Study finds EVs quickly overcome their energy-intensive build to be cleaner than gas cars
The study also estimated that gas-powered vehicles cause at least twice as much environmental damage over their lifetimes as EVs, and said the benefits of EVs can be expected to increase in coming decades as clean sources of power, such as solar and wind, are brought onto the grid.
https://apnews.com/article/climate-electric-vehicles-gasoline-emissions-fossil-fuels-4a37b8f7dab121f5029fd06bed7123c7Open linkView original on lemmy.zip
43 replies
The simplicity of an electric motor compared to a gas engine at a general level is pretty incredible, how could EVs not be more efficient and far more simple to maintain?
It wouldn't make basic logical sense outside of outlier edgecases for combustion engines to be more efficient.
I've had an EV for quite a while. It was used when I got it and quite aged now. I had the get new tires and new brake pads a few times. Thats it. In total. For almost 6 years.
Oh the reservoir for the wiper fluid is cracked, but like, I'm going to get around to fixing that. I swear.
A gas powered vehicle is hot and constantly trying to rattle itself to pieces.
Just operating at a lower temperature and not like, violently rattling constantly seems more than sufficient to explain the reduced maintenance.
The many fluids, the heat, the vibrations, the pistons, the belts, the transmission, the exhaust, the alternator. ICE vehicles are controlled chaos!
That's because ICE engines work by relentlessly blowing shit up. It's the most primative technology aside from the wheel or the lever.
How it's still the norm after so many years is beyond me. Actually no, we know the dark story of why that is.
But yeah, tiny explosions to move a vehicle is caveman shit.
In what world is using complex chemicals for combustion "primitive"? I don't recall cavemen ever having access to explosives of any kind either.
That's something I love about my Bolt, the absolute stillness, no shuttering, no annoying noise, just pure acceleration. Someone even asked me "don't you miss the sound of the engine?" Obviously, no, I don't. Some people can be so weird about the things they're afraid of changing.
How's the cost of battery replacement or does roadmaster usually time with vehicle end of life?
I'm expecting to get at least 250k miles out of my Bolt EUV. At that time, if I still have it, and the batteries outlast the car, I'll take the batteries out for a whole home battery backup if they have any capacity left.
Go for 300k! I believe! 🔋
Oh, I suspect a full half a million is quite possible with maybe just changing out a pack or 2. I think as battery tech progresses, in the future you might be able to purchase a car sans battery and just transplant your old cars battery to the new car. It's amazing what mass adoption of cellphones have done to progress battery tech in my lifetime.
I'm sure the study goes deeper but engineering explained did a video, even if you run on a coal power plant you can recoup the environmental impact within the lifetime of the EV.
https://youtu.be/6RhtiPefVzM
I was most shocked when I learned it was about a gallon and a half of energy (okay energy transfer isn't 100%, maybe 2.5 gallons of energy) to fill an electric car battery, that can then travel hundreds of miles.
Just like efficient ice cars...
ICE are notorious for losing most of the potential energy through heat. The usable energy is about 20-30% for petrol and 30-40% for diesel.
That's to do with the total energy stored in petrol, that's irrelevant for the comparison. The statement was 100 miles with 2,5 gallon of gas. That's easy in EU
Nah man, the statement was 240 miles on 1.5 gallons worth of energy.
My electric blows the hell out of even the most efficient gas motors.
The statement was hundreds, not 100. No idea how accurate the statement is though
It wasn't at the time I typed it. It was 100+ then
Nope, I never edited a damn thing, don't play stupid games.
You do realise edits are timestamped, yes? There's no edit on the comment. Try again.
Where in the EU. I’m in the UK and if you want to meet and prove it to me you can have my car. It only a 2020 A Class though.
Kindly point out which standard build ICE cars are getting 100+ mpg?
Not a car, but a Kawasaki KLR650 that runs on diesel got 100 mpg or close to it. Dollar for dollar, my Bolt EUV beats my old Sportster on miles per dollar though. When I talk about my EV to others, it's always what I lead with; not even my motorcycle could beat my EV in efficiency.
To make it clear for other readers - a KLR650 is a motorbike, not a car.
The Volkswagen XL-1 was a plugin hybrid diesel car, and without using energy from the battery it had 120 MPG.
It was a limited run / concept car though, with a very aggressive aero design. I don't know of any comparable electric cars off the top of my head (besides the Aptera prototypes, which are even more aggressive), but I reckon an electric car with a similar body shape would have even higher thermal efficiency.
Not that it makes that much sense to compare the thermal efficiency of an EV and ICE, unless you're considering the combined efficiency of a fossil fuel power plant and EV. The reason being that you can't practically turn electricity into hydrocarbon fuel (without losing a ton of energy anyway), so if your EV was less efficient than an ICE its not like you'd be going "dang, I'd be better off using these solar panels to make gasoline instead". The important part about electric vehicles from a societal standpoint is that its vastly more practical to decarbonize electricity production than it is to produce carbon neutral motor fuel. From a personal standpoint its that it works out to more miles per dollar.
this sounds like comparing it to an aptera would be more apt which gets many more miles per gallon of gas equivalent. Its like 320.
Way to move the goalpost. The statement was 2,5 gallons for 100miles. That's quite easy nowadays
No it wasn't, as I am the author of the original statement.
The goalposts remain where they were. The statement was HUNDREDS of miles. You are the one who reduced it to a single hundred.
Show me an ICE car with a 10 L gas tank.
Exactly! ICE cars will easily travel much further much quicker than electric cars as of now. Try driving 1000km with both
How often do you travel 1000km without stopping? Why would you want to do that?
China now has MW chargers that can replenish 400km in 5 minutes. Plug it in whenever you take a piss and you wouldn't even notice the battery dropping.
The longer an EV is used, the more beneficial for the environment it becomes, and the battery can be recycled. Gas powered cars are much less energy efficient and have more maintenance problems.
That technology connections video where he burned the equivalent amount of fuel an engine uses in a second was really eye opening. It was something crazy like eight tablespoons a second.
The video in question. at about 8m 35sec.
It's 8 tbsp per minute, not per second
Citation needed.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250404-where-ev-batteries-go-to-die-and-be-reborn
Thats a lab that's doing research...because the premise is that the batteries are not currently recyclable
I mean, the materials can be recycled. We haven't needed to because of rabid capitalist exploitation, but as the need for these materials grows and mining becomes less feasible they can and will be recycled.
Don't make assumptions
That's not an assumption, it's a set of reasonable steps. We need batteries, the metals used in batteries are getting harder to find in nature, cars have batteries containing the material we need. Thus we will find a way to recycle the batteries.
I'm all for healthy cynicism, but if there's a shit load of money to be made doing something, people will find a way to do it.
Your hopium is causing climate catastrophe