"The advantage that oil distillates have is that the energy density (energy content/unit volume) of oil distillates is much greater than electric batteries and that advantage still exists. To reduce that disadvantage, auto makers now put as many battery cells in series as they can. Modern electric vehicles have the whole bottom of the vehicle covered with electric battery cells. Many electric vehicles now have a rated range of +300 miles. Unless you are willing to drive 5 mph or less at around 70 o F, you will not go that far on a full charge."
Electric vehicles are all the rage these days. My impression is that the U.S. government told the auto industry some years ago that a problem was coming with oil supply and that they had better start producing alternatives.
Electric cars have been around since the start of the auto industry. Many of the early cars in the late 1800s/early 1900s were electric but it became quickly obvious that oil distillate powered vehicles had an advantage over electric vehicles.
The advantage that oil distillates have is that the energy density (energy content/unit volume) of oil distillates is much greater than electric batteries and that advantage still exists. To reduce that disadvantage, auto makers now put as many battery cells in series as they can. Modern electric vehicles have the whole bottom of the vehicle covered with electric battery cells. Many electric vehicles now have a rated range of +300 miles. Unless you are willing to drive 5 mph or less at around 70 o F, you will not go that far on a full charge.
The current electric batteries used in electric vehicles are lithium ion batteries because lithium is the lightest of metals. Based upon data from Wikipedia, gasoline has an energy density from 13 to 38 times that of a lithium ion battery. For diesel fuel, the energy density is from 15 to 43 times that of a lithium ion battery.
There are three areas, in particular, where the difference in energy density is important.
1). Hauling and towing-Hauling and towing requires a great amount of energy. Hauling or towing with an electric vehicle substantially reduces the range of the vehicle. There are many YouTube videos that demonstrate what happens when a trailer is towed with an electric vehicle. The video below shows a Tesla Model X towing a 4,500 lb trailer:
To make a long story short, towing on flat terrain dramatically reduced the range of the vehicle. They then demonstrated towing uphill and the energy demand went through the roof.
2). Driving in cold weather-Cold weather can seriously reduce range. Obviously the colder the temperature, the lower the range.
In the last part of the video below, Chandler decides he is going to drive 24 miles to another town and back. He thinks he has plenty of charge to make it but it’s cold. To make a long story short, he had to be towed the last 10 miles back to his house.
A further point that should be made is that in winter it’s not unusual that you would use the heater, lights and windshield wipers. They all drain energy from the battery. Temperatures above 70 o F also decrease the range.
3). Long distance driving-If you want to drive long distances with an electric vehicle, you have to be willing to stop frequently to recharge the battery. That means it will take considerably longer for a trip.
This video shows how the range of an electric vehicle can be negatively affected by various factors:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+tong+distance+driving+with+an+electric+vehicle&&vi
ew=detail&mid=0C3B9AB6C8C2D796B3370C3B9AB6C8C2D796B337&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos
%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dyoutube%2Btong%2Bdistance%2Bdriving%2Bwith%2Ban%2Belectric%2Bvehicle%2
6qpvt%3Dyoutube%2Btong%2Bdistance%2Bdriving%2Bwith%2Ban%2Belectric%2Bvehicle%26FORM%3
DVDRE
Electric vehicles are portrayed as “green”. I suppose if the fact that CO 2 doesn’t come out of a tailpipe is being “green” then they are green, but if you consider the environmental impact of mining and refining metals like lithium, cobalt, nickel and other metals and metalloids, then electric vehicles aren’t so green. Also, a substantial amount of fossil fuel energy goes into mining and refining metals in electric vehicles.
The following article makes the case that electric vehicles aren’t going to be the solution for future transportation:
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-02-14/are-electric-cars-the-solution/
The goal of the U.S. government is to have 50% of personal motor vehicles be electric by 2030. I place the probability of achieving that level at 0%. There will be a lot of people who won’t buy an electric vehicle for the reasons given above. There are a lot of people who won’t buy an electric vehicle because they can’t afford to. There are people who won’t buy an electric vehicle just because they don’t want to.
Add comment