For some time now I've been irked by the talking heads on TV going on about electric cars being totally non-polluting. That's simply NOT TRUE! As a matter of fact, battery powered electric cars are much more polluting than the big nasty Suburban Utility Vehicles.

Moving the Pollution from the
Tailpipe to the Smokestack

An electric car must be plugged into an electrical outlet in order to recharge its batteries. The vast majority of all electrical power is generated by burning coal or oil.

The typical gasoline powered vehicle produces about 20-grams of CO², the nasty greenhouse gas, per mile traveled. The electricity required to drive an electric car that same mile produces about 150-grams of CO².

So an electric car simply moves its pollution from the tailpipe to the smokestack, and multiplies it many times.

Save Money - Burn Gasoline

The typical SUV gets about 20-miles per gallon. At $1.50 per gallon, that works out to 7.5-cents per mile. At today's electrical rates, here in California, an electric car costs 8-cents per mile in electricity.

Save The Environment - Burn Gasoline

Battery powered electric vehicles use over a ton of lead and acid filled batteries. Can you imagine what will happen when tens of gallons of acid are spilled after an accident?

Batteries wear out and must be replaced every few years. What are we going to do with millions of tons of old lead and acid?

Save Your Life - Burn Gasoline

How would you like to be literarily covered in acid after an auto accident? Batteries can start fires or explode during an accident.

A Few Numbers

General Motors new electric car: EV1   18.7KW.   Range P/Charge Approx 70-miles.   (Approx 270-watts P/mile)

Considering all energy loses, it requires approx 30KW to recharge @ 18 cents Per KWh = $5.40 ( 8 cents P/mile)

A typical battery charger is about 75% efficient.

Electric generation delivery losses 25%. (Loses between the generating station and your wall outlet.)

So it requires about 150% into the battery for what's taken out.

Almost Perfect

Nothing is perfect, but the closest thing to a perfect fuel is hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most fundamental element and, coincidentally, the most combustible element in the universe. Hydrogen, when burnt, produces only two things, energy as in heat, and water as a waste product. Hydrogen is also the most abundant element in the universe, but not so abundant here on earth. On earth, almost all hydrogen is already used up and all that is left is its ashes ,water!   The hydrogen that is still usable as a fuel is bound with carbon, and we call it oil. Oil, also called hydrocarbon, is an abundant source of hydrogen, but as abundant as it is here on earth, it has many pitfalls when used as a fuel. The least of which is that oil is a non-renewable resource, and when burnt under pressure, as in an internal-combustion engine, produces many undesirable side-products that we call pollution.

Click Here for the for the most perfect fuel on earth. (Hint: most of us drink this fuel from time to time!)

---

The Homeland Security web site is only as good as our members make it. If you have an article or link that would fit well on this site, please Click Here.

---