Obama's plan to steer Clean Cities toward electric vehicles

[John Mitton]

Buried within President Obama’s 2011 budget request to Congress is a provision that could change the
essential character of the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program – a program vital to Clean Fuels
Ohio’s work. The President proposes an increase in the Clean Cities budget from $25 million to $35
million. So far so good. However, the Administration earmarks $20 million of that exclusively to grants
for electric vehicles and other EV‐related projects and activities.

Details:
http://transportationenergypartners....%27sLetter.pdf

[mtux96]

Re: Obama's plan to steer Clean Cities toward electric vehicles

I wonder if everyone knows exactly where they get their electricity from. A lot of places get it from coal still. EV's are only hiding the source of the "pollution." They are trying to say that the car produces none, since their is none being emitted by the vehicle itself, even though it's just being emitted elsewhere where the factory creates the electricity for it. And, they fail to mention the batteries that may create a bigger issue down the road.

Tool to tell you the source of your electricity.
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energ...how-clean.html

[Amfuel]

Re: Obama's plan to steer Clean Cities toward electric vehicles

I think Clean Cities has been on the EV bandwagon for a while now. (here in WI)

Issues with EVs here are the range of the vehicles when you want to defrost the windshield and stay warm or use the a/c to cool off. Yes I am aware that some are using heat pumps to conserve energy. Are EVs seasonal vehicles? Very possible around here.

[cngsolutions]

Re: Obama's plan to steer Clean Cities toward electric vehicles

And the answer, using the above link and Ohio's zip code, to tell you the source of energy for these EV's: 73% COAL!!!

[mtux96]

Re: Obama's plan to steer Clean Cities toward electric vehicles

And the answer, using the above link and Ohio's zip code, to tell you the source of energy for these EV's: 73% COAL!!!

That's a horrendous number, if you are looking at it in terms of clean energy. Ohio is one place I checked as well, considering I used to live there. My current location, Anaheim, ca has only 7.6% coal. ~50% from natural gas. If you are getting your power from natural gas to begin with, you're better off just having a NGV. It cuts out the middle man and doesn't create more harmful waste(batteries). And, current cars can be refitted to run on NGV. It's hard to convert them to electrci, you'd need a whole new engine.

If we plan on going full blast into EV's, I find it to be a bit foolish and short-sighted. Once, they fix the source of electricity into more ecological friendly methods, then it'll be less foolish. Another issue I have with EV's is the limited range and long refuel times, which is one more thing they need to fix first before they try to make EV's as the solution.

[siai47]

Re: Obama's plan to steer Clean Cities toward electric vehicles

It's the fuel mix for the entire country that counts when it comes to electric generation. I could say the power for my EV comes from hydro as that is the closest generating plant to where I recharge. However, you can't chase electrons and whatever you use from the grid, it is replaced from somewhere. Unless you have off-grid generation (i.e. your own solar, wind, etc.) you fall into the national mix. I have both EV's and NGV's and choose which one to use based on travel distance and ability to recharge/refuel. I sure don't feel bad driving the EV as it is so much more efficient at converting the stored energy into driving the vehicle the anything else I drive. As to refueling/recharging, unless you are blessed with commercial refueling stations, the time to recharge/refuel is about the same for my EV's as it is for my NGV's. I rely on a fuelmaker FM2Q-36 that gets me just under 1gge per hour or about 30 miles of driving in a Cavalier. The EV using a 6.6 KW charger gives me around 25 miles of driving for each hour on the charger. If I was using a Phill, the EV would actually refuel quicker then the NGV. As far as range goes, the Cavaliers will run about 140 miles on a tank, my EV about 100 miles on a charge.

[cripple_rooster]

Re: Obama's plan to steer Clean Cities toward electric vehicles

The biggest problem with electric vehicles is their range and the time required to recharge the batteries. There are already the hybrids and extended-range electrics that manage this issue with an internal combustion engine. Using CNG into a Chevy Volt or a Prius instead of gasoline makes a lot of sense...