Our Energy Sources,Electric Vehicles
In fossil fuel–dependent Minnesota an electric car would actually emit 300 grams per mile of greenhouse gases. As a result, some researchers suggest that a regional approach to clean vehicle standards makes more sense than national standards that effectively require electric cars across the board. Minnesota could go for hybrids and California could go for electric vehicles. In California, the cheapest power is produced at night, mostly from natural gas, hydroelectric dams and nuclear.
During the day, electricity from the sun goes right into my car’s battery. It costs less to charge an electric vehicle than it does to buy gasoline, even when traveling — if you plan ahead. Between 2010 and 2015, consumers purchased approximately 210,000 BEVs and 190,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles —small numbers compared to 226 million registered vehicles in the United States. Total U.S. sales of plug-in electric vehicles have increased in recent years, but still represent only about 0.7% of new vehicle sales in 2015.
Multiple hardware providers have developed device models compatible with vehicle-to-grid technology. Just like any other charging devices, V2G chargers already come in many shapes and sizes. After all, the technology, devices, and vehicles compatible with the V2G technology are not enough – consumers need to take part, plug in and enable their car batteries to be used for V2G.
Many new vehicle technologies have the goal of steering automobiles away from dependence on fossil fuels. One option is the all-electric, battery-powered vehicle that uses no gasoline or diesel fuel and does not directly emit any carbon dioxide . However, as much as two-thirds of the electricity used to recharge the vehicle’s batteries is produced by burning fossil fuels, the nation’s single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s a largely symbolic regulation, designed to spur action in the European Union, but the Netherlands and Norway are also discussing bans, and 20% of new car sales in Norway are already electric. Orge Cruz has just finished his overnight shift stacking shelves at Whole Foods in Los Altos, California, and is waiting at the bus stop outside. Like much of Silicon Valley, there’s a regular flow of Tesla, BMW, Nissan and Google electric cars that cruise past from their nearby headquarters, and Cruz rather likes them. Fuel cell cars are available for sale or lease by major automakers in popular vehicle types, including sedans and compact SUVs. As the numbers increase, stakeholders are working to ensure hydrogen is widely available to drivers.
In any event, electric cars don’t have tailpipes and don’t spew the smog-forming pollution that make life miserable in congested cities and which is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The environmental impact may instead be shifted to the site of the generation plants, depending on the method by which the electricity used to recharge the batteries is generated. This shift of environmental impact from the vehicle itself to the source of electricity is referred to as the long tailpipe of electric vehicles. That’s based on a 2018 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists. As the U.S. continues to increase generation of clean electricity, electric vehicles become an even cleaner option.
The initial higher carbon footprint is due mainly to battery production, but it is difficult to measure the embodied energy that is used to create the energy used to power the vehicle. Tesla Motors has received more than 325,000 preorders for its hot new Model 3 electric car even though it will not be available for at least another year. That almost equals Free electric by driving your Car the 340,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrids now on American roads. Tesla has advertised its vehicles as having zero emissions, helping fuel the mania for the fun-driving sedan, but that's not necessarily true. Although the battery-powered car itself doesn’t produce any emissions, the power plant that generates the electricity used to charge those batteries probably does.