Electric cars (part 3)

I thought this post from the discussion on electric cars thread over on Politics.ie deserved a blog post all of its own.

The post in full is reproduced in full below. There are certainly a number of talking points here ...

"I firmly believe that CO2 reduction is important for the future, but I also believe in honest accounting and real solutions rather than specious sham Greenwashing, using green issues for the next era of gombeenism. We can’t afford to get this wrong. I am also an Engineer.

The average C02 per kw/h of electricity produced in Ireland is a tad under 600 g, but for the sake of easy math lets be generous and call it 500 g per kw/h (produced).

Green Party members allege that e cars are zero emissions. If challenged they claim that 500 g per kw/h multiplied by the kw/h per kilometer driven leads to a net energy saving anyway, for example Deirdre De Burca and her electric van that is “40%” more efficient than Diesel. They also then say “sure we will have 40% wind by 2020”. Greenpeace and others disagree. This kind of carbon accounting reminds me of Anglo Irish Bank and the cozy developers. Sure enough, the most excited organization reporting the ecar news was the construction industry federation – all those charging points and infrastructure – yippee! And all those fast charging stations that blow off energy in heat – profitable. Can we have a little technical competence please? Is that too much to ask?

“The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.”
H.L. Mencken

"Nothing is more common on earth than to deceive and be deceived." ~ Johann G. Seume, 1763-1810, German Theologist.

The facts:

In an Alternating Current Electrical Grid, the transmission and distribution of energy over any distance at all is very inefficient because of issues such as impedance matching (google it), emf and heat losses etc. For every kw/h produced, over 75% of the energy is lost by the time it reaches the consumer. It is therefore very important to keep a distinction between figures relating to production, and figures relating to consumption. The fact that this is glossed over leads to very specious errors such as in the preceding paragraph. In order to consume 1 kw/h of electricity, 4 kw/h of electricity must be produced. On average, to produce 1 kw/h of electricity costs 500g, but to consume 1 kw/h of electricity costs 2000g!

These are on-average baseline figures before considering smart metering for windfarms etc, which we will get to in a moment. Sticking with the average baseline, the carbon emissions of an electric car are not what Eamon Ryan thinks they are, they are that figure multiplied by at least a factor of four. This means that even the Opel Ampera would cause more carbon related damage than V8 petrol Range Rovers, both here and in Germany. That is before considering that the car itself is not 100% efficient.

Now, Windfarms and smart metering: Windfarm electricity producers tend not to be located close to where the electricity is to be consumed. How does it get there? Yes, you’ve guessed it – an electric transmission and distribution grid. It has further to travel on average. The point is that 40% of production will translate to less than 10% of consumption on average (as happened in Central Europe). The argument that Smart Metering will connect the cars to be recharged only at night, when main load is gone, will not permit total charging of the electric fleet by wind, wind will only make a small contribution with the rest being produced conventionally to fill in. The electric car is still, even in this scenario, in the Range Rover league of carbon emissions.

The cars only appear to be green. How Irish – "If I can't see it, it's not happening."

I am not saying wind is a bad thing, I am not against wind or wave. The electricity grid is a woefully wastefull thing, and anything we can do to lessen it’s environmental impact should be done, but don’t substitute high efficiency diesel engines such as fiat/opel 1.3 multijet/cdti with much less efficient grid electricity! Use wind to substitute inefficiently powered fixed installations. 40% product and they think they will have wind to export…my Harris!

Smart Metering? I would settle for a smart minister!

Seriously though, a number of forums such as the ideas campaign showed people wanted this (be careful what you wish for). I believe Ryan and co know this won’t work, but simply give the (non-technical) public what they want, whether it is good for them or not, in order to build votes. Worthy of C.J.H and Mara!

These cars have the longest and biggest tailpipe in the world – made of concrete and wire. Then of course there is the environmental impact of making an electric vehicle, the fact that for every electric vehicle sold, the Euro super-credits systems enables 2.3 guzzlers to be produced by that manufacturer etc (Prius sold initially as a loss to enable Lexus/Landcruiser under CAFE for example). What a sham.

According to the following link, on top of purchase price, you have to rent the batteries!
The environmental damage of the batteries will not be included in figures.

Renault.com - The electric vehicle, a global strategy

On the other hand: Lets build another boom by pretending at the emperors new clothes.
So what if it is a lie?
But, can we really afford this?

We should no more jump on any technology merely because it is labeled "green" anymore than investors should have jumped on any stock labeled "tech" in the 1990s.
Houses never go down etc.

BTW, Anyone know where I can get a grant to trade my electric car in for a more efficient V8 Range Rover?

Let the ignorant attacks on this post by the looney section of the greens commence! Hopefully rational greens will engage in proper analysis."