The Tesla Roadster electric vehicle on display at the Jan. 2009 North American International Auto Show.
(Jim West/Sipa Press/FILE)Photos (1 of 1)
When ‘clean’ cars charge up on ‘dirty’ electricity
EarthTalk: Coal-generated power is still cleaner, cheaper than gasoline, experts say.
| March 20, 2009 edition
Q: If you have an electric or plug-in hybrid car, you’re paying for electricity rather than gasoline all or most of the time. How does that cost compare with a gasoline-powered car’s cost per mile? And since the electricity may be generated from some other polluting source, does it really work out to be better for the environment?
– Kevin DeMarco, Milford, Conn.
A: When you compare battery to gasoline power, electricity wins, hands down. A 2007 study by the nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) calculated that powering a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) would cost the equivalent of roughly 75 cents-per-gallon gasoline – a price not seen at the pump for 30 years.
The calculation was made using an average cost of electricity of 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour and the estimated distance the car would travel on one charge, versus a car that gets 25 miles per gallon and is powered by $3-per-gallon gasoline. Change any of those variables, and the relative costs change. For example, substituting a car that gets 50 miles per gallon doubles the comparative electrical cost (though it still works out to be much cheaper than gasoline).
On the other hand, in some areas where wind or hydropower is wasted at night – just when the PHEV would be charging – the utility might drop the kilowatt hour cost to two to three cents, making the charge much less costly.
And don’t worry that we’ll run out of electrical power: A 2005 study by the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory estimated that three-quarters of the country’s current small-vehicle fleet could be charged by our existing electrical grid without building new power plants. (And if all those cars were replaced by PHEVs, it’s estimated that that would eliminate the need for 6.5 billion barrels of oil per day, or 52 percent of current US oil imports.)
Regarding environmental impact, charging up your car with electricity from the grid also wins handily over filling up at the gas station.
In the most comprehensive PHEV study to date, released in 2007 by EPRI and the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), results predict that greenhouse gases will be reduced as PHEVs begin to penetrate the car market. Estimated cumulative greenhouse-gas reductions from 2010 to 2050, depending upon how fast PHEVs take hold, range from 3.4 billion to 10.3 billion tons.
More than half of our national energy grid is powered by coal, and in areas where PHEVs are charged through coal-provided electricity, says NRDC, there is the possibility of increased levels of soot and mercury emissions.
Charging up can be much less of a guilt-ridden affair, however, in places where cleaner electrical sources like wind and solar are available. The website HybridCars.com points out that as more power plants are required to develop green power and emit fewer greenhouse gases, the environmental and health benefits will further increase.
Got an environmental question? Write: EarthTalk, c/o E – The Environmental Magazine, Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881. Or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
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Comments
2. Caponer | 03.21.09
All the wrangling over the dirtiness of coal fired electric power plants has always been misplaced. I have lived in both the era when communities were heated by coal furnaces and the era when other means were employed, and it is far cleaner today. The era of the electric car, supplemented by the use of trains and busses for long distance travel, is greatly to be wished for in my opinion. I have lived in both eras, and the era of the airplane was to me a terrible way to travel. I found air travel to be the most unhealthy of all, considering the anxieties associated with using the plane and the crowded conditions in the vehicle itself while flying. I am reminded of the pictures of German prisoners crowded into box cars and hauled to prison camps during World War II when I ride a plane. It is terrible.
3. gametheoryman | 03.22.09
For reasons you almost give, cost to the owner and to the environment favor PHEVs even more if they recharge in the middle of the night.
Coal and nuclear power plants generate lots of power in the middle of the night, more than enough to satisfy all PHEVs if they made up 3/4 of our small vehicle fleet, because it takes too long for these plants to heat up again if they were shut off. This power is now used for very low value uses (it’s not “wasted” really; it’s more like nighttime power is free if you build plants for daytime power).
If PHEVs recharge in the middle of the night, the power they take only replaces these other low value uses. No more power is produced for this use. The only incremental cost is the lost value of these other uses, usually way below 2 cents per kwh. There is no extra environmental harm of any kind.
Because this power is going to be produced anyway, it’s by far the lowest cost and most environmental friendly source of power available from any source.
As you mention, wind or hydro power produced at night would act the same way, but these amounts are very small compared to that from coal and nuclear.
4. Andrew Twombly | 03.26.09
In Massachusetts, electricity has been over 20 cents per kWh since early 2007, and the last two months were 21.2 and 21.4 cents. Also FYI, 68% of all electricity generated is wasted in transmission.
As far as US energy waste is concerned, all of this hybrid and electric vehicle stuff, and all this focus on alternative sources of energy are cool and techy and sexy, and they attract a lot of attention. And investment money. But our homes and buildings are wasting huge percentages of the energy we put into them for heating and cooling. How about stopping the waste FIRST at far less a cost than new energy systems!!
A Twombly
ex http://www.vectrix.com manager
5. solbro | 03.30.09
Once the citizens of our country realize that nuclear power is the inevitable solution to the overall question of energy and environment - the electic automobile will be one clean alternative!
6. Oliver | 04.14.09
5. solbro | 03.30.09
USA has more land than many other nations and by far to fill with wind turbines, solar panels. Look the map and see wilderness vs cities, surely one can compensate for the other.
What about noise pollution?
7. car accessories | 07.08.09
The problem with the US car makers is that they focused too much on gas-guzzlers and high-performance cars. What they should have done is invested more on fuel-efficient cars, hybrids, and EVs.
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1. Ken Grubb | 03.20.09
Good on ya! This question is asked so often, it’s all but a knee jerk reaction to the very idea of plugin hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs.
The EPRI study is available online for anyone.
http://www.epri-reports.org
The reports are quite large (over 200 pages between the two reports) and very technical. However, anyone can read the 3 page press release, the 16 pages of the two executive summaries, the 2 page technology primer, and the 7 page FAQ.