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Are EVs really better in the long run than regular gas powered Vehicles?

EV drivers are mostly caring people. They like me and many of my friends have solar grid tied systems. Even with that I still know to never charge during peak hours. I let my solar help the grid during peak and use their wasted energy off peak.
In FACT good advanced battery EV's can help the grid during peak hours. Read about V2G Vehicle to grid systems. Google and ACPropulsion are using that now. A few caring peole can change the world. Some older thinking engineers only see problems. The new green generation see opportunity !
They can't shut down at night and send giga watts of energy away at night. I look at the entire picture and help all I can. I even buy green energy (donate) while I make more than I need and never use the renewable energy I donate for.
If everyone would spread their use to off peak hopurs it would help us all. It would reduce the loads and loss during peak hours on the powerplants, grid and transformers.
solar stacks
There are many factors that complicate the issue.
For small numbers of users the answer is "yes". But once a large number of folks jump on the band wagon... the system as it is will fail miserably!
Let's say 1/10 of the cars in LA switched to 250 mile/charge EV's... what do you think will happen when they all finish work for the week and decide to plug in their cars in Friday night? Can you say major blackout?
There isn't sufficient infrastructure to support the switch. Even if the transition is gradual, there would be a need to build GW of generation capacity, and massively upgraded infrastructure to support the added loads.
I like the solar alternative! That could and would make the outcome far less devastating. You need about a 2kW system to operate an "economy" style automobile, perhaps double for an electric minivan.
So given the demand for electricity would double for EV users, I'll leave the price issue to your thoughtful contemplation.
Please don't get me wrong... I'm all for it! I'm just pointing out the difficulties. So when do you want to get started. I'm ready to help, I'm ready to participate.
Please take a look at "ZECFE-WWYP", thanks.
I question the validity of the 'blackout' comment from my real-world EV usage, and I'd would like to see some research/data backing it up. It may be that it is in the "ZECFE-WWYP" thread, but I was unable through this site's basic search function.
The rationale for my objection is that the rolling blackouts in California were not due to lack of generating capacity, but that power plants
being selectively taken off-line "for maintenance" by Eron's power brokers in order to manipulate
power prices:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/blackout/california/
At the stated values of 1/10th of the cars in LA being run as EV's, and depending on battery chemistry (some batteries LIKE to be continuously slow-charged and kept 'topped off') you have a real possiblility of V2G -- using the electricity stored in ALL the EV's to offset peaks during during peak power usage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V2G
In this case it would have the exact opposite effect, timeshifting the excess electricity produced in the wee-hours of the morning (much as TiVo timeshifts television programming) when the plants are scaled back to their lowest production levels possible and making that electricity available during the day, helping to prevent blackouts during peak-peak useage. Extra power generation could easily be brought online at night. Granted this would take a dream setup/scenario, but then so is a 1/10th EV usage, and well, if you're going to dream, dream BIG!
Further, the concerns of everyone plugging in on Friday would be alleviated if they were plugged in all the time, and even if this were not the case, the scenario is a bit unrealistic from my own personal EV driving
patterns, though my EV does not get anywhere near 250 mpc. Most EV's have a quick/fast charge and an overnight/slow charge. You pay the price of a fast charge by getting less into the batteries and using more electricity (electricity wasted as heat, batteries typically can't store as much when they're hot). From a practicle usage standpoint, you typically do not wait for the batteries to be drained completely, but rather estimate your current 'fuel level' as well as how much driving you'll be doing the next day. Therefore it is entirely possible that a 250mpc EV would actually be charged a couple of times mid-week, depending on how far the owner was planning on driving the next day. Here again battery chemistry plays a big role, as to how they like to be kept: charged as much as possible all the time, or near-emtpy as often as possible.
My household electricity usage went up approximately 1/10th per month (per our power bill) and in comparing our electricity usage with other houses in our area (Central Illinois) even after using the EV we use significantly less. I would think this is pretty typical of someone who drives an EV -- the EV wasn't their first green upgrade/purchase -- they've typically already REDUCED a significant amount first. Of course I drive an extremely efficient REDUCED size EV (legally a motorcycle), that runs at an unconfirmed-by-me-but-advertised-by-the-manufacturer 250-600mpg equivalent. And it's a manufactured EV that is 10 years old this year, so that's 10-year-old technology.
Please point me to articles stating EV adoption would lead to blackouts; I think they would be an interesting read!
Enron was Evil, pure & simple; but the blackouts *did* occur.
I stand behind the blackout statement, because the energy balance really isn't there.
A 250 mile charge would support a 25 mile commute for 5 days. Remember the efficiency of not idling and wasting energy...
People are basically lazy... why charge every day... I might go uot later...I gotta get the kids... teen borrowed the car etc... A million reasons the EV will see some 'abuse' in the charging cycles.
We simply don't have the reserve generating capacity for power plants to supply the energy for even a fraction of the private vehicle fleet. That is the difficulty distilled to it's pure essence.
I read the commercial journals. The big generators are between a rock and a hard place. They want to sell more energy, but arepressured to restrict emissions... The age old demand We want more for less.
Even with the addition of newer super-critical plants and 40+% efficiency, the enviros badger them about CO2, NOx, SOx, Hg, water use, and an endless littany of complaints.
Do you really want cheap gasoline and only 20 hrs of electricity per day?
-------------
I've posted several times today, saying I need committment letters for thousands of my distributed concentrating solar-thermal electrical generators. Money from sunlight... 1 or 2 won't accomplish anything. We need 10's of thousands of these out there! That's the only way the status quo can be broken.
Wanna help?

Juls,
That's some pretty old information. The old lead acid batteries used for over 75 years are toxic and full of acid but even they are 96% recyclable. The new advanced batteries are made of lithium and the EPA actually rates them as so non toxic you can put them in the trash when your done with then.
When you run a gas vehicle it has 80% lost energy due to heat and friction. Have even seen all the parts in an ICE engine ? Not to mention the pollution they make as they run. Or the oil they use for lubrication trying to reduce the losses. It's amazing they can move at all.
The you also have to add in the wasteful braking that just used more friction to stop and makes asbestos dust doing it.
Now if you take an Electric Vehicle like the ACPropulsions T-Zero with a very powerful AC motor, regenerative barking and powerful yet safe lithium batteries you have real efficiency. You never need to shift to go from 0 to 100 mph. It's regerative brakes return 80% of the energy in braking to the batteries. There are only 2 moving parts in the AC motor for about96% efficency.
In fact they even have V2G, Vehicle to grid energy transfer, you can charge off peak, and sell on peak, 4 cents in , 26 cents per KwH out. Now that's a great vehicle. It can also go 300 miles per charge. On a long down hill you can end up with more energy than you started with, and no braking loses or dust or waste heat.
Pluggin in to charge is about 80 cents a gallon worth of energy. It's american made power with no imports or trade deficients. If you have renewable energy like solar and or wind it's free refueling.
the solar stacks
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I was told that the battery in EVs aren't re-usable or recyclable. That while you use an EV it is better than regular cars but that once you can't use it anymore the disposal of it's battery is actually just as bad for the environment as it would of been if you drove a regular car. What's more is if the use of EVs go up what is that going to do to the cost and production of electricity?