Comments on: The Hidden Cost of Electric Vehicles

By: A.G.

A.G. — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:43:09 +0000

Re: spilled ink – Yes, it would be interesting to see the comparison of coal-burning impact to car-driving impact on emissions. I don’t see this as totally wasted ink though… It’s important to be reminded that electric cars don’t solve the problem. That is different than implying we should sit idly by…we should keep pressing on with R&D.
RE: solar panels — I haven’t studied this, but the amp-hour output of a typical solar panel isn’t very high, but the energy demand of a vehicle is huge…meaning you’d have to leave it on charge for a LOOOOONG time…and since you’d mostly be charging your car at night. You get the point.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:46:15 +0000

Along with what Jeff said, why not make sufficient solar panels be another option to chosse when buying the car – fancy wheels, satellite radio, automatic transmission, solar charging station…seems like a no-brainer to me. They could even be covered under the car’s warranty. One stop shopping will make this easier, and easier encourages greater participation.

By: Custom Organic Shirts

Custom Organic Shirts — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:31:40 +0000

I wholeheartedly agree with Jeff. It is rediculous to assume that car techonology development must wait until the utility companies stop fighting clean energy and start using it. Develop the techonology now, and by the time it is mainstream the electric utilities will have been forced to clean up their act.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:50:40 +0000

Why assume that the power to recharge the cars will be generated at a power plant? Why not invest in a combo-pack? You buy an electric car and you get massive tax breaks from the government to put a solar charging station in your garage at home and on the roof of your parking shed at work. Drive into the space, plug in and let the Sun do the job. What is wrong with this idea?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:09:54 +0000

Why was any digital ink spilled/wasted for this article? And why is the National Research Council doing a study on something SO obvious? What a waste of time and money! Everybody knows that if electric cars are charged by electricity made from coal or other polluting methods they will still be polluting! The point is to get the gas cars off the road and then we have a more narrow issue to resolve. If we wait for clean power then we still would have an issue with the gas cars. Do these people want everyone to sit on their hands while they put every technology in a line and only develop one at a time? Why don’t they spend their money figuring out which one pollutes more overall, running a car on gas for 100 miles or burning enough coal to create the electricity to run the electric car for 100 miles?