 Email
 Print |
On the road again
After a false start in the 1990s, electric cars are back - and it looks like they're here to stay.
I’m having no problem keeping up with Monday morning rush-hour traffic on Highway E18 heading west into Oslo, Norway, although I do wish I knew which exit I needed. Even better, I’m zipping past clumps of bumper-to-bumper cars because I’m cruising at 60 miles per hour (100 kilometres per hour) in the bus lane, taking advantage of my special status: I’m driving an electric vehicle (EV).
My bright yellow ride, which I was allowed to take for a spin a few weeks before it hit the market here in June, is a 2008 Think City. Its Norwegian manufacturer has pre-sold 2,000 of the highway-approved, crash-tested two-seaters (optional back seat), perhaps the most promising electric car to be mass-produced any time soon.
While it’s smaller than my 1994 Honda Civic DX hatchback (34 to 38 miles per gallon/14 to 16 kilometres per litre), the car doesn’t feel all that different. It’s got a Toyota-Prius-like display panel, and its recharging cord sits coiled in the back, ready for the next drink at one of hundreds of free charging stations in Oslo. Considering its quick acceleration, maximum speed of 62 mph (100 km/h), official range of 112 miles (180 kilometres) per charge, darn cute body and $25,000 price tag (plus $200 to $300 a month for the battery lease), I wouldn’t mind owning a Think myself.
Maybe someday I’ll get the chance. If all goes according to plan, Think City will be one of the first of a cadre of reasonably priced, mass-marketed, high-speed electric vehicles sold in the U.S. The plan is to have a few hundred available, mostly for fleets and demonstrations, as early as the middle of next year, with thousands more for consumers in 2010, says Wilber James, acting president of Think North America.
In Norway, half the 2,000 vehicles sold will stay in the country, while the rest go to its Scandinavian neighbours. Think City vehicles should be available in the UK by spring and in Switzerland next year, says Sales Manager Sjur Heglund. After that, the company hopes to add Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands to its global market. The Norwegian plant has the capacity to manufacture 10,000 cars a year; building another plant in California in 2009 is probable, as are others elsewhere. The company hopes to sell 30,000 cars in 2010 and has a sedan ready to roll later.
While Think is making an early push to capture a piece of the American market, the field is crowded, as the recharged interest in electric cars is accelerating at top speed. From the largest American and Japanese automakers to small businesses such as Tesla Motors in California, companies are scrambling to get highway-ready full-electric or hybrid-electric cars on the streets. “Every car company in the world is looking at electric vehicles,” says David Swan, a consultant in battery technology.
Does that mean high-speed electric vehicles will be available to the average consumer next year? That looks unlikely. Only a few automakers have said they’ll have cars in 2009, and if they make it, production will be limited. Beyond Think, the car making the most waves is the Chevrolet Volt, not due out until 2010, which is powered mostly by battery with help from a gas engine. “There is a growing belief that battery technology can advance to the point where plug-in and electric cars can become a viable option,” says Brett Smith, senior research analyst at the Center for Automotive Research. “But that doesn’t mean they will, or that they will soon.”
However, if public interest is the gauge, the surge is unstoppable. “The electric genie is out of the lamp and there’s no pushing it back in,” says Linda Nicholes, president of advocacy group Plug In America. “I think that’s what automakers tried in the past, and this time it’s too late for that. People need a new way to power their cars.”
More and more consumers aren’t even waiting for automakers. Businesses that convert gas cars to electric (yes, it’s possible) are being inundated with phone calls and work orders, while low-speed electric vehicles are showing up in dealerships and on streets from Florida to California and throughout Europe.
Meanwhile, the public’s curiosity is growing. Involvement in America’s largest advocacy and interest groups—Plug in America and the Electric Auto Association (EAA)—have shot up this year, says Marc Geller, a board member of both. After a few stagnant years, the EAA has seen a doubling of national members, and a large increase at its 50 North American chapters’ (there’s also one in Germany) public meetings. Plug In America’s mailing list is 10,000 and growing, Geller says. A competition is also afoot that offers a $10 million prize to teams developing vehicles that get at least 100 mpg (42 km/l) or the electric equivalent, win a series of races and can be mass-produced. The privately funded Progressive Automotive X Prize competition will be held across the U.S. next year, with prizes to be awarded in 2010.
1
2
3
NEXT >>
view as a single page
| Tools:
Discuss
| Email
| Print
| RSS
| Weekly Newsletter Save/Share: |
Electric vehicle (EV) defects of price, batteries, and range have limited their adoption in the past, and developing better electric vehicles (EV) is certainly laudable. But the article doesn’t say why people now want to buy EVs, but there are references to “zero-emission” “sustainable transport” and “no oil”.
Many in the environmental community have endorsed EVs with the claim that they are a way to reduce carbon emissions. But missing in all the promotion of EVs is the basic environmental fact that electric cars are not going to reduce transportation’s contribution to global climate change.
Let’s do the math to compare EV’s CO2 emissions to equivalent internal combustion vehicles (ICV):
Electric vehicles : Average electrical CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hr.(kWh) in U.S. = 1.6 lbs.; expected miles per kWh for a normal sized electric vehicle = 1.8 mpk; average CO2 per mile = .9 lbs for a EV.
Internal combustion vehicles: Average CO2 emission per gallon of fuel = 20 lbs; expected miles per gallon (mpg) for a small car (Chevy Impala) = 32 mpg; average CO2 per mile = .6 lbs. per mile for a ICV.
These calcs show that an average EV in America will emit 50% more CO2 per mile than a comparable sized, small ICV! If you are already energy efficient and drive a Prius or TDI getting 45 mpg, an EV will emit 100% more CO2 per mile than an energy efficient, readily available ICVs!
The above figures are for the U.S. where 70% of our electricity is generated with fossil fuels; but this is not that much different from the rest of the world where an average of 66% of the electricity is generated by fossil fuel. There are a few countries like Norway, Brazil, or France where most of their electricity is generated by hydro or nuclear, so their EVs would have lower CO2 emission; but on the other hand there are many countries like China and Israel that have virtual 100% fossil fuel electricity where EVs would emit 200% more CO2 than a efficient ICV! In those countries converting small vehicles to EVs would about as bad for the environment as converting all of them to Humvees.
Another factor is that converting all small residential vehicles from direct fossil fuel to electric would force the U.S. to increase its electrical production by 20%. That is a lot of electrical generating plants. Any increases in alternative energy production, like wind, will do nothing to reduce our CO2 emissions if the U.S. must increase electrical generation 20% to fuel EVs. Worldwide, this issue is even more dramatic and converting the world’s existing residential vehicle fleet to EVs would require about a 40% increase in world wide electrical generation—which, in balance, would also increase worldwide CO2 emissions significantly.
EVs have their niche, and can contribute to energy independence. But in most areas, they will emit significantly more carbon and are not sustainable.
posted by artjohnston on 11/15/2008 8:17 am