I often see comments that switching to EVs is pointless as long as they draw their electricity from a grid which is fuelled by coal. But, in fact, EVs (electric vehicles) use energy far more efficiently than ICEVs (petrol/diesel vehicles). A little lateral thinking would make this obvious: even a plain old-fashioned hybrid reduces energy use by 40-50%, because it has regenerative breaking and the engine doesn't idle when the car is stationary.
Also, as grids green, the electricity EVs use will get greener every year.
From the US Department of Energy.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are more efficient than their gasoline-powered counterparts. An EV electric drive system is only responsible for a 15% to 20% energy loss compared to 64% to 75% for a gasoline engine. EVs also use regenerative braking to recapture and reuse energy that normally would be lost in braking and waste no energy idling. See All-Electric Vehicles for details.
EVs are 60% to 73% efficient, depending upon drive cycle. However, if the energy recaptured from regenerative braking is counted (i.e., recounted when it is re-used), EVs are 77% to 100% efficient. (For more information on how vehicle efficiency is calculated, see Vehicle Fuel Efficiency.)
No comments:
Post a Comment