Posts Tagged by EVs
Are Electric Vehicles Really a Boon to the Environment?
| March 12, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
There are at least two kinds of “EV deniers” (as I call them), i.e., people who doubt that electric vehicles represent an improvement for the environment over gasoline. The first concept is that for the foreseeable future, an increase in the electric load means burning more coal. I.e., coal plants that would otherwise have been tamped down during off peak hours are instead running full-throttle through the night. Frequent commenter Glenn Doty points out that even California and the other states that have no coal buy power when they need it, and this ultimately means that somewhere, more coal is being burned.
Classically, I’ve addressed this by saying that we do indeed face the need to shut down coal plants; this is part of the reason that I favor a significant role of government in support of the migration to renewables and the ancillary areas: smart-grid, efficiency, conservation, energy storage, etc. I’ve also pointed out that the true externalities of fossil fuels are almost completely ignored in most of the arguments. E.g., as bad as coal is, it could be argued that it’s not as bad as oil because of international security issues. The costs (both financial and human) of war, terrorism, and civil unrest and injustice are enormous, and normally totally dismissed. As oil becomes scarcer, these problems will only get worse.
The other major class of objection Read More
Dan Sturges — Changing the Paradigm in Transportation
| March 9, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I’m very proud of 2GreenEnergy’s dozen or so “associates,” who perform a huge variety of tasks for our clients – everything from raising capital, to performing engineering reviews, to marketing and public relations, social media, project management to IP protection. My aim is simple: When someone asks if we can do something for their clean energy business, I want the answer to always be a resounding Yes.
One of the associations we recently formed is one with Dan Sturges, in which we deliver cutting-edge thinking in transportation for city planners who may be looking for a better way of moving people and goods around a local area. For a century, we operated off a central paradigm in transportation:
Virtually everyone 16 years or older has his own car, a huge piece of steel that weighs Read More
EV Adoption Curve Will Benefit from Critical Mass
| March 8, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
My friend and colleague Tom Konrad does not share my belief that the consumer adoption of EVs is, to some degree, driven by perception of the long-term prognosis for electric transportation.” He writes:
If I’m buying an EV, why should I care if it’s the way of the future or not? My car will work as long as I have electricity and roads, the supply of neither of which is under threat. Owners of natural gas vehicles may need to worry about charging infrastructure, but while a robust charging network for EVs would be nice, it’s not absolutely necessary. If it works today, it will work 10 years from now.
I think, though it’s just a theory, that most people don’t want to own a form a transportation that few other people use — especially in this case. To the degree EVs do not catch on, there will be very little build-out of charging infrastructure, and very low resale value for used cars.
Changing the Equation for Electric Transportation
| March 7, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I’ll be at the 26th International Electric Vehicle Symposium (“EVS26”) in Los Angeles in May. If anyone wants to meet me for a cup of coffee, please hit “Contact” and let me know.
The migration to electric transportation is going through a period that some of us anticipated: a bit of nervousness brought on by the fact that the value proposition for the consumer is simply not there yet. EV start-ups are having a hard time getting there, which has given the established auto industry a great deal of time to breathe, take its time, hedge its bets, and, perhaps most to its liking, milk the internal combustion engine cow a few more years.
Take the Ford Focus Electric, as an example of what I mean by consumer value proposition. I’m sure they’d explain it differently, but, at a high level, Ford has taken an extremely unexciting, garden variety passenger car, the Focus, ripped out Read More
Comparing the Environmental Impact of Conventional Vehicles, Hybrids, and Plug-ins
| February 26, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Thanks to longtime reader Roberto DePaschoal for alerting me to this recent white paper from the Department of Engineering and Public Policy and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, at Carnegie Mellon University, comparing the environmental impact of conventional vehicles with hybrids and plug-in vehicles. The study considers the entire lifecycle, from extraction of the raw materials, construction, operation, and decommissioning. Read More
Video: The Future of Transportation
| February 25, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
When I’m in the television studio next week, I plan to shoot a video promoting 2GreenEnergy’s relationship with Dan Sturges, to facilitate our telling his story as a transportation visionary/futurist.
Let’s start with a tough question: Who says we need to be pro-active in evolving transportation? Don’t industries evolve on their own as R&D makes incremental improvements in adding features or reducing costs?
Put another way, is there anything truly broken about our approach to transportation? Well, it depends on how you define “broken.” Read More
From Guest Blogger Jesse Harwell: Best Green Cars for 2012
| February 21, 2012 | Posted by Jesse Harwell under Electric Vehicles |
This year, more car companies have released eco-friendly cars, which means more options for eco-friendly consumers. From electric cars to vehicles that use alternative fuel, here are the best green cars coming out for next year.
1. Honda Civic Natural Gas – MPG: City 27/Hwy 38; From $26,155
This car was named as the Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal. This Honda Civic runs on natural gas, which costs less than normal fuel and has less of an impact on the environment. This car even gets you HOV lane access in several U.S. states. The car features low-end torque and a short wheelbase, so that you can zoom around corners and have a smooth ride on the highway. Read More
Webinar: Top Business Plans in Renewable Energy and Electric Transportation
| February 20, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
The Future of Transportation — February’s Free Webinar
| January 28, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
It’s certain that 6600-pound Hummers will not occupy an important position in the way we transport our bodies and our “stuff” in the coming years. But where exactly are we going? And who’s going to make a buck in the process?
I hope you’ll be able to join us for our next webinar, 10 AM PST on Friday, Feb. 10th: “The Future of Transportation,” in which I’ll be interviewing Dan Sturges. Dan’s life is dedicated to developing and promoting a complex and dynamic set of solutions built around overhauling the way we move ourselves and our cargo around the surface of the planet. He shares my belief that our current conception of transportation — redundant, heavy, bulky, and fossil-fuel-reliant – is simply unaffordable in every sense of the word. It’s not economically sound to the individual consumer, and it’s exorbitantly expensive to society as a whole, both financially and ecologically.
In this lively discussion, Dan will explain how mass transit, car-sharing, ride-sharing, and micro-rentals can begin to reduce car ownership. He’ll talk about introducing small, light, and inexpensive urban transportation, while encouraging walking and bicycling, and the use of information and communication technology to make these blended solutions convenient and appealing, thus ensuring the consumer-citizen adopts these concepts enthusiastically.
I certainly hope you can make it. Here’s the sign-up form: http://2greenenergy.com/free-webinar/
Natural Gas Powered Versus Electric Vehicles
| January 25, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
A reader notes:
I did not see a comparison to natural gas powered vehicles. It’s the most abundant fuel we have in the US, and it’s dirt-cheap.
True. Personally, I favor electric transportation because of the potential for clean transportation if they are powered with clean, renewable sources, and because of the ubiquity of the electrical grid. One can unplug one’s toaster and plug in one’s car. It is for this reason that I do not favor hydrogen; we have a landmass of 3.5 million square miles in the continental U.S. alone that would be fabulously expensive to retrofit for another fuel. Natural gas has, to a great degree, the same issue.
Other points to consider: natural gas is a fossil fuel (bad), but it’s an energy source, versus a carrier like hydrogen (good).
Finally, the reason that natural gas is abundant and thus ”dirt-cheap” (as you say) is because of fracking, a practice that has considerable environmental costs that we’re just beginning to understand.
