How would elec. cars have a low carbon footprint if most electricity is generated using coal?

Question

I have resarched alot about Hybrid and electric cars and according to many citation in which I will provide in the end, Oil and Coal are the most used way to generate Electricity and they leave a huge carbon footprint, and since electric cars use electricity, I can't see how it would lower our carbon footprint or emissions, I'm not sure if there is something I'm missing.

Here are my sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:World_energy_usage_width_chart.svg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sources_of_electricity_in_the_USA_2006.png

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/pdf/statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_review_2008.pdf

I'd suggest you let the last link take it's time loading

Answer 1

I have come to that same conclusion.

BTW I own a Prius. I read somewhere that if all the cars in the US was electric, then we would produce about 30% more carbon emission. Transport of electricity is only efficient when it is via high voltage. Most people who will plug an electric car into their outlet does not have high voltage access. Thus the loss to heat (IR loss) would be tremendous. Also if you are using the last of the electric kWhr, then there is a surcharge for it. Making the cost of electricity for charging a car very high (more like 25 to 30 cents kWhr), as compared to the often quotes national average of 4 to 6 cents per kWhr, which is not real.

See http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/vsa... , where the conclusion is inconclusive.

Answer 2

The key here is "lower."  Of course they do not eliminate the need for fossil fuel as an energy source at this point. However, they would reduce total carbon emissions and localize them to power plants. The next step would be to increase emission regulations on power plants. Also keep in mind that electricity can be produced in a number of ways. Ideally, our electricity will one day be produced exclusively by means that are carbon emission free (hydro ,nuclear, solar, etc.), intrinsically making our cars emission free.

Answer 3

You are right.  As of right now, the majority of electricity generated comes from fossil fuels which have a large carbon footprint.  Charging your electric vehicle from mains power will mean that it is mainly charged using fossil fuels and so the carbon footprint will not be much better than using gasoline.

You best option right now is Hybrid vehicles.  It uses LESS gasoline and does not require charging from mains power.  

There is another concept out there for a 106 mpg car that is a hybrid gasoline / air powered car.  Check it out.....

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/08/air.c...

Hopefully though, we will move away from electricity generation from fossil fuels in the future and rely more on renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and tidal.  At that point the carbon footprint for EV's will be significantly reduced.  This probably won't happen any time soon as politics is still driven by the people with the money......the oil companies.

Answer 4

U are right but because Mother nature and plants are recycleing CO2 . Most know how plants recycle the CO2 and give us back the O2, but the plant keeps the C. Later when the plant dies it deteriates into oil & gas. Plants are the solar collectors here on earth. They also store their oil in there seeds.  

Answer 5

In a few places (Illinois, France) lots of the electricity comes from nuclear power plants.  Other places (Canada) may have hydroelectric power.  Even if the cars burn coal, it is less expensive than oil.  

Also, economic dispatch causes utilities to turn off their more expensive generators at night.  This makes it more likely that an electric car will be charged with nuclear energy rather than coal or gas.  

Answer 6

The term is lower, not low. Low implies lowest level and that is not true. Just keep in mind that there is no such thing as zero carbon emissions when it comes to power generation. Even solar energy requires quite high levels of carbon utilization when constructing the materials.

What does it matter anyway? there is no proof that global warming is caused by man.

Answer 7

Others have touched on some of the advatages, but seem to missing the main emissions lowering cause is the effeciency of the power generating stations and regenerative breaking.  

Even if all the power is generated by oil and coal, power plants are about twice as efficient at converting the fuel into power as internal combustion vehichles even after taking into account losses in transmission and a car's electric motor.  So, it takes less fuel to go the same distance.  Additionally, as time goes you can change the power plants to other methods without having to anything to the electric car.

Now add in regenerative breaking which captures some of the energy in vehicles motion during breaking.  In an internal combustion engine all the power put into accerating a car up to speed is lost when you put on the breaks and stop.  With well designed hybrids and electrics much of the breaking power is used to recharge the batteries.  This is why you can see a Prius getting better milage driving around town in stop and go traffic than it does driving down the freeway.