How much electric power would it take to run all the automobiles, trucks , and buses in the United States ?

Question

What is the potential of electric power in the United States from wind , geothermal, hydropower, and solar power to power electric vehicles???

Answer 1

The answer to the first part is, probably more that we generate now.

The answer to the second part is that potential is a subjective term. What one person considers a potential source of energy is a way to waste energy to another person. One example would be ethanol, where some people claim ethanol has a potential to replace all gasoline and other people say it takes more than 1 gallon of gasoline powered activity to make 1 gallon of ethanol. Another example is hydroelectric power. By most reasonable estimates, most potential hydroelectric sources have already been exploited, but others might say we could build dams on those smaller rivers that are still free running and get some more.

Answer 2

Most alternative energy is solar energy and there is a lot more solar energy available than humans can ever use. In fact all human energy needs could be generated using currently available technology on a million square miles. The USA is four times that size and uses only 1/3 the total. So, energy is available in excess but engineering skills are not being used very well to deliver it to the people in need.

Answer 3

About 1/2 of our capacity, but the extension cord bill is a bit high.

Answer 4

Some years ago, I calculated that it would take about 180 gigawatts (first link).

The potential wind energy available in the lower 48 states is on the order of 1200 gigawatts, with another 900 gigawatts of potential on the continental shelves.  The potential from solar energy is quite a bit more; wind energy is just solar energy after conversion through a rather inefficient heat engine.

EDIT:  This is quite a bit less electricity than we generate today.  Average US electric generation is about 460 GW (second link), while total nameplate generating capacity is over 1000 GW.

Answer 5

There is a problem. Every time u change the energy from mechanical to electric u will loose about 40% of the effency.

Answer 6

Not an easy question to answer!  Clearly, there are well over 100 million cars on the roads of the USA every day.  The average daily use is in excess of 20 miles per day.  100MM x 20 miles x 365 days = 730+ billion vehicle miles per year (crude estimate).

The best EV's on the road today use at least 400Wh/mile or 0.4KWh/mile.  Simply, then, 730 billion miles x 0.4KWh = 292 Billion KWh of electricity.  This is a very low estimate because it doesn't take anything into account like terrain, weather, air conditioning, heat, speed variables, load & passenger hauling, etc.  You could probably double this figure and still not be too high.

That takes care of cars only!

You'd have to find some statistics on truck-miles per year and then estimate what kind of energy it would take to propell an electric truck.  Of course, this is not feasible today.  Then the same thing with busses.  It's an awesome task.

Answer 7

Much more than we have.

You left out Nuclear, which is the only alternative proved to be able to supply the massive amount of reliable 24/7 power needed. Solar and wind can assist, but they are not reliable because the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow. Solar and Wind power is also much more expensive primarily because of the very short period each day you get peak power, and the huge amount of area required per megawatt.

If you don't go Nuclear / Wind / Solar, you just move pollution from the city to the country.

Answer 8

The answer is, yes, more electricity than we can generate.  However, if we could reduce gasoline consumption by even 20%, it would have a tremendous effect on the petroleum market.

Answer 9

who knows ?