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BMW is making lots of money with eco-unfriendly cars: 7, huge SUV, over powered limousines, ... In their home market in Germany electric cars have very little

by lispm 11y ago

BMW is making lots of money with eco-unfriendly cars: 7, huge SUV, over powered limousines, ... In their home market in Germany electric cars have very little acceptance: expensive, low range, electricity is mostly generated with coal, no infrastructure, ... The program of the German government to have a million electric cars is largely a failure. Before there will be a million electric cars in Germany, there will be ten million electric bicycles.

Bud 11y ago
Germany actually has a much larger solar infrastructure than the US, despite being much smaller in land area, having less than a third of the US' population, and getting considerably less sunlight exposure per unit of land area. It's the US, not Germany, that is excessively wedded to coal generation.
ThePhysicist 11y ago
Well even the big limousines are actually quite fuel-efficient these days. For example, the series 7 BMW 730 with its 250 horse powers uses only 5.6 l / 100 km (http://www.bmw.com/com/de/newvehicles/7series/sedan/2012/showroom/technical-data/? http://www.bmw.com/com/de/newvehicles/7series/sedan/2012/sho...). BTW coal makes up for only 20 % of the electricity production in Germany, and most of the coal-based power plants are quite "clean" in the sense that they make good use of the available energy (in most cases the heat waste is used industrially and emissions are heavily filtered). As I said before, adoption here is mostly a question of availability, cost and efficiency, all three of which need to be improved before customers will see electric cars as a "reasonable" choice.
- lispm 11y ago
  > Well even the big limousines are actually quite fuel-efficient these days. For example, the series 7 BMW 730 with its 250 horse powers uses only 5.6 l / 100 km (http://www.bmw.com/com/de/newvehicles/7series/sedan/2012/sho... http://www.bmw.com/com/de/newvehicles/7series/sedan/2012/sho...). These are unrealistic industry-produced numbers. This is widely discussed in Germany that these numbers are a joke. Also forget the massive amount of energy going into the production of these cars and the materials they use. The huge space and infrastructure they are using... we still have air problems in the cities because of the diesel cars. > 20 % of the electricity production in Germany Coal has a share of 43.6% of electricity production in Germany. > in most cases the heat waste is used industrially and emissions are heavily filtered). The filter ash is going where? The coal is coming from where? CO2 is not filtered.
  - sgt 11y ago
    I agree, the numbers tend to go towards 10L/100km for these cars, based on typical driving habits.
heygrady 11y ago
Germany is leading many developed nations in renewable energy production. They've named their movement the Energiewende. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_transition_in_Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_transition_in_Germany

by lispm 11y ago

Bud 11y ago

Germany actually has a much larger solar infrastructure than the US, despite being much smaller in land area, having less than a third of the US' population, and getting considerably less sunlight exposure per unit of land area. It's the US, not Germany, that is excessively wedded to coal generation.

ThePhysicist 11y ago

Well even the big limousines are actually quite fuel-efficient these days. For example, the series 7 BMW 730 with its 250 horse powers uses only 5.6 l / 100 km (http://www.bmw.com/com/de/newvehicles/7series/sedan/2012/showroom/technical-data/? http://www.bmw.com/com/de/newvehicles/7series/sedan/2012/sho...). BTW coal makes up for only 20 % of the electricity production in Germany, and most of the coal-based power plants are quite "clean" in the sense that they make good use of the available energy (in most cases the heat waste is used industrially and emissions are heavily filtered). As I said before, adoption here is mostly a question of availability, cost and efficiency, all three of which need to be improved before customers will see electric cars as a "reasonable" choice.

lispm 11y ago
> Well even the big limousines are actually quite fuel-efficient these days. For example, the series 7 BMW 730 with its 250 horse powers uses only 5.6 l / 100 km (http://www.bmw.com/com/de/newvehicles/7series/sedan/2012/sho... http://www.bmw.com/com/de/newvehicles/7series/sedan/2012/sho...). These are unrealistic industry-produced numbers. This is widely discussed in Germany that these numbers are a joke. Also forget the massive amount of energy going into the production of these cars and the materials they use. The huge space and infrastructure they are using... we still have air problems in the cities because of the diesel cars. > 20 % of the electricity production in Germany Coal has a share of 43.6% of electricity production in Germany. > in most cases the heat waste is used industrially and emissions are heavily filtered). The filter ash is going where? The coal is coming from where? CO2 is not filtered.
- sgt 11y ago
  I agree, the numbers tend to go towards 10L/100km for these cars, based on typical driving habits.

heygrady 11y ago

Germany is leading many developed nations in renewable energy production. They've named their movement the Energiewende. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_transition_in_Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_transition_in_Germany