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Originally Posted by Jeff Alton
Is there a study available that shows the actual carbon footprint of an EV, based on generating the power to charge the car? I am curious to see. It makes sense from a green point of view out here where we generate hydro electric power, but what about where coal is used to generate power?
Also would love to know from owners what impact a charge had on their electricity bill. Assuming 4-6 full charges per month?
Like the technology and possible benefits but have not seen enough data to say one way or the other?
Cheers
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Quote:
Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy
Understanding the full ecological impact would definitely tone down the smug factor. The majority of our electric power is still from burning coal. Electric car batteries require strip mining, which is a nasty process. If you could assess the full ecological impact associated with an electric car, I suspect that it would be no better than a gas one.
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The correct way to look at it is total life-cycle cost. It takes energy to build a car. The higher the cost of the car, the more energy that went into the construction.
Gasoline is $2/gallon. A car typically will go 100K miles. If it gets 25 mpg, it used 4000 gallons of gasoline. Or $8K. The cost difference for a similar electric or hybrid is more than this figure. And electric only vehicles DO use energy.
If the Tesla uses 85kWh per 200 miles, then its 100K miles lifetime usage is 42500 kWh. In my city, I pay $0.079/kwh, or $3357.5. If you pay closer to $0.20/kWh, then the cost is nearly the same.