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Interesting link on how to fuel the EVs
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Written on: 11 June 2009 [12:41]
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luke93
Topic creator
registered since: 11.06.2009
Posts: 1
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http://erichnielsen.com/en/current-projects/all-blogs/english-blog/162-so-you-wanna-be-electrified Although Erich Nielsen seems to use not all correct statistics, it seems as he's got a point on fuelling the EVs. |
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Written on: 11 June 2009 [22:18]
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ecoadmin
Administrator
registered since: 20.07.2007
Posts: 585
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Hmm...you're right he's got some points. I see the biggest potential in reducing the consumption, i.e. becoming more efficient. If we can achieve this reduction, no new power sources will be necessary. Driving electric Volvos XC70s is not going to work. The use of kWh in general has to be reduced, meaning the consumers of electricity have to become more efficient. The saving potential in this field is huge. Efficiency is good but it is often abused. See, if John Doe buys a car which uses 50% less gas, he will simply drive more. A trap we should not fall into... Welcome to the forums  Stefan Twike 890
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Written on: 12 June 2009 [23:00]
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childress
Administrator
registered since: 14.08.2007
Posts: 140
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A large part of the "we're gonna need to make more electricity to fuel all those EV" argument comes from ill-informed individuals on how the electric power grid operates. I am NOT claiming to be an expert, but I have done a lot of reading up on how it works, including visting power plants... For most countries with coal grids (and I'd assume for anything that uses steam to turn the turbine, so nuclear as well), electricity is a "use it or lose it" item. Long/short term storage of electricity has not happened at that scale yet, though discussions are underway. Further, you have to build your plants to be able to provide for peak usage times (in the US that's summer at noon-3 pm, as air conditioners are running full blast), HOWEVER at night there is a significant amount of excess capacity (the power generators can only be shutdown so far), and if it's not used it just "goes to waste". If you're on a flexible electricity rate plan (you're paying the market rate), you'll actually see this in action, and switch your high usage electricity usage to off-peak hours: laundry and dishwasher at night, run the A/C as little as possible or chill the house down overnight and seal it up during the day & keep the A/C off -- last July 4th we were actually being PAID during certain hours in the night to consume electric energy!!! So, IF you charge your EV at night, you're not adding to the need for capacity, AND in some cases, if you have "smart charging stations" for EV's, the EV batteries could potentially become a storage point for the excess electricity: You plug your EV in every night and it gets topped off, you drive to work and plug it in there and "the grid" can tap into a certain percentage of the electricity in your battery when peak demand hits. Not really a big deal with just a few EV's, but if you have a LOT of EV's you can shift a lot of electricity generated overnight to daytime/peak load hours. So EV's used this way would GIVE you more capacity/energy. That's a pretty big technological hurdle though... Commute suck? Twike it; You'll like it!
http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/twike |
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