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EVs, it seems, have been resurrected. Witness the boom in next-generation all- or mostly-electric vehicles, including the Chevy Volt, the Tesla Roadster and sedan, CODA's EV sedan, Fisker's luxury EV sedan, the Nissan Leaf, and others -- as well as the boom in companies that are hoping to get a piece of the EV infrastructure market.
Electric vehicles have benefitted greatly from the wide adoption of hybrid vehicles, especially in the wake of the last big gas price spikes in 2008. And the current gas spike certainly isn't hurting sales and interest in hybrids and EVs.
But new research from the Sightline Institute, a sustainability research institute based in Seattle, raises important questions about the overall greenness of the Nissan Leaf -- or any electric vehicle -- and that should put a wrinkle in corporate plans to widely adopt EVs for fleets.
Over on the Sightline blog, Clark Williams-Derry writes:
[I]f your main concern is the climate impact of your driving habits, how does the Leaf fare? The EPA label says that the car gets the energy equivalent of 99 miles per gallon -- 106 mpg in the city, 92 mpg on the highway. Pretty good, in other words!
But the EPA also says that the car emits "0" pounds of climate-warming emissions each year. And while this is technically true, it's also misleading. No, the Leaf doesn't have a tailpipe spewing carbon-laden exhaust. But the electricity the car runs on doesn't magically appear out of nowhere. And even in the Northwest, blessed as we are with lots of hydropower, some of the electricity that comes out of our sockets started out as coal or natural gas. So despite what the EPA label suggests, the Leaf does have some climate impact.
How much of an impact? Williams-Derry has put together a great chart that spells out the difference between the average passenger vehicle in the United States, a standard Toyota Prius hybrid, and a Nissan Leaf that is drawing its power from a grid that's largely powered by coal, by natural gas, or by hydroelectric energy.
The numbers put the greenness of the Leaf into a bit of perspective:
Williams-Derry is writing from the Pacific Northwest, with its plentiful hydroelectric power, and he's writing from the perspective of the individual, rather than corporate, driver. So that throws a few more wrinkles into the mix.
First off, how many individuals really care about the carbon emissions of their daily drive? It's a not-insignificant number, but it's certainly dwarfed by people who care about how much their commute costs every week. And secondly, how many individuals know the generation mix of the energy that powers their home? Probably and even smaller slice of the already-small slice of climate-conscious drivers.
None of this is to downplay Williams-Derry's work; I simply think it will have more resonance in the C-Suite than on the cul de sac.
Because, as we report every day, a large and steadily growing number of companies are very concerned about their carbon emissions, and vehicle emissions will fall directly into a company's Scope 1 or Scope 2 emissions (Scope 2 if we're talking about electric vehicles, which we are...).
The benefits far outweigh any
The benefits far outweigh any negatives with regards to the zero emissions claim... Let's examine a few benefits that may not have been mentioned, for one electric motors do not require an oil reservoir for lubrication that fact alone eliminates hundreds of millions of barrels of oil every year...( approximately 5 quarts per car x millions of cars x every 4,000 miles or so) the bottom line is no dip stick needed. When it comes regulating emissions from millions of cars it also makes sense to regulate those emissions from one source ( that being at the power production plant ). The United States should no longer subsidize the multi billion dollar record setting oil companies... those subsidies need to go towards solar and wind power production technologies and they should be made here and not in China. The Nissan Leaf has my vote for greening the planet one "Leaf" at a time.
The true cost of oil is never
The true cost of oil is never really clear to the average person - however think of the wars we have waged (1 trillion for the so-called war on terror), the depressing political structure of oil nations, and naturally the militarization of the USA's oil production. Oil is a magnet for war; case in point Iraq, with scores of US casualties and ~100'000 dead Iraqis. The USA subsidizes the flow of oil from the middle east by the tune of ~65$/barrel through the military presence we require to maintain the flow - on top of the actual market price. Do you have these issues with other forms of energy?
I really do not like coal, gas, or nuclear, but these are the lesser of the evils we have to select from today. Clearly renewable energy can get us to a sustainable and wholesome future if we finally have the political will to set laws in place for a consistent energy policy, like Germany, Sweden, and other developed nations that seem to have a separation between corporation and state. Write to your representative, demand an end to the carbon club running the government.
Some facts about the power
Some facts about the power GRID show you how the LEAF is extra green.
Utilties have excess energy Off Peak at night since they can't ramp down, COAL, Nuclear or even hydro. Some even dump power at night with no way to store it. The LEAF can be programmed to charge Off PEAK and use the excess.
Many LEAF owners like me have Solar. I still charge Off Peak and send my clean Peak Solar Energy to help the GRID during the day, use their excess at night. I help the GRID and my local utiltiy twice a day.
The US import 50% of the OIL burned by 20% efficient gas cars each day. It cost the US about $1 Billion a day, makes pollution and leaks al over. The real cost of OIL is over $10 a gallon.
Interesting that the study
Interesting that the study dosen't take into consideration on where that gas comes from or the fact that that very same gas that goes into the Prius just created the biggest environmental disaster in the history of the united states. Can anyone say the Gulf of Mexico? Also, as usual they fail to mention the possiblity that some people can get their electricity from solar which after the panels are produced have no carbon emmisions at all.
The GHG performance of
The GHG performance of plug-in electric vehicles is far superior to that of non-plug in cars. The EPRI/NRDC study, which is the most preeminent in the field, illustrates that even with today's grid mix of energy, electric cars are cleaner. Of course, the cleaner the energy, the cleaner the car. That is why they say that electric cars are the only cars that get cleaner the older they get.
See the EPRI/NRDC study here:
http://mydocs.epri.com/docs/CorporateDocuments/SectorPages/Portfolio/PDM...
I would like to have seen the
I would like to have seen the Williams-Derry study consider all the impacts, not just the ones caused by operational energy consumed. For fleet buyers, it should be equally important to know the embodied carbon from getting the vehicle from raw materials, to factory, dealership and them to my fleet. The Prius is made in Japan of materials from all over. I understand that those big batteries in EV cars dont do the environment any favors either and a domestic product should fare better than imports.