Sense?The last time I wrote about electric cars it caused a flurry of posts on facebook. I quoted Gary Jason, who has written a new post at Liberty Unbond on this issue:
The Australian has reported the results of a fascinating British study. It turns out that electric cars (EVs), those holy icons of the Green religion, may actually produce more atmosphere-destroying emissions over their lifetimes than regular, gasoline fueled cars — when you do the commonsense thing and factor in the energy it takes to produce the necessary batteries.
The Australian quotes a Britsh report which had these conclusions:
The study was commissioned by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, which is jointly funded by the British government and the car industry. It found that a mid-size electric car would produce 23.1 tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime, compared with 24 tonnes for a similar petrol car. Emissions from manufacturing electric cars are at least 50 per cent higher because batteries are made from materials such as lithium, copper and refined silicon, which require much energy to be processed.
Many electric cars are expected to need a replacement battery after a few years. Once the emissions from producing the second battery are added in, the total CO2 from producing an electric car rises to 12.6 tonnes, compared with 5.6 tonnes for a petrol car. Disposal also produces double the emissions because of the energy consumed in recovering and recycling metals in the battery. The study also took into account carbon emitted to generate the grid electricity consumed.
Unless one has a source of self generated electricity, I see little advantage to such vechicles at this time. Since this is not a large expenditure, a tax break for these vechicles will give the manufacturors time to see what they can accomplish. Unless there is a battery breakthrough, my guess is not much will be accomplished.
Reader Comments (1)
True and good post.
Why technology like the Peugeot Turbo Charged Diesel Hybrid is not being promoted is beyond me. I understand that it can give its output at upwards to 80 MPG.
Why the conspiracy against Diesel??
Eddie H. Nessul
Amboy , California
(Read Names Backwards!)