Will Electric Cars Be . . . The Primary Mode of Transportation for the 21st Century? Electric Cars of the 60’s & 70’s
The following lesson was learned 40 years ago at University . . . I would like to share this with you . . .
Jim Le Maistre Aldergrove BC Copyright 2022 1
In 1980, I went to University in the 4-year Bachelor of Education Program to become a High School Shop Teacher. In 3rd year, we took a course on ‘Electricity and Electronics . . . An Introduction’. Midterm we were given an assignment . . . ‘Will Electric Cars Be the Primary Mode of Transportation of the 21st Century ?’ Great Stuff ! We all rushed to the library and found endless volumes of research that made it quite clear, Electric Cars Would BE the future of transportation! I never had so much fun researching and writing a paper in all my years at University. All the documentation was clear, concise and unequivocal . . . Electric Cars would be our future. All 23 students found ample data to support their research. We all sat around and shared our findings like little kids who had just found the cookie jar. We all ate our fill and went home to write our papers. Describing in great detail how the environment would be cleared and how much energy would be saved and how the noise levels of inner cities would be cleared, not to mention the Noxious Gases. Monday morning all the papers were submitted and to a man we had all, in our own way, confirmed that Electric Cars would BE the Future. One week later, our Professor entered the class . . . late. He looked out over the class. Looked every one of us in the eye. Paused. Then he uttered the words that shocked us ALL ! Have I taught you NOTHING? He turned and wrote two words on the board . . . OHM’S LAW . . . He then reached into his satchel and removed all the papers that we had written and slammed them down on his desk. NOT ONE of you passed this assignment! He handed back all the papers . . . We All had received an scribed on the front page and . . . UNDERLINED!
“F”
He exhorted . . . I will be more likely to sprout wings and fly to the moon than Electric Cars will Ever be the primary mode of transportation for the 21st Century . . . Then he proceeded to explain why not. He quantified his answer based on OHM’s Law. He proved how Electricity is an extremely Inefficient and wasteful source of energy for any purpose other than incidental household use. As a heat source it is bad. For water heaters or for household heat it is extremely inefficient due to 10–15% losses uploading and transmitting Electricity. Natural gas or furnace oil use, on site, burn far less energy per BTU of energy produced. Furthermore, Electric Cars must store the energy before being driven, in batteries. Even at today’s extremely efficient storage in lithium-Ion batteries . . . at least 16% of the Electricity input to a battery is lost as HEAT just to excite the electrons inside the battery. It was his opinion then, that until electricity can be generated inside the Electric Car with some as yet undiscovered system . . . Electric Cars will be THE MOST INEFFICIENT mode of transport ever devised. That TRUTH stands to this day . . . Electric cars waste at least 28%, more like 31%, of the electricity produced, is wasted as HEAT before you ever put your foot on the accelerator . . . Some Scientific Facts Never Change . . . no matter how often we are told that Electric Cars are ‘Emissions Free’ . . . it is Not True ! In the United States, even when Hydro, Wind, Solar and Bio-Fuels are included, at least 1.21 LBS. of CO2 is produced for Every Kilowatt Hour (KWH) of Electricity consumed by an Electric Car . . . 2
Since then, the following truths have Also come to be known . . . What makes Every Electric Car or Truck ever developed, size for size, burn at least 15% more CO2, for Every Mile Driven. The following paper provides this Evidence . . . NOT hyperbole, Not wishful thinking . . . NOT Propaganda . . . Good old-fashioned . . . SCIENCE . . . No agenda, quite simply . . . TRUTH . . . Tesla Versus Toyota Camry | Jim Le Maistre - Academia.edu
What ALL the ‘Carbon Trading’ enthusiasts are missing in their reviews and analysis is the following. ALL the Carbon Emissions and All the Pollution and ALL of the ‘Intangible costs’ behind the scenes producing ‘Green Energy’ devices and ALL the costs of getting that ‘Green Energy’ to consumers is Not in the calculations. The primary goals are admirable, however a little more than wishful thinking is needed to reduce pollution on Planet Earth. Just because you are cleaning up your own back yard by throwing your ‘Junk’ over the fences does NOT mean that your neighborhood has become cleaner . . . Furthermore, the basic Science of OHM’s LAW dictates why any rational and evolved thinker will recognize that electricity is the WORST energy source for ANY use other than BASIC household or business use. For starters, up to 15% of the electricity produced is lost as HEAT during transmission before that electricity ever gets used. And again, ALL electric consumption devices are extremely inefficient at converting electricity into energy, power or light. One quick example . . . touch the light switch in your house after the lights have been on for an hour or so . . . It is warm . . . HEAT . . . Scientific Laws RULE !! . . . NOT wishful thinking Not supported by Propagandist Rhetoric . . . 3
The whole ‘Decarbonizing’ discussion is a Red Herring . . . There is NO Such Thing as Clean Energy ! When you go to Wind or Solar or EV’s . . . There are ‘Embedded Costs’ that the ‘Green Energy’ advocates choose to ignore . . . Time to learn the truth about ‘Green Technology’ . . . The Facts . . . NOT the Propaganda that is so often paraded as the ‘New Paradigm’ . . . It is just an ‘Illusion’ . . . The ‘Clean Green Energy’ narrative is so filled with false assumptions it would be laughable if not for its wide spread acceptance in society at large. The following are some explanations of how that green narrative has gone off the rails, so to speak. First . . . Solar Panels, the main problem with them is the Heat and the chemicals needed during processing using the ‘Czochralski Method’ turning all that silicate into the silicon used to make these panels. Producing pure Silicon requires the processing of raw silicate. Including the 1,425o C Heat required to melt the quartz crystals, usually by burning coking coal or gas. The Glass covers are made by heating sand, soda ash and limestone to the incredibly high temperature of 1,700o C with gas. Then they are Re-Heated to 450o for tempering. What about the CO2 going up the chimneys where that quartz or that glass was melted? Then, silica, we use hydrochloric acid, Sulfuric Acid, Nitric Acid, Hydrogen Fluoride, Trichloroethane, and Acetone. Do we recycle that waste? What happens to all the ‘left-overs’ from using these highly toxic chemicals? Solar Panels need gallium-arsenide, copperindium, gallium-diselenide, and cadmium-telluride. All of which are highly toxic even radioactive. Furthermore, Silicon dust is a hazard to workers where silicone is made and where it used. Oh, and last, the Silicone infused Solar Panels cannot, as yet, be recycled. What happens to all the by-products from making and processing all these chemicals? Furthermore, it has been suggested that the energy input to build solar panels exceeds their energy output in their productive lifetime . . . Second . . . Wind Turbines, these are The Ultimate in Embedded Costs and Environmental Destruction. Each one weighs about 1,688 tons (equivalent to 23 houses) and they contain 1,300 tons of concrete and 295 tons of steel for the masts (Concrete and Steel = 15% Global CO 2). 3.5 tons of copper, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass Then there are the Rare Earth Minerals . . . 800 lbs. of neodymium-boron per turbine, praseodymium, and dysprosium. The leaching into the environment from tailings ponds, the radiation released into the environment and the mining of these minerals are all Embedded Costs. Where are all the calculations for all of these in The Environmental reports? Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last about 15 to 20 years, then, they must be replaced. Oh, we cannot recycle used blades yet either! That is why we see them lying on the ground at wind farms after they have been replaced. What about the coal burned and electricity used at all the production facilities while processing these essential components and the CO2 generated during their production? Somehow is this ‘Green Magic’ without pollution because it will be used to produce Green Energy? Not likely! It all gets brushed under the ‘Big Green Rug’ and seems irrelevant because ‘It’s for a Good Cause’. . . Absolutely NOT !! Third . . . Electric Cars, what is a battery? Tesla said it best when he called them ‘Energy Storage Systems’. They do not make electricity inside . . . they store electricity produced somewhere else. Primarily by coal, uranium, natural gas, bio-fuel or diesel-fueled Electric Power Plants. Therefore, to say 4
an Electric Vehicle (EV) is a Zero Emission vehicle is not even remotely true! Since about forty percent of the electricity generated in the United States comes from coal-fired generating stations . . . you could say that forty percent of the EVs on the road are Coal-Powered . . . Interesting . . . OH, and let’s not forget OHM’s law on resistance . . . at least 28% of the electricity produced is lost as Heat getting the electricity to those EV batteries. At least 128-kwh of electricity is produced for every 100-kwh used. Average US CO2 emissions per kwh from ALL sources including line loss and charging EV’s is 1.19 lbs. per kwh. At least 15% MORE CO2 Per mile driven.
All Electricity . . . From ALL sources . . . POISONS PLANET EARTH . . . There is NO Panacea . . . https://www.academia.edu/71021345/All_Electricity_Even_Renewables_Poisons_Planet_Earth
I am a Staunch Environmentalist. Yet my views are somewhat counterintuitive. I am Anti-Propaganda! It’s our job, collectively, to eradicate pollution, Globally, not just from our own back yard. I dig down sometimes where it hurts the established order. Honesty means taking the counterintuitive view, even if that crosses swords with established thinking. Saving the planet from ALL of Humanity’s destruction must remain – Goal One. As an Adamant Naturalist, I disassociate from both Climate Change Deniers and The Environmentalist Collective. False and deceptive activism is prevalent in both camps . . .
An Evolved, Contemporary, Scientific Perspective must rule!
Jim Le Maistre Aldergrove BC Copyright 2022 5