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I wish the government would shift focus away from corn subsidies for ethanol toward funding a buildout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. If we could

by byoung2 16y ago

I wish the government would shift focus away from corn subsidies for ethanol toward funding a buildout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. If we could increase electric vehicle adoption by 5%, we could do a lot more toward the goal of transitioning away from foreign oil than ethanol will (oh the irony of harvesting corn with diesel-powered tractors). We can't do that until every shopping mall, office building, and grocery store has at least a few dozen charging stations.

ohyes 16y ago
Our energy (electric) grid is mostly coal. So all you get (for now) is an extra level of indirection away from the burning of fossil fuels (and therefore a loss of efficiency through transmission). You end up with what is (effectively) an oil powered car (in most states; certain states it would be nuclear, oil, hydro or natural gas). Of course, I agree with you, we should expand electrical infrastructure and remove corn subsidies. But electric cars don't inherently save us from the detrimental aspects of burning fossil fuels. You have to change the source of the energy that we are putting on the grid as well. Here's a neat visualization I found of the energy grid: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997398 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1109973...
- byoung2 16y ago
  But electric cars don't inherently save us from the detrimental aspects of burning fossil fuels. You have to change the source of the energy that we are putting on the grid as well. You're right - in the short term an electric car is a coal/oil car. The advantage of abstracting out the energy source from the car by using electricity is that it can get cleaner over time. A car that gets 30 mpg today will get no more than that 10 years from now. An electric car that gets 300 miles on the equivalent of 20 gallons of gas/coal/oil can get more efficient over time as the grid gets upgraded to phase out fossil fuels. It is far easier to upgrade the 5000 or so power plants in the US than constantly upgrade the few hundred million cars on the road from gas to ethanol to hydrogen to mystery fuel.

by byoung2 16y ago

ohyes 16y ago

Our energy (electric) grid is mostly coal. So all you get (for now) is an extra level of indirection away from the burning of fossil fuels (and therefore a loss of efficiency through transmission). You end up with what is (effectively) an oil powered car (in most states; certain states it would be nuclear, oil, hydro or natural gas). Of course, I agree with you, we should expand electrical infrastructure and remove corn subsidies. But electric cars don't inherently save us from the detrimental aspects of burning fossil fuels. You have to change the source of the energy that we are putting on the grid as well. Here's a neat visualization I found of the energy grid: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997398 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1109973...

byoung2 16y ago
But electric cars don't inherently save us from the detrimental aspects of burning fossil fuels. You have to change the source of the energy that we are putting on the grid as well. You're right - in the short term an electric car is a coal/oil car. The advantage of abstracting out the energy source from the car by using electricity is that it can get cleaner over time. A car that gets 30 mpg today will get no more than that 10 years from now. An electric car that gets 300 miles on the equivalent of 20 gallons of gas/coal/oil can get more efficient over time as the grid gets upgraded to phase out fossil fuels. It is far easier to upgrade the 5000 or so power plants in the US than constantly upgrade the few hundred million cars on the road from gas to ethanol to hydrogen to mystery fuel.