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Number of Electric Vehicles on Roads Reaches Three Million: IEA (reuters.com)
The number of electric vehicles on roads worldwide rose to a record high of 3.1 million in 2017, but more research, policies and incentives are needed to drive further uptake, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. From a report: The number of electric cars, including battery-electric, plug-in hybrid electric and fuel cell electric passenger light-duty vehicles, increased by 57 percent compared with 2016, the IEA said in a report. China accounted for 40 percent of the global total last year. Research and development, policy support, charging infrastructure investment and production improvements are resulting in lower battery costs and higher electric vehicle (EV) uptake.
...sold are still on the road? The other 10% made it home.
A vehicle where the fuel is nearly free, goes the same distance, and has 5x the horsepower along with a nearly immortal lifetime due to nearly no moving parts.
What boggles my mind is that this is only happening because of elon musk, they spent decades and millions of dollars holding back electric vehicles for stupid reasons. This revolution should have happened a long time ago.
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Interesting article here with USA vehicle statistics: https://www.nanalyze.com/2017/...
Right now EV's are 0.22% of all cars on the road in the US. I couldn't find a chart that included hybrids.
It seems like in the next 2-5 years many major manufacturers are going to be launching fairly reasonably price EVs with decent range. The fast charging networks are expanding right now. As long as the battery prices continue to decline as they have been, I can't see that it would make sense for anyone with access to overnight charging to buy an ICE vehicle after the early 2020s. I hope Ford is using their SUV profits to do the R & D for a competitive EV over the next few years.
So I don't really know if there is any science on this. If you have some more knowledge please correct me.
The way I see it, we have a pretty serious energy density problem with our current battery tech. (L-Ion tech was invented in the 70's)
The current EV sales climate seems to be focused on changing driver/consumer behavior, and adapting infrastructure around current battery technology.
My proposition is this.
I think we jumped the gun on EVs. I don't think we have the service life, or energy density we need in energy storage technology right now.
So on one hand, the early adopters are funding the advancement of the tech, and I'm fine with that. That's how it should be.
I'm just a little worried about all of the infrastructure decisions being made when i think it's quite clear that we are going to need the next big jump in battery tech before EVs are able to complete with ICEs on any metrics of sustainability.
What it looks like right now is the wealthy are essentially "leasing" green tech for bragging rights, being subsidized by taxpayers (charging stations), and letting the common folk deal with the cleanup after they are done with them.
And those things are NOT easy to get rid of safely.
The question is:
Where is the rest of /. on this?
Will the market resolve the winners and losers of this race on it's own or have we propped up one side of this beyond the market's control?
Is there even room for another player in the game with all of the "enthusiasm" behind tesla?
You mean like the the 5 trillion dollars per year that is subsidizing the fossil fuel industry?
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
It depends of your need. In Québec for instance, electricity is very cheap, having a car that do ~50 miles and you can easily commute with it everyday and do all your standard groceries/shopping the week-end. All this with 0 gasoline (gas price is $4.50/gallon here).
A lot of people have a second car with an ICE, like a Grand Caravan or whatever to haul the kids.
EV cars are an efficient means of transportation
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
Yes, you may be saving energy in the short term. But are you really saving all that much after mining for the exotic raw materials to build these cars, ewaste, highway repair due to heavier vehicles, heavier load on our electrical infrastructure which requires higher generation of electricity(see fossil fuel still being used).
here is one source, I have stuff to do this morning or I could find some more
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You are full of shit LynwoodLiar. Average range of electric vehicles in China is 103 miles Or 3 times your bullshit number.
Actually a large percentage of electric vehicles are coal powered. Electric is only good for the environment if your electric power comes from non-fossil fuel sources.
It's still more efficient and uses less fossil fuels to produce energy at a centralized location at big plants than it is on-site in tiny little car engines. Sure, electric cars powered from solar power are responsible for less pollution than one's powered by coal plants... but both are less polluting than your average internal combustion engine.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
It makes tons of sense if you have a place to charge your car at home. Many do not, causing EVs to be more inconvenience than their benefits are worth.
Electric vehicles won't work for everybody (yet); but they would work for most people. The choice for society at this moment in time isn't everyone has to have ICE or everyone has to have EV. There is room for both on the road.
Eventually, especially as technology improves for things like batteries, it would be nice if all vehicles were EV... and with that change charging becomes easier- but for now it's ok that some people who can't get by with today's EVs don't have them. They aren't appropriate for everyone yet.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
The Union of Concerned Scientists has a lot of information about this, including a tool to let you calculate the emissions of an EV based on your local grid mix:
https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-v...
My Leaf is a just-over-100-miles car, and it gets me everywhere I regularly go pretty easily. There are a pretty good number of quick chargers around me (especially at the ~75 mile radius where they're most useful) which makes it fairly practical for slightly longer trips. In terms of reliability, EVs should be better since there are generally fewer parts; the Leaf at least is supposed to be quite solid with very little maintenance needed. For what's essentially an econobox it's pretty enjoyable to drive too.
It depends of your need. In Québec for instance, electricity is very cheap, having a car that do ~50 miles and you can easily commute with it everyday and do all your standard groceries/shopping the week-end. All this with 0 gasoline (gas price is $4.50/gallon here).
A lot of people have a second car with an ICE, like a Grand Caravan or whatever to haul the kids.
EV cars are an efficient means of transportation
Exactly,
Let's take my case for example.
I live in Quebec and I've calculated that I travel around 2500-3000 km per month (I live at 52 km from work, so 2 time that for 21.75 work day per month in average + some commune and visiting friends). Right now I have an used car with a ~7.5L/100km efficiency (probably worst than that). So, with the gas around 1.4$/L right now, it mean a total of around 250-300$ per month only for the gas right now. Or course, let's not forget that the gas price will increase in the future.
Sadly, EV vehicule are still quite expensive (even in the used market) but, in the case of used PHEV, there's some interesting option.
I decided to get a used 85000 km Volt 2013 for about 19k$ taxes included. An Gas equivalent would cost me around 8k$. Even if it's 5 years old and got some mileage, I was able to travel 66 km before using gas if I were very, very efficient.
Since then, about 98% of my trip are completely on electric mode and my boss allow me to plug my car at my job free of charge. The car have a battery used capacity of ~10.9 kWh. The residential electricity cost 9.12/kWh and we got about 15% lost with the standard 120v outlet (I don't need the 240v, doesn't worth the investment). So, if my calculation are right, it cost me about 1.14$ to charge my car and I charge it at home about 25 time per month so about 28-30$ of electricity per month. You can always double that value if we forget that my boss give me free electricity it's pretty common that job offer free charging advantage. It's pretty cheap for them to look green.
So, to wrap things up, right now I save about 220-270$ per month for a car that cost me ~11k$ more.
I was able to get a loan of 20k$ at an great interest rate of 3.5% (damn, at that rate I should ask them 1 million and invest it. 3.5% is pretty easy to beat). If we take the initial 19k$, it will take me about 7 years to refund the loan if I put that ~250$ saving on it each month and, in the end, I'll have a 10 years old Chevrolet 2013 for the money that I'm paying for gas. And if we're fair and take the 11k$ investment instead (to be fair, I'll need a car either way), we're talking about a 4 years ROI. The only difference if that I put money in the loan instead of the gas station.
I've wrapped my mind a lot and it's almost impossible to have a more economic choice than this. And on the plus side, I do my part for the environment and I can use toll bridge, reserved parking. reserved lane etc. for free.
So, in the end, for some EV/PHEV is the economical choice...if the condition are right.
Elok
They don't. Average range of electric vehicles in China is 103 miles Or 3 times his trolling number.
It is plugged in, the morning when it's -17C, you enter in a warm car with 100% battery, and the ice and snow on the windshield and glasses is already fully melted, no need to scrap it!
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
I live in a place that's colder than Quebec and have an EV. Actually a PHEV (Chevy Volt). The cold weather reduces the range and one option you definitely want is heated seats. It's much more efficient to heat the seats than it is the whole cabin, - which the car can do of course, at the expense of range.
A nice feature is that you can have the car "pre conditioned" before climbing inside and while it's still plugged in. So you get in a warm car and the car still has it's full range (though cold weather still impacts it). The same is true during hot weather when it comes to A/C.
The Volt is a plugin hybrid and the gas engine acts as an on-board generator for charging the battery. Chevy refers to the gas engine as the "range extender". The waste heat from that can be used to heat the cabin just like a regular car.
This is one element that most people miss. Love or hate Elon, the truth is global demand for fossil fuels are driven by consumption. That's you, me, the person down the block, the guy around the world. Oil and gas companies don't force this stuff down our throat, each and everyone of us through our purchasing decisions, merrily and happily purchase processed crude, barrel after barrel each and every day.
Would like to know what a human being's CO2 emissions are per mile....
Well, I know a lot of people don't like the way it looks and the newer ones are more normal looking. Personally, I don't mind it, and it's a practical shape which is surprisingly roomy inside so I don't really care. There are a lot of new EVs in the pipeline, so there should be quite a lot of choice within 5 years or so.
Actually a large percentage of electric vehicles are coal powered. Electric is only good for the environment if your electric power comes from non-fossil fuel sources.
It's 2018. If you still believe that disproven meme you're either a complete moron or a paid shill. There's is no longer any other justifiable way to describe a post such as yours.
You can have both heated seats and a heated cabin, but it shortens the distance you can travel without re-charging (or the gas engine kicking in in the case of a plugin hybrid). If the range is long enough then it doesn't matter but it's something you need to be aware of. It's also a consideration in hot climates in terms of A/C use.
I have a 2012 Chevy Volt and it's electric range is between 25 and 45 miles depending on a number of factors including weather, driving style, etc. After that the gas engine ("range extender") kicks in. Since and I and most Volt drivers have a strong preference for limiting the amount of time the range extender runs, it becomes kind of a game to see how far we can go on electric only.
What my son and a lot of people will do in hot weather is turn the A/C to max, - he'll set it to 60 or whatever. It drives me nuts because it shortens the range and is totally unnecessary. The climate system does a pretty good job of managing the temp in the cabin if you set it at 72 or 75. And it will be far easier on the range. But for some reason, people like their cars to feel like inside of a refrigerator when it's hot outside.
Same with the heat. There's no reason to set the temp at 85 in the cabin when you're already wearing a winter coat. I dress for being outside and don't need or want it to be 80 inside the car. But like I said before, the Volt will comply and even has the bonus of remote start from the key fob or phone app that will warm the car up before you drive while it's still plugged in.
Cars like the Volt are nice because even if the electric range is shortened below the point where you get all the places you need to be, it has a gas engine to charge the battery and the mileage is still much better than most gas engine cars would get. And I think new EVs (all electric) like the Bolt and newer Teslas have enough range that even if it's shortened in cold weather, it's still adequate.
What if you want to haul 12 foot sheets of drywall in your vehicle and be able to drive 6 kids to football practice when it's your family's turn to drive? Or what if you want a vehicle that gets 50+ mpg and 90% of the time, you're the only one in it?
The answer for a family is probably to have two different types of vehicles, each well suited for certain types of trips while being less suited for others. One vehicle could be a small EV and the other a more traditional gas powered vehicle. Maybe a minivan or SUV. And maybe for certain kinds of things (12 foot sheets of drywall), they'll just rent or pay to have the stuff delivered.
That's what we do. For years we've had a small economy car for the bulk of the trips and a larger vehicle to be used when you need a bigger vehicle.
In your example, most families probably aren't going to "suddenly" go camping in a remote area without electricity anyway. That takes a little bit of planning and if they've got time to plan and are an all EV family, they probably have some disposable income and can find a cheap rental car or borrow one from a friend.
Let me answer this a 2nd way. Any vehicle choice involves compromises. Whether it's range, size, handling, comfort, performance, reliability, cost, gas mileage, towing capacity, seating capacity, etc, etc.
An electric vehicle is no exception. You might choose a plug-in electric hybrid (also has a gas engine) if range is really an issue. But I think at least for early adopters like myself, driving an EV involves changing some of your driving habits. I have a PHEV (plug in electric hybrid) so I don't worry about range except that I much prefer not using the gas engine. One might find themselves devising strategies for traveling long distances on electric like picking hotels that allow people to plug in their vehicles or choosing routes with charging stations near good restaurants. There are apps that'll show you where you can charge your vehicle nearby or along your route.
Many people come up with reasons why an EV wouldn't be a good choice for them and many of those reasons are legit, but some objections or concerns could be alleviated with some thought. Your camping trip example for one. I've gone on several camping trips to remote areas without electricity, running water, etc. Without exception the car was left some place not far from electricity. Often times when camping at a remote area the evening before we'll overnight at a hotel some place relatively close to where we're going. The car can be charged there, driven to the drop off spot the next take day and will have plenty of charge remaining when we return to it after the camping trip is done.