What If Plug-In Hybrids Work?
Plug-in hybrids seem like a fantastic technology that could make a serious impact in the amount of petroleum fuel needed for transportation. GM executives have been using the phrase "displacing petroleum" when talking about the long term strategy for powering vehicles in the future. Biofuels, rather than fossil fuels, are drawing a lot of attention, and hydrogen is being explored both as a combustion fuel and for use in fuel cells. And many of these systems are being considered in conjunction with vehicles with some battery-powered component.
What happens to the air we breathe when plug-in hybrids become commonplace in a few years? Are we going to suddenly need hundreds of additional electrical plants to make all that extra electricity for the power that is no longer being supplied by gasoline? Would wide-scale switching from gasoline vehicles to plug-in electric vehicles be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire?
A report jointly issued by the National Resources defense Council (NRDC) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) addresses some of these questions in greater detail. It is worthwhile to think about these questions as these technologies get closer to widespread implementation. Unintended consequences of increasing numbers of electric cars already include concerns about the very quiet operation of electric hybrids when their gas engines are not running, and the potential hazard these vehicles now pose for blind pedestrians, who have much more difficulty detecting the approach of these vehicles than ordinary internal combustion vehicles.
"Among study’s key findings:
- Widespread adoption of PHEVs can reduce GHG emissions from vehicles by more than 450 million metric tons annually in 2050 — the equivalent to removing 82.5 million passenger cars from the road
- There is an abundant supply of electricity for transportation; a 60 percent U.S. market share for PHEVs would use 7 percent to 8 percent of grid-supplied electricity in 2050
- PHEVs can improve nationwide air quality and reduce petroleum consumption by 3 million to 4 million barrels per day in 2050"
Keeping a few dozen coal-burning power plants clean, and adding extra equipment to further clean their exhaust output is far easier and more cost-effective than carrying out the changes necessary to clean the exhaust systems for millions of vehicles. Greater efficiency is possible for a fixed installation, like a coal plant scrubber, than is practical for any on-board equipment that a car has to carry around.
Generate more juice to power cars, and greenhouse gas emissions from power plants will rise, even as the carbon dioxide pouring out of tailpipes declines. However, it’s not an equal tradeoff, because even dirty electricity produced on a grand scale is cleaner than running millions of internal-combustion engines. According to the 2006 DOE study, switching to PHEVs would yield an average net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 27 percent per car. In California, which has the country’s cleanest electric-generation system, the figure would be 40 percent. (Popular Mechanics)
Some additional electricity will neeed to be generated to offset transmission losses from electricity traveling through wires, but that is balanced somewhat by the reduction of tanker trucks needed to deliver gasoline from refineries to fueling stations across the country (a transmission loss in petroleum fuel, as it were). Recharging of plug-in vehicles will most likely take place in the evening, when electrical demand is already off-peak. With very little extra equipment, intelligent recharging can be timed to take place when demand on the grid is lowest.
Rewiring existing garages with adequate electrical service to be able to supply the vehicles without causing a household fire hazard may be one of the biggest hurdles to overcome for many plug-in hybrid owners. Existing wiring may be only marginal for vehicle recharging in many cases.
The likely outcome of increasing numbers of plug-in hybrids (and other electric vehicles) seems likely to be a net environmental positive.
Cross-posted at EcoGeek.org
Link: NRDC press release
via: Popular Mechanics
How about improving the system we have?
Ask for a fuel ethanol waiver allowed in the 2005 energy bill
Fuel ethanol uses lots of water
Audit “Smog Check” to fix the fault in more of the failed cars
Chief Sherry Mehl, DCA/BAR, has never found out if what is broken on a Smog Check failed car gets fixed, never
Improving Smog Check and fuel policy can cut car impact in half in 1 year and save money
About $20 billion in savings in first year
I’m confused about promoting products from offshore rather than improving our system
Clean Air Performance Professionals
I have no idea what this guy is referring to, since every plug-in I’ve read about mentions a plain Jane 120 volt outlet. Since when did any garage or home not have a whole lot of those? If they allow for 240 volt, well, you’ve got a dryer outlet and an electric stove outlet.
take your pick. Or simply run some emt from your service panel to your car’s parking area and add another 240 volt
outlet (GFI). This is hard to understand? Are we electrically challenged around here?
As a member of the Electric Auto Association, I am gratified to see another myth debunked publicly, the long-tailpipe objection. This is the disinformation most-quoted by petro-centric drivers who think that gasoline magically appears in the pump (without the thousand-percent energy penalty of petro-fuel production, compared with electricity.)
Only the mass-production of safe, large-format lithium batteries remains before we have widespread availability of EVs.
Mr. Proefrock. Your check is in the mail. You know, the one from the oil companies? The one they paid you to write this totally uninformed, idiotic, anti-electric car propaganda article? Next time, do a little more research before you write about electric cars. Most of us know that you can charge an electric car with about the same amount of energy it takes to use a blow dryer for 15 minutes. And the majority of folks will be charging them in the evening or at night during “low demand” hours for the electric companies. And how about charging them with solar energy from your solar home? You can’t get much “greener” than that. And can you imagine how much quieter our cities (not to mention cleaner!) will be when we’re all driving ev’s? And besides, I’m sure they’ll come with “horns” installed, so you’ll be sure and hear me coming.
What a range of comments! It’s hard to imagine they all refer to the same article. Obviously this is a topic that people are interested in.
To the Unregistered User who calls this article "…anti-electric car propaganda" I can only suggest you re-read the article. When I conclude the article with the statement "The likely outcome of increasing numbers of plug-in hybrids (and other electric vehicles) seems likely to be a net environmental positive," I don’t see how I’m being anti-electric car.
For the other Unregistered User (if your comment was, in fact, addressed to me), older and undersized wiring may be present in many homes, and depending on the charging scheme in use it may or may not be adequate for charging a PHEV without overheating the wiring. Given the present infrastructure, I agree, it’s likely to be a straightforward 120v connection. But, since no one is yet producing a mainstream PHEV, we don’t know what their requirements are going to be.
The UC Davis team at ChallengeX had two 120 volt connections on their vehicle, for better charging.
http://www.greenoptions.com/2007/06/11/challengex_gm_supports_alternative_vehicle_research
Will a single 15A circuit be adequate, or will it be better to have a larger, dedicated circuit? What about having 2 PHEVs in a garage on the same circuit? I don’t think these are insurmountable issues at all, but just some of the additional issues that need to be addressed in making the PHEV a mainstream reality.