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The Best, and Worst, Places To Drive Your Electric Car
sciencehabit writes For those tired of winter, you're not alone. Electric cars hate the cold, too. Researchers have conducted the first investigation into how electric vehicles fare in different U.S. climates. The verdict (abstract): Electric car buyers in the chilly Midwest and sizzling Southwest get less bang for their buck, where poor energy efficiency and coal power plants unite to turn electric vehicles into bigger polluters.
Wrong, wrong, and wrong. (As a Tesla owner.) Charge time is largely irrelevant. I plug in every evening (just like with my phone) and next morning have full range available. Meanwhile, my wife often has barely enough gas in her car in the morning to be able to get to the gas station. And battery technology is going to continue to improve. Why wouldn't it? With solar in my roof and a battery buried in my back yard, I will soon be living with free energy. As long as those who want us all to continue to live in the past don't blow us up first, anyway.
Read the actual numbers... "(170 Wh/km), whereas the upper Midwest fared the worst in terms of energy efficiency (196 Wh/km; red)". We're talking about a 13% difference - the article uses the 15% figure from 170, cheating IMHO. BFD, one way or the other, yet the graph varies from green to BRIGHT RED!!!!
More numbers; even if you power your electric car on 100% coal, its about twice as clean per mile than a gasoline engine. The math is trivial and I suggest everyone try it themselves:
https://matter2energy.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/wells-to-wheels-electric-car-efficiency/