Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) are on their way: More and more car manufacturers are offering electric vehicle options. It's a good thing too: Roughly 25% of greenhouse gases come from the exhaust pipes of internal combustion engine vehicles, which we've been using for well over 100 years.

As wonderful as they are, electric vehicles have a major problem: due to their relatively short range (generally less than 180 miles) they have to be recharged regularly, typically at the owner's home. This means that they would be fit for running to the local grocery store and back, but it wouldn't be feasible to take a cross country trip. Basically, you'd just go as far as your initial charge would take you.

car

How are EVs currently charged?

One more major problem: EVs may not even be ecological in many areas. From Scientific American (July 2010):

A true accounting of the environmental consequences of these cars would have to include the emissions of the power plants that supply their energy. When Department of energy researchers carried out such an analysis, they found that the results vary considerably with geography.

The researchers split the continental U.S. into 13 regions defined by the power sources within each region - generally, a combination of coal, natural gas and nuclear energy, with a smattering of renewable energy thrown in. They then looked at how a new fleet of electric cars would alter that supply. Nuclear and renewables, which together account for less than a quarter of the U.S. electricity supply, are "always on" sources. their energy gets used up quickly for routine tasks, leaving little to no green energy left over to help charge a burgeoning fleet of electric vehicles. In practical terms, this means that even if you live down the street from wind farm, its energy is already spoken for before you plug in your plug-in.

With nuclear and renewables taken out of the equation, the researchers concluded that power for the fleets will have to come primarily from coal and natural gas. If you live in a place where natural gas is dominant, electric vehicles will reduce carbon dioxide emissions - in some cases by as much as 40 percent below that of an ordinary hybrid. In regions powered mostly by coal - a much dirtier fuel - electric vehicles will lead to an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. The zero-emission tour may have ended this spring, but he controversy over what zero really means is just getting under way.

Tesla Roadster

Since the Solar Roadway creates and carries clean renewable electricity, EVs can be recharged at any conveniently located rest stop, or at any business that incorporates Solar Road Panels in their parking lots (restaurants for instance). Owners can plug their cars in and recharge while they're eating or shopping. Engineers are even investigating ways to use mutual induction to charge EVs while they are driving down the Solar Roadway! By the way: using electric cars would eliminate most of the other half of the cause of global warming and could virtually wean the world off oil entirely.

For instance, let's say an EV leaves California and embarks on a road trip to Florida. Let's say the all-electric vehicle gets 180 miles on a single charge. That's about three hours worth of driving on the interstate. By then, most drivers would be about ready for a bathroom break or a snack. They could find a restaurant that incorporates Solar Road Panels in its parking lot. They pull into a parking space, plug their car into the "hitching post", and go inside. By the time the driver/passengers are recharged and ready to go, so is their car. They could do the same thing at a rest stop or a shopping mall.

Businesses replacing coal power with solar power. Drivers replacing their internal combustion engine vehicles with all-eletric vehicles, charged by renewable energy. The beginning of the end of our dependency upon fossil fuels?