Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that America’s goal should be to make electric cars more affordable.
Stevie… how about making them more capable of driving around the block without dying or bursting into flame, first?
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that America’s goal should be to make electric cars more affordable.
Stevie… how about making them more capable of driving around the block without dying or bursting into flame, first?
This is even worse than Noam Chomsky’s behavior in thinking that he’s an expert in everything because he’s an expert in linguistics. Steven Chu is a physicist. He’s such a good physicist that he has won the Nobel Prize in physics. He knows all the reasons that electric cars (and windmills, and solar energy, etc.) don’t and won’t work. He’s simply sold himself out.
The same way they’re making health care “affordable”? I don’t think we can afford to make both of them affordable.
Subsidize them. Oh wait, already tried that.
1.4 million people are still without power from Saturday’s storms. Electric cars looking good for them?
No, America’s goal should be to eliminate unnecessary and intrusive positions like “Energy Secretary.”
If you have a gas-powered car, you can use it as an emergency generator of sorts by plugging stuff into the cigarette lighter.
At least you’d be able to keep your phone & laptop charged.
Sources conflict on the number of pounds of coal to create a kWh of electricity:
* Dept. of Energy: 2.1 lbs.
* Arizona Public Service Company: 1.1 lbs.
* CoalEducation.org: 0.8 lbs. (big surprise that the coal industry claims the greatest efficiency)
Transmission and distribution losses are estimated to be 7.2%, so our adjusted figures would be 2.25, 1.18, and 0.86 lbs. per kWh respectively.
An average household uses around 920 kWh/mo. If they got all their electricity from burning coal, that’s 2070 to 791 pounds of coal per month.
Incidentally, coal-fired plants are only 37-44% efficient at converting coal to electricity.
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The MINI-E has a 35 kWh battery pack but only 80% of the pack is usable which means it has 28kWh of available power. That 28kWh can move the car between 90 and 120 miles depending on how efficiently you drive. It is less in the winter months because the heater uses a lot of energy, but for most of the year these numbers are correct as an average.
Therefore: it takes up to 63 POUNDS of coal to go 90 miles!
hmmmmmmmm I wonder what pollutes more…burning 63 lbs of coal or 3 gallons of gas? hmmmmm
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What a load of crap.
The reason we don’t drive GM EV1’s or Toyota RAV4 EV’s or Honda EV’s or Ford Ranger EV’s is because you CAN’T BUY one any more!
Thank the oil investors for that. They hold controlling interests in the auto companies.
Those efficiency estimates are way off!
Electric cars have been around since the 1800’s Henry Ford’s wife drove an electric car because she didn’t like the noisy smelly gas cars her husband produced!
A university study i did showed that a 1998 factory GM S10-EV charged on coal powered electricity produces 10%of the CO2 of a 2004 1.5l (1500cc) Suzuki Compact car.