Jon Gabriel
  • Home
  • Words
  • Media
  • Design
  • Contact

Electric Cars Bring Unintended Consequences to California

8/20/2013

0 Comments

 
FREEDOMWORKS

The 1970s were awful and not just because of the fashion. The decade of Nixon, Ford and Carter was plagued with skyrocketing oil prices, hours-long lines at gas stations, and ubiquitous warnings of environmental catastrophe.

Reacting to the bleak public mood, a series of hideous, fuel-efficient cars were promoted by Detroit (they used to build cars there). But the great automotive hope was the electric car. In a few short years, Americans would simply plug-in their Family Truckster, free from that expensive crude oil and the icky pollution it created.
When the OPEC panic faded, so did the dream of super-sized golf carts — at least for a while. But whenever oil prices spiked or environmental doomsayers got a bug up their tailpipe, the smart set were quick to revive the call for plug-and-play Buicks.

Like most backward-looking progressives, Obama loves electric cars. He’s funneled millions into failing electric vehicle companies and sweetheart consumer tax credits. To be fair, if EVs solved the problems of expensive energy and dirty skies, maybe he would have a point.

But as Thomas Sowell says, “there are no solutions... only trade-offs.” And electric cars are proving to be an expensive trade-off indeed.

When people boast of plugging in a car, they seem to think electricity comes from a wall instead of a huge power plant. They might not be pumping gas at their local filling station, but the electric company is probably using gas, coal or nuclear to power up that “green” car.

California, the state with the most EVs, is slowly realizing these cars aren’t the magical solution that was promised. MIT Technology Review explains:
Electric cars being sold today can draw two to five times more power when they’re charging than electric cars that came on the market just a couple of years ago. But the impact of charging one depends on where it is on the grid and how it is charged…

The trouble arises when electric car owners install dedicated electric vehicle charging circuits. In most parts of California, charging an electric car at one of those is the equivalent of adding one house to the grid, which can be a significant additional burden, since a typical neighborhood circuit has only five to 10 houses…

A house in San Francisco might only draw two kilowatts of power at times of peak demand, according to Pacific Gas & Electric. In comparison, a new electric vehicle on a dedicated circuit could draw 6.6 kilowatts—and up to 20 kilowatts in the case of an optional home fast charger for a Tesla Model S.
Plugging in an electric vehicle can be the same as adding three houses to a neighborhood’s electrical grid. Now utilities in the Golden State are scrambling to upgrade their underpowered infrastructure.

But these upgrades aren’t being paid for by the electric car owners, but by all rate payers. Some utilities are even offering special discounts to electric vehicle owners. In effect, the traditional car owners are subsidizing the often wealthier EV owners.

It’s not like the plug-in cars are eliminating the environmental tradeoffs of energy production. Aquarter of California's power is imported from other states, mostly from hydroelectric (evil, environment-killing dams) and nuclear (evil, environment-killing radiation). And less than a quarterof California's power comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

There is no magic bullet that will solve our transportation and energy needs. Electric vehicles may reduce some drawbacks of gas-powered cars, but they create a new set of environmental and economic problems.

There are no solutions... only trade-offs.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    Arizona
    Arizona Republic
    Art
    Business
    Buzzfeed
    Communication
    Culture
    Daily Caller
    Design
    Drugs
    Economy
    Education
    Energy
    Environment
    Family
    Food & Drink
    Freedomworks
    Free Speech
    Gender
    Guns
    Health Care
    Heartland Institute
    Humor
    Immigration
    International
    Journalism
    Military
    Music
    Neatorama
    NY Post
    Outrage
    Philosophy
    Photoshop
    Politics
    Red Tape
    Religion
    Ricochet
    Social Media
    Technology
    Unions
    USA Today
    Wall Street Journal

    RSS Feed

© 2017  Jon Gabriel. All rights reserved.
  • Home
  • Words
  • Media
  • Design
  • Contact