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Electric vehicles/Fossil fuel powered: Difference between revisions
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(Created page with "If electric vehicles are powered with electricity that was generated by fossil fuels, is it worse for the environment than just driving a gas car? {{dp |<nowiki>electric_car.efficiency</nowiki> |<nowiki>100 miles per 34.6 kWh</nowiki> |<nowiki>The "gas mileage" equivalent for an average electric car.</nowiki> |<nowiki>Average Electric Car kWh Per Mile [Results From 231 EVs]</nowiki><br /><nowiki> ecocostsavings.com › average-electric-car-kwh-per-mile </nowiki>...") |
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If [[electric vehicles]] | If you charge an [[electric vehicles|electric car]] with electricity that was generated by [[fossil fuels]], is it as bad for the environment as driving a gas car? | ||
Short answer: '''Yes.''' | |||
Long answer: | |||
''For coal power plants:'' | |||
{{dp | {{dp | ||
|<nowiki>electric_car.efficiency</nowiki> | |<nowiki>electric_car.efficiency</nowiki> | ||
| Line 44: | Line 50: | ||
|car.fuel_economy | |car.fuel_economy | ||
}} | }} | ||
In other words, there's a ''very slight'' increase in overall fuel efficiency, but it's not much. | |||
''For natural gas power plants'': | |||
Some have the same efficiency as coal power plants (33%). Others (the more advanced "combined-cycle" type) are more efficient: up to 60%: | |||
{{dp | |||
|<nowiki>natural_gas_combined_cycle_power_plant.efficiency</nowiki> | |||
|<nowiki>60%</nowiki> | |||
|<nowiki>How much of the natural gas's heat energy becomes electricity, in an advanced "combined cycle" power plant</nowiki> | |||
|<nowiki>This is considered a "maximum" value - the best natural gas power plants achieve this.</nowiki><br /><nowiki> | |||
Simpler/older natural gas plants (no combined cycle) have only an efficiency of 33%, same as [coal_power_plant.efficiency].</nowiki><br /><nowiki> | |||
</nowiki><br /><nowiki> | |||
Read more: https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Natural_gas_power_plant</nowiki> | |||
}} | |||
{{calc | |||
|electric_car.efficiency * li_ion.charge_discharge_efficiency * (100% - power_grid.losses) * natural_gas_combined_cycle_power_plant.efficiency | |||
|car.fuel_economy | |||
}} | |||
In this case (electric car + advanced natural gas power), we do in fact cut our emissions in half. | |||
<small>A note on precision: {{x|In theory, coal and natural gas have different GHG emissions per unit energy (which we didn't factor in, and maybe we should for best precision). But in practice, they're about the same, due to [[natural gas#fugitive emissions]]. Both are close enough to gasoline, for the purpose of the calculations above.}}</small> | |||
But so far, we still haven't counted the environmental impact of ''making'' an electric car, which is significantly more than for a gasoline-powered car.{{qn}} | |||
When that's factored in, there's probably no benefit to having an electric car in the coal-power scenario, and only ''moderate'' benefit in the advanced-natural-gas-power scenario. | |||
You can confirm or deny this hypothesis by adding more data to this page. | |||
==See also== | |||
* [[Public transit]] | |||
* [[Walkability]] | |||