Electric and Alternative Vehicle Fuels

[natural.thought]

@PhilT

over a few years it always gets consistently and measurably better fuel economy with BP. I have had other cars over the years that seemed to have a preference for one or other brand, and some that had no preference.

That’s really interesting! Do you record your data? You could get that information online to help further the knowledge of fuel consumption. I record the fuel efficiency of my vehicle, but I don’t stick to one particular company, so I wouldn’t be able to notice any changes between brands.

---

@PhilT

Author: Mia Romare, Lisbeth Dahllöf, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Funded by: Swedish Energy Agency, Swedish Transport Administration
Report number C 243
ISBN 978-91-88319-60-9

Thanks, I’ll check it out!

---

@PhilT

‘Psuedoscience’? You would not have already made your position, would you?

Oh no, that doesn’t sound like a very scientific way to think; to make up your mind when there isn’t yet any conclusive evidence. What I said was,

@natural.thought

there is a lot of pseudoscience in the public realm convincing people that electric vehicles are worse for the planet due to their batteries, etc.

There are a lot of misguided journalists who repeat the claims of a debunked article called ‘Dust to Dust’. This thoroughly scrutinised paper drew false conclusions when comparing the overall environmental impact of eletric cars to fossil fuel cars.

I will review the USEPA article, noting that it states, “In addition, the SWCNT nanotechnology applications assessed show promise for improving the energy density and ultimate performance of the Li-ion batteries in vehicles. However, the energy needed to produce these anodes in these early stages of development is significant (i.e., may outweigh potential energy efficiency benefits in the use stage). Over time, if researchers focus on reducing the energy intensity of the manufacturing process before commercialization, the overall environmental profile of the technology has the potential to improve dramatically.”

---

@draughtrider

until the power source of an electric vehicle can be replenished in a comparable time to a conventional combustion engine fuel source, or extended to such a range that replenishment time is not an issue

An electric bus that drives 1774km and refuels in an hour, a production electric vehicle that drove Melbourne to Sydney with the same number and duration of stops as a fossil fuel car, electric trucks that can drive return trips of 80% of truck routes on a single charge and can refuel in half an hour if the trip is particularly long (ie. longer than 800km). That covers an immense majority of vehicle users.

@draughtrider

factoring in two multi-hour recharges would be a nightmare.

While I understand the technology wasn’t perfect in it’s early stages, and warranted such concerns, electric vehicles have come a long way since then (pun intended).

---

@phb

The report is titled "The Life Cycle Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Lithium-Ion Batteries’

Thanks! I’ve got it now and will read through it soon

---

@syncretic

How about looking at the big picture of which tech will suit most situations and most people and be cost-effective most of the time while getting away from fossil fuels?

@syncretic, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Naysayers will always point out the one person who lives 60km south-east of Warburton that won’t benefit from this technology, but seem to ignore the overwhelming majority of people that would benefit from this technology.