As
Electric Autos (EAs) need
no tailpipe to emit exhaust gases, they are also called
"Zero Emission Vehicles".
EAs only
indirectly produce emissions, because the
production of Electric Energy, the "fuel" for EAs, causes emissions.
The term
"Emission" generally means many different kinds of emissions, noise for example, is also a kind of emission.
Today the most important (or popular) kind of emissions are
CO2-Emissions. For automobiles usually measured in
grams per kilometer (or mile).
How much CO2 an individual EA indirectly produces depends very much on where the
Electric Energy for charging the EA comes from.
Coal Powerplants produce most CO2-Emissions of all
Electric Powerplants, Solar Powerplants nearly zero, Water, Wind and Nuclear Powerplants usually only a few.
Usually, you can find the amount of
CO2-Emissions, that your individual provider emits for the production of Electric Energy, on your
Electricity Bill.
For details please contact your local
Electricity Providers or your national
Energy Department.
In
Germany, for example, the average
CO2-Emissions of Electric Powerplants in 2008 are ca. 500 grams for the production of 1 kilo-Watt-hour (kWh) :
500 g/kWh.
This is a very high value, because
ca. 50 % of the Electric Energy for Germany is still produced in
Coal Powerplants, only ca. 2 % come from Solar Powerplants, what is very sad.
But even with this high average of 500 g/kWh, the
average CO2-Emissions of an Electric Auto are even in Germany
very low in comparison to the emissions of a "convential" car with
Internal Combustion Engine.
The
Toyota RAV4 EV of EAA Chairman Ron Freund from
Silicon Valley/California or the
ZEBRA-Twingo of EAA member Olaf Ungerer from
Bavaria/Germany, for example, are 2 EAs
driven nearly daily on
all kinds of roads and today's (2008) traffic situations in Silicon Valley/California and Bavaria/Germany.
In average, both EAs need
ca. 18 kWh of Electric Energy for 100 km (60 miles), including ca. 15 to 20 % charging losses of their battery chargers, i.e. 18 kWh on the electricity bill.
18 kWh for 100 km are
0,18 kWh/km (0,29 kWh/mile), and with ca. 500 grams of
CO2-Emissions per kWh of Electric Energy
in Germany, EAs like the
RAV4 EV or the
ZEBRA-Twingo would
indirectly produce only ca.
90 g CO2 per km :
500 g/kWh x 0,18 kWh/km = 90 g/km
But fortunately, the Electric Energy for
Ron Freund's RAV4 EV comes from the
Solar Panels on the roof of his house, and
Olaf Ungerer's ZEBRA-Twingo is charged with Electric Energy produced of
Bio Gas from the bull farm of his neighbour and so the
CO2-Emissions of these individual EAs are far under the average of 90 g/km, they are
nearly zero.
The European Parliament in Strassbourg/France wants to reduce the
CO2-Emissions of Passenger Cars in the European Union on an average of
120 g/km in the near future, which would be no problem with Electric Autos like the Toyota RAV4 EV or the ZEBRA-Twingo, even in countries like Germany with lots of Coal Powerplants.
With Solar Powerplants, even the
indirect emissions of Electric Autos, i.e. the CO2 emissions of Electric Powerplants, can be reduced to
nearly Zero.
To find out more about
"Solar Charged" Electric Autos on the road today, please visit the
"EV + PV"-pages on the
Plug In America-Website.