Technology
Electric cars and flying pigs
That is the conclusion from recent facts highlighted by Konrad Yakabuski
in the Globe and Mail, March 28, 2013, A17 “The road to electric cars is strewn
with potholes”.
He points out the following:
1. Electric car sales in Canada and elsewhere are far below predictions –
even with government rebate subsidies. Saving-the-environment
argument is not working. And the public is not buying the idea that electric
cars are cheaper in the long run as any extra car purchase price will soon be
made up by savings on gas. Less than 3000
electric hybrid cars are on Canadian roads.
2. A study by Bjorn Lomborg has shown that over a driving distance of 80,000,
a modern, conventional car has the same carbon footprint as an electric hybrid –
if all the environmental costs -- from
start to finish --are included. Building
a normal car does involve energy but mining for lithium and the manufacture of
massive lithium batteries has double the carbon footprint. (Battery disposal and
recycling is another hot topic.)
3. Electric cars are NIMBY – no air pollutants in my back yard, thank
you. The electricity needed to recharge the vehicles is not from nothing. Massive electricity plants and grid networks
will be needed that are not yet built. [As
pointed out in a previous blog of mine, Sept. 4, 2010, Toronto Hydro says that if even just 10% of cars were recharging overnight in a neighbourhood, it would crash the local
grid. Overnight recharging would also eliminate the cheap overnight electricity
rate as it would become a ‘high demand’ period. Electricity costs would rise by
at least 30% in Toronto compared to today’s deeply discounted 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
rate.]
And with the exception of hydro electricity and inconsistent solar and
poor wind power, standard energy plants will be used and increased – with the
world’s most common current fuel, coal. [Alternative nuclear energy and even natural
gas have their dangers and environmental costs as well.]
4. The Israeli innovator, Shai Agassi, who has convinced Renault, the
Israel and Danish governments and entrepreneurs from Australia to Hawaii to buy
into his ‘easy solution’: set up battery exchange garages which can remove a
depleted battery and replace it with a fully charged one in under 5 minutes –
yes, the system works, has been deposed from the head of his company and the
firm has lost U.S. $500,000,000 on the venture. Garages have been shut down everywhere
except for the tiny countries of Israel and Denmark -- where range anxiety is
reduced and the need for few stations the norm – due to the postage-stamp
size of these lands.
5. Finally, the article offers the ultimate harakiri in a quote
by the vice-chairman of Toyota, the company that first developed the electric
car, the Prius, and which continues to sell it. According to Takeshi
Uchiyamada, “Because of its shortcomings – driving range, cost and recharging
times – the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional
cars.”
Mazda Motor Company has long realized this truth about
electric cars and refused to get into this doomed game -- to win
environmentalist brownie points. As it
has publically stated in the past, improvements to the conventional car: using lighter
materials, better electronics and engine designs, will be far easier and more
effective ways to cut carbon footprints and help the planet.
And, as a final note, do we really want to shut down ¼ of
a continent when there is an electrical grid malfunction and chain reaction? Think India in 2012, the eastern coast of
North America in 1965 and numerous such occurrences in between as listed in
Wikipedia’s “List of power outages”. Millions
of people were left without electricity – for any purpose, including recharging
that electric car. So let us not put all
other energy needs in one highly fragile basket.
Gasoline and diesel are Gaia’s preferred, and superior,
energy storage systems for vehicles.
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