Why is powering an electric car via electric from fossil fuels better than powering a vehicle with fossil fuels directly?
In: Technology
A car’s engine is maybe 25% efficient at turning fuel into motion, while power plants can get up to 60%. A little electricity is lost in transmission and charging, and electric motors are just shy of 100% efficient, but you’re still way higher than a gas car’s efficiency after those loses.
That gas car efficiency is only at the time when it’s running at optimum load and rpm, which it usually isn’t in a car, especially when idle. Electrics don’t have to power the motors when sitting, only when driving, which saves a lot of electricity. They can also use regenerative braking to get some of that electricity used to accelerate it back instead of it all being wasted as heat in the brakes.
Because it decouples the car’s energy source from its mode of propulsion. A gas powered car will run as long as there is gas available, but there is only one source of gas. An electric car will run as long as there is electricity available, which is better because it can take advantage of evolution in how we generate electricity.
Fossil fuels may be a primary source of electricity right now, but once that changes, electric cars will keep on running regardless.
A good portion fo electricity is renewable these days, and getting to be more and more all the time. Plus, it’s easier to scrub emissions and keep them more safely away from people than when 1000’s of cars are spewing exhaust in close proximity to people.
Imagine your car is a mini power plant, only far worse since it’s cheap compared to a multimillion dollar plant designed to work at the highest efficiency possible while minimizing pollution.
Furthermore actual power plants have an optimal burn rate for the best fuel conversion and basically are always on and always run at that specified rate. Cars start and stop and work harder going up hills before letting gravity do the work downhill.
The more steps energy has to go through to do work the more energy is lost. Batteries, turn electricity basically straight into motion without having to use gears and belts to turn the up down motion of pistons into the rotational movement of wheels, thus having less steps and less energy loss.
Same reason why everyone does not have their own generator in their house for power. Economy of scale helps with both cost and efficiency.
It is also less complicated to switch parts of the grid to green, then it is to make people replace their cars several times as better tech comes out.
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