When you compare battery to gasoline power, electricity wins hands down. Pictured: The all-electric Tesla Roadster sportscar from Tesla Motors.
Image: "qviri," courtesy Flickr
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Dear EarthTalk: 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 to a gas-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, Connecticut
When you compare battery to gasoline power, electricity wins hands down. A 2007 study by the non-profit 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 of 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 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 U.S. 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 would eliminate the need for 6.5 billion barrels of oil per day, or 52 percent of current U.S. 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 non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), results predict that all 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 to 10.3 billion tons.
More than one 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. However, charging up can be much less of a guilt-ridden affair 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.
CONTACTS: Electric Power Research Institute, www.epri.com; HybridCars.com, www.hybridcars.com; Natural Resources Defense Council, www.nrdc.org.
EarthTalk is produced by E/The Environmental Magazine. SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. EarthTalk is now a book! Details and ordering information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.
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46 Comments
Add CommentYou failed to mention that gasoline taxes have not yet been ported to electric cars. But, certainly, they soon will be. I imagine that the price or electricity will still be lower that gasoline. But the difference will be much smaller.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSounds fine, but how often do the batteries need to be replaced and what is the cost of that??
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat the consideration that electricity will cost more with "green power", because alternative fuels like wind and solar are heavily dependant on tax subsidies? I am wondering if that was taken into account.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat of the initial higher cost of the vehicle that runs on electricity?
That is what makes Hybrid cars an economic joke.
Gasoline taxes will probably be converted to a road usage tax.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think the amount of barrels per day saved should be 6.5 million barrels per day not 6.5 billion barrels if your talking US consumption.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA lot of dodgy rubbish, IMHO.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey are playing with numbers. Gasoline-power vehicles are extremely efficient. Hybrids are even better. But electric cars may be very bad for the environment.
Electric cars have to deal with a loss of energy from the battery making the motor move, recharging, which generates a lot of heat from wasted electricity, the high loss of electric energy in the transmission lines from the power station to the home, and the loss of energy from a coal-fired power plant turning heat into electricity.
The financial cost is not the issue. The environment is. Coal may be far cheaper but it is also far more polluting. The carbon cost of an electric car is greater than for a gasoline powered car.
Most of our electric energy comes from coal-fired power plants. Nuclear power is the second largest source. Although there is no carbon added directly to the environment, there are other important pollution problems to consider from nuclear waste. Just think of how much radioactive waste your electric car will produce in its lifetime.
Solar and wind power contribute little to the total energy in our nation currently, so mainly, there is a tremendous amount of pollution that can be attributed to electric cars.
If we switch away from coal and nuclear almost entirely, I oould support electric and hydrogen cars. As it is, it seems to be a pointless gimick that makes the ignorant masses feel good about themselves, while actually producing more pollution and greenhouse gases.
What is the pollutive cost of the battery manufacture in the first place?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShouldn't that be factored in?
Check your 6.5 billion bbls of oil per day number. I believe world production is around 84 MILLION !
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRMG, CPA
Dallas
Check your 6.5 billion bbls of oil per day number. I believe world production is around 84 MILLION !
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRMG, CPA
Dallas
electricity at 85mils. per kilowatt. where in the US is retail electricity that cheap, not in california. Our real cost is over 3 times that. Perhaps the rest of the facts in the article are also massaged a bit.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Electric cars have to deal with a loss of energy from the battery making the motor move, recharging, which generates a lot of heat from wasted electricity, the high loss of electric energy in the transmission lines from the power station to the home, and the loss of energy from a coal-fired power plant turning heat into electricity."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAre you kidding me? Normal internal combustion engines convert on average only about 20% of its energy into useful motivational power. Most current electric motors in vehicles approach 90% efficiency. Even electricity generated by coal fired power plants could be considered to be cleaner - the enormous coal plants being more efficient than a tiny internal combustion engine in a car (36 - 48% efficient). That means that even if you consider the transmission losses from the power station to your house, you're -still- more efficient.
Internal Combustion Engines are not "extremely efficient", they are up to 20% efficient now that a great deal of time, money and energy have been put into making them that efficient. Electric cars run at about 80-95% efficiency.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMuch of the argument that says electric cars pollute about as much as gasoline cars stems from the production of the electricity. If you are factoring that into your equation, then you must factor in all the pollution from transporting oil from the rig to the refinery, the energy loss at the refinery, then the transportation via trucks, boats and trains just to get the fuel from one spot to another. Electricity travels much cheaper due to it moving through stationary wires that do not emit their own pollution.
Electricity "wins" hands down economically and environmentally right now and the difference will only become more clear as we get a higher percentage of our electricity from renewable resources.
Internal Combustion Engines are not "extremely efficient", they are up to 20% efficient now that a great deal of time, money and energy have been put into making them that efficient. Electric cars run at about 80-95% efficiency.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMuch of the argument that says electric cars pollute about as much as gasoline cars stems from the production of the electricity. If you are factoring that into your equation, then you must factor in all the pollution from transporting oil from the rig to the refinery, the energy loss at the refinery, then the transportation via trucks, boats and trains just to get the fuel from one spot to another. Electricity travels much cheaper due to it moving through stationary wires that do not emit their own pollution.
Electricity "wins" hands down economically and environmentally right now and the difference will only become more clear as we get a higher percentage of our electricity from renewable resources.
This is more hype than information. A real comparison should be simple. You can figure an internal combustion-powered cars energy usage by the miles per gallon and the energy content of the gasoline. You can do the same by calculating the electric car's miles per KWH. The two can then be easily be compared by converting BTU to KWH or vice versa. But somehow the electric car's mileage is never given out. I wonder why.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisModern fueled cars are over 40% efficient close to the maximum possiable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisit is true that electric motors are over 96% efficient. but electric cars have battery loses, energy control system loses, as well as rolling resistance and wind resistance as in fuel cars. Bottom line there is no free lunch. Electric cars just move energy demands and pollution to a different part of the system.
Modern fueled cars are over 40% efficient close to the maximum possiable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisit is true that electric motors are over 96% efficient. but electric cars have battery loses, energy control system loses, as well as rolling resistance and wind resistance as in fuel cars. Bottom line there is no free lunch. Electric cars just move energy demands and pollution to a different part of the system.
Yep. Just a little experiment is all that is required to get some real data. You know, experiment. The essence of the scientific method that is treated as the forgotten stepchild by SA and most "scientists" today.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSimply drive a Tesla motors car and an equivalent IC car for a year and compare operating costs.
It's a long while since I did my physics degree, and I now work in computers, but I do remember that power from a plug was estimated at less than 10% of the calorific energy of the fule used, while the internal combustion engine was about 30%, with diesel being even higher owing to the higher compression raition used in these engines. Hydrogen is the way to go, as long as it can be produced using solar, wave etc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease note my degree was physics not english (fuel not fule)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat is the base cost of each vehicle? Is it equal in terms of monetary cost and resources required to build each? I can show you an internal combustion engine that gets 25mpg, another with 35mpg, and a third running on diesel that gets over 50mpg. But there is also a great deal of difference in their prices. I don't know about you, but I calculate that sort of thing before I buy the vehicle. The budget only goes so far.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDon't get me started regarding the obvious fact that the majority of electricity produced currently in the U.S. does in fact use coal. And the fact that under the currently followed projections of power needs and cost, the only affordable option being considered by power companies right now is more coal, not less.
Engage in thought experiment - say every household had a little bubble to live in - an island in the ocean encased in a bubble maybe 300 ft in the air (or so) - big enough that it made sense to have cars. You could use whatever type of energy you wanted to - would you burn gasoline or would you set up solar panels and charge batteries - yes you would have to bury your batteries every 15 years or so. How would you and your family heat and cool your house? You live your whole life in this space (perhaps 80-90 years) so you have to breath whatever you put in the air. And your children will continue to live in this space for their 80-90 years. Even if you were completely selfish and only thought of your own health would you start that gasoline engine and run it for 90 years? (Also bicycles are options too.) Unfortunately in the real world we don't directly experience the consequences of our actions - or aren't immediately aware in any case.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisdave;
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI hope you don't have to create your solar panels and batteries on your island and in your 300 ft air bubble. You and your children would be long dead from air and water pollution.
You put your hand on your exhaust manifold and I'll put my hand on my electric motor and let's see whose vehicle is more efficient with regards to heat loss!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGas sells for 3.00 a gallon because that is what consumers are willing to pay. If push came to shove the Saudis could sell gas for as low as 4 dollars a barrel and still make a small profit. remove the tax on gas and it could hypothetically sell for as low as 25cents a gallon. In a real world of free markets, electricity could not compete with gas
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe average price per kilowatt hour in the U.S. is 11.59 cents (36% higher), not the 8.50 cents published in this article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the northwest it means more water used for electricity production and less for fish habitatbad for salmon.
Source: Energy Information Administration July 10, 2009
I believe electric cars use about 0.9 kw-hr per mile @ 45 mph. Electric rates in my area are about $0.20 per kw-hr making the cost per mile $0.18. An equivalent gasoline powered vehicle would get about 30 mpg @ 45 mph, the equivalent of gasoline costing $5.40 per gallon. That price hasn't been reached yet, but when it does, electricity will also rise to much more than $0.20 per kw-hr.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat you failed to take into account is that the United States highway systems are paid for by taxes paid on gasoline and diesel sales in each state.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen the government starts to take notice that their tax coffers are being depleted by the increasing number of electrical vehicles being plugged into the electrical grid, you can bet that additional taxes on your electrical use will not be far off. Currently, 31 cents per gallon of gasoline is the highest paid in the country (Pennsylvania and New York).
Now consider that there is no way that the government can determine the difference between what is an electrical car or an airconditioner being plugged into the the grid. so they will have to tax *ALL* electrical use. AND! they will have to tax *EVERYONE* regardless of if they own an electrical car or not. So people who do not own a PHEV will be paying double taxes (gasoline tax and PHEV grid tax). And once the government sees what a cash cow a grid tax is, they will easily double what we currently pay for gasoline taxes. Add to that building additional power stations, and I can easily see PHEVs costing $2.00 - $3.00/gallon equivalent to fill up!
I read this too on one of my favorite auto blogs: <a href="http://www.foxrentacarblog.com/">Fox Rent A Car</a>. Hope the workers can get what they want, while also contributing more to their companies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSounds like some one is playing with the numbere to sell.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm a one car family and two or three times a year travel 600 miles on our first leg. After the first 200 miles, then what.
I would love to have an all electric, but it lookas like we can't get away from "oil" Just a thought... how about a spec of atomic energy in the motor. I probably could drive around for 10 years before refuling.
Sounds like some one is playing with the numbere to sell.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm a one car family and two or three times a year travel 600 miles on our first leg. After the first 200 miles, then what.
I would love to have an all electric, but it lookas like we can't get away from "oil" Just a thought... how about a spec of atomic energy in the motor. I probably could drive around for 10 years before refuling.
10 years in the future, LA has 1 million electric cars heading home. Not only will people be turning on their air conditioners, entertainment centers, washers,dryers, electric stoves,but they will also be plugging in their cars. How many kilowatts will that use during the PEAK demand time???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisElectric vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions, but there are, of course, emissions involved in the production of electricity. One major benefit of electric vehicles is the "displacement" of harmful air pollutants from urban to rural areas, where population exposure is lower.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this<a href="http://www.aamericancardeals.net/">Cars For Sale</a>
Well, once again SA is just a mouth piece for the Left's Greens. Did not check facts ( 8.5 BILLION ), did not give any type of cost comparison,( batteries ), tax for road usage) This is not my FATHERS SA !!!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisso they tell us that we get so much electric from coal fired plants and yet obama has and is shutting down teh miines that produce the coal . figure that out .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisalso they tell us it coat 8. so for the killowats to charge the car . that is a lie right away for my electric is 11.6 per killowat . Now figure the tax into the price . they don,t mention that
they don,t tell you the cost of the car and then to have to replace the batteries ,
lets start with the price of the car . then add the cost of recharging with the tax,s added , then figure out how many lile you can drive on a charge , then figure out what it cost to replace the batteries .
Look at how well we did back in the 50,s up through the 80,s jobs and people were wqell off now that this goverment has ruined everythhignand look how they put out lies to fool us .
take the men who have been killed for trying and setting up cars to run on vapor that get so much more miles per gallon . why has the goverment tried so hard to stop these people .
The EPA is forcing more people out of jobs and Obama is using the EPA to do his dirty work any one can see this . HE is trying to shut down any thing that is producing electric . so he can push his Idea of wind mills and solar panels .. OF course he may get a kick back form putting these into bnusiness .
Just beware of all of this double talk about these electtric cars
Here in San Diego, we are have 'tiers' If I add an electric vehicle I'll pay 0.29/kWh. On top of that I pay a surcharge of 0.08/kWh for winter generation and 0.09/kWh for summer generation. In addition I pay for public purpose programs, distribution, nuclear power decommissioning, etc, etc. In reality, where I live, the cost is well beyond 0.08/kWh mentioned in this article, but what would you expect from the 'Electric Power Research Institute' and the 'Natural Resources Defense Council'?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Gasoling power vehicles are extremely efficient"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReally? No figure is given to substantiate that claim. The Infernal combustion engine is 33 to 37% efficient in LABORATORY conditions. In real life conditions 18 to 20% efficiency, the remaining 80% of the energy from that precious liquid gold is wasted. When That ICE driven vehicle is stopped in traffic it has a 0% efficiency, 100% being lost (or rather gained to our skies).
Indeed, we currently use dirty coal for major portions of our electricity use. Our economy mandates a certain slow phaseout of it but in the end, it has to go. The sooner the better. Efficiency, solar ,wind, hydro, ocean current, all will fill a bigger portion of our needs. How fast is up to us. "Lets roll"
After working at the local Toyota dealer for the last year, I can say definitively that we have NEVER replaced the drive battery pack in any prius yet. None have come in for any drive battery issues.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn my mind cars running on natural gas engines are what the future should be. It's a cleaner burning gas, more abundant, and more affordable. I think we should put more effort into creating better natural gas cars.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://compressionsource.com
You failed to realize that taxing electric cars to charge up is impossible, except for public charging stations. There is nothing to stop someone from charging up their electric car simply by plugging it into their 120V socket in their garage. Simple and taxing is impossible. Electric cars are the future, don't be so closed minded.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe batteries last 100,000 miles or longer. You can see that the warranty for the Chevy Volt's batteries are 100,000 miles and it is expected to last longer than that. Look at some of the high mileage second generation Priuses still on the road today with over 100,000 miles. The battery still works fine.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the future, battery energy densities will increase further, and longevity and charge times will get better as well.
Hybrids/Plug-ins/Full electrics are not an economical joke if you buy the car used! Duh
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@t34chr.. "They are playing with numbers. Gasoline-power vehicles are extremely efficient. Hybrids are even better. But electric cars may be very bad for the environment."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo. Gasoline cars are horribly inefficient. Even the Atkinson cycle gas engine in the Prius isn't more than 30% efficient, and then you have to factor in the energy use in converting crude oil to usable gasoline, and to deliver the gasoline to the stations.
Electric cars are far more efficient. Take the Volt, Leaf, Tesla Roadster or model S, whatever. They all get 80MPG equivalent or better, after taking into account the inefficiencies of converting voltage from the battery to the motor and from the wall to the battery.
The leaf gets over 90MPGe.
Yes, there is the question of inefficiency of transporting electricity through the vast electric grid, and how that electricity is generated. But, as the emissions requirements of power plants increase, all the electric cars in the US will automatically become greener and greener... and greener.
Look at the total of federal subsidies for various energy types and you'll see that oil, gas, and coal, get about 45% of the money, while wind and solar get about 6% of the total!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/energy/subsidies/
My guess is: We're used to paying $50 to fill up our cars now. They will make it so we pay close to that no matter what it really costs them to provide the power.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut if many people do buy electric cars and charge them at night, won't this eventually make night time just as much a peak electrical demand time as day hours?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNights are only cheaper now because the demand is lower. But if people start charging their cars at night, won't this increase demand?
Your right! I read that with so many using electric cars and fuel efficent cars the amount the goverment is collecting on gasoline taxes has gone down. So they are now looking for ways to replace that lost revenue........
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhich is interesting since they insisted they were only taxing the gasoline to reduce use......
But they like the revenue! So they now want to find a way to replace that. So was it ever about getting us to use less gasoline, or was it always about the revenue?
Makes you wonder.