Charging Issues

"Oh sure, you're just replacing tailpipe emissions with power plant emissions at another location"

This is a common retort by fossil-fuel advocates when confronted with a vehicle which leaves no pollutants in it's wake. Well, my answer from now on is "NOT FROM THIS CAR, SUCKAH!!!!". My local utility is forward thinking enough to offer renewable Wind power to it's customers as an option in the household energy mix. Currently, I am signed up for 50% of my grid supplied power being generated by a large-scale wind power facility located in Wyoming. This means that 100% of the power that my electric vehicles consume comes from a renewable source. Modern wind power facilities have negligible environmental effects and have been proven to be of no threat to wildlife.

Additionally, my home photovoltaic array produces a significant quantity of electrical power. As this is written, it is Memorial Day weekend, and I am averaging 7 Kilowatt hours per day, enough to drive the VW Rabbit over 14 miles. There is NO environmental impact from the continued operation of these solar panels.

Of course, it does cost more to consume renewable energy. My utility's standard rate for 'regular' power generated primarily by hydroelectric plants costs $0.049 per Kwh. Wind power purchased through the same utility is $0.084 per Kwh. In practical terms, this means my bill goes up an average of about $5.00 per month. Attempting to place a price on the power I generate myself from photovoltaics is meaningless, even if I could figure it out. It is so incredibly expensive as to be unfathomable. The only reasonable way to think about it is as a hobbyist. Some guys have jet skis, others motorcycles, or giant hopped up 4x4's. I happen to spend my disposable cash on products that create energy, not consume it. When was the last time you produced some fuel to run your car?

As for the quote from the uninformed, get a clue! Even if I did purchase my power from a coal, oil, or natural gas fired generation facility, such power plants are magnitudes more efficient than any vehicle's internal combustion engine. These electrical generation facilities are subject to stringent pollution standards which are constantly under review and revision (or at least they were, before passage of Bush's "Clear Skies Initiative"). Any upgrading of the pollution controls on this type of plant means that electric vehicles charged with electricity from such a plant are automatically consuming cleaner power! Try this retro-cleanup with internal combustion engines. Even taking into account transmission losses from the generation plant, losses in the battery charging system, and the inherent losses present in the electro-chemical reactions inside the car's storage batteries, an electric car is much, much cleaner than any well-tuned and maintained car or truck. They are also LOTS more fun to drive, quieter, and require less maintenance!

For a more "in-depth" look at this topic, including comparisons of EV and ICE efficiencies, here are some links to web pages that discuss the issue:

http://www.electroauto.com/info/pollmyth.shtml

http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Samples/policy/voytishlong.html