Time for Energy Independence

Why should we consider building and buying electric-powered vehicles which will be charged with electricity by coal-fired power plants? Doesn't this mean more air pollution? Surprisingly, the answer is "no."

Per BTU of energy contained in the fuel, yes, gasoline is "cleaner" than coal in terms of air pollution and CO2 emissions than is gasoline. But that is not the whole story.

A car burning gasoline, diesel, or even renewable biofuels in an internal combustion engine employs only a fraction--somewhere around 25% or even less--of the energy in that fuel to move the vehicle down the road. The rest is lost in idling and waste heat and friction of the internal combustion engine.

But an electric vehicle charged from the output of a coal-fired power plant is much more efficient in terms of energy used to actually move the vehicle. There are no idling losses in an electric motor, and waste heat and friction are extremely low compared to a fuel-burning vehicle engine.

The net result is that, per mile of vehicle travel, the amount of air pollution (and CO2 emitted) is actually less for an electric vehicle than for a gasoline-, diesel-, or alternative fuel-powered vehicle--even when that electricity comes from a coal-fired power plant.

Of course your electric bill would be higher if you owned and charged a plug-in hybrid or full electric vehicle, but you wouldn't be paying for other fuels to run that car.

Let's look at the savings versus the additional electric costs:

Consider a family paying $300 per month in Kentucky for electricity. If this family runs two cars 1,500 miles per month each (about 50 miles of driving per day per vehicle), and averaged 20 miles per gallon of gas costing $2.50 a gallon, this would amount to a monthly auto fuel bill of $375, or $187.50 per month per vehicle.

Suppose one of these vehicles was replaced with an electric car. To charge the electric car for a day's driving would consume about 30 kwh of electricity, at a current cost of about 9 cents per kwh.

That means a cost of electricity "fuel" for this vehicle would amount to about $81.00 per month added to your electric bill--resulting in a net "fuel" savings of over $100 just for this one vehicle--and with the added benefit of reducing pollution.

This "fuel" savings might be offset to some degree by the higher cost of acquisition and (possibly, but not certainly) long-term maintenance of an electric vehicle.

However, in the future, gasoline prices will continue to rise. And when--not if--gas gets to $5 and even $10 per gallon, your net savings on "fuel" will be even greater from an electric vehicle.

Also, most in-home charging of electric vehicles would be done at night, during "off-peak" demand times for electric power, when costs per kwh is lower.

And when--not if--renewable electric power plants and nuclear power plants come on line, the pollution from use of electric vehicles will drop dramatically.

There are two other points which are important:
First, transforming the majority of our personal transportation fleet to electric vehicles would just about eliminate that fraction of oil we import from Middle Eastern countries, enabling us to achieve independence from Middle Eastern oil, and disentangle ourselves from the Middle East political and military troubles which go with that dependence.
Second, production of electric vehicles would allow the U.S. automakers to re-establish dominance in auto manufacturing, and help create millions of good-paying, stable jobs for Americans.

In Congress I will introduce legislation to bring about these types of changes in American energy production and personal transportation.

Please ask your family, friends, and neighbors to support and vote for me in the May 18th Democratic Primary.

--Jim Holbert www.holbertforcongress.com