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This should be a boon for China's air quality if they start to mandate EVs and ban fossil fuel vehicles. They are suffering from major, major pollution that mak
by martin1975 9y ago
This should be a boon for China's air quality if they start to mandate EVs and ban fossil fuel vehicles. They are suffering from major, major pollution that makes 70's LAX smog look like child's play
- jayd16 9y agoI'm not sure EVs are going to make a difference unless they move from coal plants to something else.
- harryVic 9y agoCoal plants are more efficient than internal combustion engines.
- xyzzyz 9y agoAt generating energy? Yes. At emissions per watt? Not necessarily. Coal is much, much dirtier fuel than gasoline.
- nitrogen 9y agoMetropolitan emissions per mile would be the important metric, since gasoline in cars is at most ~30% efficient, and coal plants can be built away from the city.
- ZeroGravitas 9y agoModern Chinese coal plants are also more efficient than older US plants. I think after the next year or so of closures of old plants in China that China's least efficient plant will be better than the most efficient one in the US
- icc97 9y agoPlus they are built outside cities, so it moves the pollution to a less population dense area
- SideburnsOfDoom 9y agoAs is customary in these discussions, the "Long Tailpipe" falacy has been raised again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_tailpipe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_tailpipe http://www.casteyanqui.com/ev/longtailpipe/ http://www.casteyanqui.com/ev/longtailpipe/ Mr Musk's criticism of it is in here https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-j... Section starting "Power Plant Emissions aka “The Long Tailpipe”"
- morsch 9y agoTaking that Wikipedia link at face value, an EV running on Chinese power has emissions equivalent to a 30 mpg vehicle, ie. 7.8l/100km.
- SideburnsOfDoom 9y agoMaybe today, but not where they're heading http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40341833 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40341833 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-19/china-adds-about-24gw-of-solar-capacity-in-first-half-official https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-19/china-add... https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/china-eclipses-europe-as-2020-solar-power-target-is-smashed/ https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/china-eclipses-...
- morsch 9y agoSure. And that's great. But even at a record pace, that's (according to the articles) 1% of their total electrical energy covered by solar. Of course, solar is a tiny part of China's total regenerative capability; both hydro and wind power make up much more. I don't have the numbers for China, but in Germany the power usage for transportation[0] is roughly as large as the electrical power. So whatever progress they're making, they need double of that if they want to power their cars. [0] I don't remember off hand whether air and water are included