djones wrote: ↑24 Sep 2018, 17:39
I do not know a lot about this subject and a few things confuse me.
Unless its nuclear, isn't the energy used to create the electric in the first place just as bad as the petrol used in a traditional car?
And is there a big impact on the environment with disposal of the batteries at the end?
And are all the fancy batteries inherently less safe? (i'm thinking fires with lithium ones etc)
A lot of these concerns are exaggerated and researchers are continually looking for new ways to lessen the impact of Li-Ion batteries. However, with what is available today, almost every report I've read on the subject indicates that EV is cleaner if you look at a cradle to grave analysis.
Check out this article:
https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/e ... 6kmOmhKiHs
As for batteries being less safe, this is from the NFPA:
In 2003-2007, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 287,000 vehicle fires per year. These fires caused an average of 480 civilian deaths, 1,525 civilian injuries, and $1.3 billion in direct property damage annually.
The fire rate for gasoline vehicles is 55 per 1 billion miles driven. For a Tesla, that rate is 5 per 1 billion miles driven. So you are 11 times more likely to have a vehicle fire in a gasoline powered vehicle
but your 100 times more likely to hear about a EV fire on the news - ok, I made that last bolded part up, but it sure seems true.
Batteries can be recycled (and don't have the half life of say, nuclear waste). Even though the batteries may become inefficient for use in a car, they can be repurposed for use in energy storage in small power plants and other purposes before it true end of life.
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/for- ... -recycle/# and
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/for- ... -recycle/#