Re: Electric cars

Warrl kyree Tale'sedrin (warrl@blarg.net)
Wed, 10 Dec 1997 22:19:07 -0800


> From: Michael Lorrey <retroman@together.net>

I just gotta point out one detail that I suspect is a minor error:

> Eugene Leitl wrote:
> Electric vehicles are, in total, around 45% efficient on average,
> while Internal Combustion vehicles are 18% efficient, on average.
> This is a comparison of only the engine, power source, power train,
> and rolling and aerodynamic friction. When Power plant efficiencies
> are figured in, it comes out that EVs are on average 3 times more
> energy efficient, and, including power plant emissions, 33% cleaner
> than current IC technology. (of course, this fails to measure
> emissions of oil refineries, hint hint)

You're implying that you aren't factoring in the energy cost of the
refining and transportation of gasoline.

Three times 18% is 54%. You're saying that the complete power cycle
of an electric car is three times as efficient as the internal power
cycle of a standard IC engine car, or 54% efficient. However, you
also say that the internal power cycle of an electric car is only 45%
efficient. This implies that the efficiency of the electric power
plant, transmission system, and battery charging system (or
equivalent) is rather in excess of 100%.

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