If hybrid cars are part oil/part electric, aren't we using up our coal supply?

Question

I was thinking about it, since hybrid cars are 1/2 oil 1/2 electric.....or whatever. I am wondering if hybrids are getting that electricity from coal, and if so, how much more is the electric bill? Because I'm starting to think that it might not save as much money as we think, and is just solving the problem with another non-renewable resource.

Answer 1

We should be useing coal whenever we can. Yes it is not as clean but with scrubbers there is almost nothing that gets out.

    All fossil fuels are renewable. The plants made our present fossil fuels and will continue for several million years. The plants recycle the CO2 into O2 and the plants keep the C which will deteriate into fossil fuels . A lot of the oil is direct from plants in there seeds like olive oil .  

Answer 2

First off, current hybrids don't plug into the power grid.  They recharge the battery with regenerative braking and by using the energy from the gasoline more efficiently.

We will have plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles soon though.  In response to your question, the answer is that electric cars cost about 2-3 cents per mile to recharge.  A Prius costs 8-9 cents per mile, and an average gas car costs 13-15 cents per mile.  So in terms of fuel costs, electrics are far cheaper.

In terms of the environment, studies have shown that even when most of the energy comes from coal, EVs still produce lower emissions than gas cars because they're more efficient.

http://www.pluginamerica.org/images/Emis...

And in terms of energy production, if we recharge EVs and plug-in hybrids during off-peak hours, we simply use the energy that's normally wasted, so we don't need to build many more power plants.

http://gas2.org/2008/03/14/plug-in-hybri...

Answer 3

.......you don't plug your prius in the gas engine makes the electricity if we did plug it in even using coal ....it wouldn't use much and be 10 times cleaner then gasoline.........( when i say you don't plug it in that's excluding cal-cars)

and it would cost about a buck to run your hybrid all electric and is way cleaner our coal plants really only give off steam on the smoke stacks theres carbon filters and so on ...........it would be way cleaner then gasoline and we have 500 years worth of coal left..............so no biggy.......if only we all used electric cars

Answer 4

weve got plenty of both, just left wing idiots care about 1 or 2 species of animals that can be relocated, if we drilled here we'd be fine

Answer 5

There are a few cars that can be pre-charged from the grid to run short distances at low speed on battery. Some hybrids get all of their battery power from recapturing energy during braking.

For a car such as Prius that can be charged from the grid, that will use up whatever fuel or energy source is providing the grid with power, and it could be coal. But from experience it is not totally sound strategy to pre-charge the battery, because now we have a vehicle  that may not have battery capacity to hold the charge provided by braking. What we gained by having the battery charge undoes the basic benefit of the hybrid's regernerative braking.

Answer 6

hybrids today are not 1/2 oil and 1/2 electric.

they burn gasoline to produce electricity.

and use that electricity to move the car.

the difference is that when you put the brakes on, that generates electricity that they save, so when you start up again, you use the energy you recovered when you were stopping.

there will soon be, and may already be, cars that you plug in.

not hybrids, plug in electric.

sort'a like golf carts, but bigger.

they'll use coal.

Answer 7

   yes, exactly. 70 percent of our electricity comes from coal. And since energy is wasted each time you convert it from one form to another, electric cars are also wasteful. A hybrid car is just partially an electric car.

     Electricity from a power plant is converted into chemical energy in the battery, then converted back to electricity. some is also wasted in the power lines.

      Vehicles use a lot of energy. bringing a ton of metal with us everywhere, at high speed, wasting momentum at each stop is never going to be a low-energy process.Regenerative braking captures some energy, but you're putting it into, and out of the battery, at a high rate of charge (waste, and tough on battery). Most current hybrids don't bother. replacing all cars with electric cars would require us to triple (or more) our electricity production. New coal- fired plants are not being permitted,  all natural gas would triple? the cost. wind and solar are more expensive yet again. Batteries have inherent limits, unlikely to ever be a low-maintenance cost. and batteries lose a lot of power when cold.

      The only reason hybrids are as affordable as they are, is because we have cheap coal- fired electricity. Hydrogen cars are way more wasteful.I think we are kidding ourselves- only very wealthy people will ever be able to afford electric cars, same as now. The vehicle of the future is a bicycle. this article has a good explanation  of the waste involved at each step , from coal to powering an electric (or hydrogen)car

http://mb-soft.com/public/cars00.html

      

    

Answer 8

I like the way you think and you're totally right. It depends on where you get your electricity from in your home. Did you know you don't need to install solar panels on your house to have your electricity come from renew able energy? Just check out your electricity company's website, and it should have an option to choose where your electricity comes from. You can choose if it comes from renewable or non-renewable. If your electricity just comes from gas and coal and stuff, then you're right, hybrids are not much better than any other car. Hope this helped! ~MaDiSoN

Answer 9

Hello Pal

Big car Manufacturers must have done their homework, which is why they are making and selling hybrid cars.

The main obstacles seem to be smaller fleet sizes and the extra costs of a hybrid system are yet compensated for by fuel savings, but with the price of oil set to continue on its upward trend, the tipping point may be reached by the end of 2008. Advances in technology and lowered battery cost and higher capacity etc. developed in the hybrid car industry are already filtering into truck use as Toyota, Ford, GM and others introduce hybrid pickups and SUVs.

Me as a lay man would think, if the demand for oil goes down...it will help the price as well as the preservation of oil reserves. Electricity can be generated from not just coal but also nuclear, wind, water and solar energy. Thus for the same mileage of a hybrid car you end up using much lesser oil and some electricity. Which end of the day is more preferable.

So to answer you in short...you will save money while oil / coal reserves will deplete at a slower rate. About the electricity bill...I don't know. While all the above does not solve the problem...it is a step towards minimizing it.