Comment on Teslas have been consuming a lot of gasoline lately.
potate@lemmy.ca 4 weeks agoI live in Alberta where most of our power comes from natural gas. I’m also an emissions and sustainability engineer. I did the math on environmental payback for an EV where I live and the EV is WILDLY better for the environment despite the power potentially coming from fossil fuels.
If you tell me roughly where you live I can calculate emissions per kilometre/mile including the energy that goes into manufacturing the vehicle.
There’s absolutely jurisdictions where EVs don’t make much difference - but most places they do.
(large scale power generation is pretty effecient and most jurisdictions have some renewables in the mix. A car’s gas engine is much lower efficiency most places)
My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
No disputes from me on your assessment. In principle I’m a big fan of EVs as a maturing technology and my only hangup with Tesla is its association with the person who is its CEO and the role he’s chosen to play in US politics.
I’ll gladly champion a vehicle that has incredible efficiency in converting its stored energy into mechanical work, especially when that stored energy came from a source that’s 40-60% thermally efficient (for combustion-based processes) or derived from solar/wind/geothermal/hydro sources and can be partially recuperated via braking. It’s too bad there aren’t more EV options for people who want or need a 3/4 or 1-ton pickup (of which I happen to be a big fan for hauling/towing/plowing).
The one area where I’m still dubious of electric vehicles is in cold climates, although I think I’ve read heat pumps are being used with success. Otherwise, I’d propose a small auxiliary tank (preferably propane, if infrastructure permits) and a “Chinese diesel heater”-type unit be installed simply for cabin heating/defogging. Few energy conversions make me cringe more than that of high-exergy electricity (derived from non-renewables) directly into thermal energy, convenient as it may be for the end user.
Of course, it’d be nice if that combustive heat could be generated from sustainably-harvested hydrogen instead of an extracted hydrocarbon, but at that point, a fuel cell running a heat pump would be even better, with resistive waste heat from the FC an added bonus. But now it all feels a bit Rube Goldbergian…
Anyway, what’s your take on EV use in climates with harsh winters (such as Canada/Alaska/Montana/Wyoming/Minnesota), especially when long range might be needed?
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
I have a few family members with heat pumps (I’m in Canada) and they work well. They do need to be supplemented for the coldest days, but they have an electric heater integrated into the system for that. Last month was particularly cold (every day was below freezing) and resulted in some very high power bills, but still worked out to be less costly than oil or even wood.
In terms of EVs not working well in the cold… yeah and neither do Diesel engines. Need to plug in a block heater if you want your diesel engine to start on a cold morning. Seems a really easy fix to have something similar for an EV, and since you’re plugging it in anyway, it shouldn’t be a big problem.
EVs are kinda a no-brainer in terms of energy usage. Way cheaper than gas or diesel, only problem is there’s a significant upfront cost at the moment. Once some lithium mines come online and we get some economies of scale going on making the batteries that upfront cost drops too. Other than the battery, an EV is way simpler than an ICE vehicle, and all studies have shown they will last significantly longer than an ICE vehicle. Electric motors aren’t all that complicated, the batteries are getting to be mature tech now, so there’s less that can go wrong with them than with complicated ICE powered vehicle.
potate@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
My partner and I backcountry ski, iceclimb etc. One of the reasons we went with the Ioniq 5 was that we can sleep in the back and use the heat pump to keep us warm.
We recently did a weeklong ski trip with it. We drove from from Golden, BC back to Calgary, AB (250km/150mi) in -16C (3F) and used 70% of a charge. One day on that trip, we were backcountry skiing in similar weather and the car sat outside in that weather for 8 hours. No loss of battery.
One of the unexpected features I really enjoy is that I never pump gas in the cold any more. I programmed my work schedule and the car pre-warms for my commute. I get home, plug the car in, and it’s always ready to go.
My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Thanks for the great beta! When it finally comes time for me to retire the ol’ 14 y/o flat-4, I’ll keep your advice in mind.