We’re coming to a parting of the ways in energy storage development for electric cars. Or we may be coming to a joining of technologies in new and previously unimagined ways. One side, led by Elon Musk and his Tesla Empire, promotes battery power and development. Yet, in Tesla’s home state of California, government and private investments in hydrogen vehicles is growing. Several Asian and European automakers are bringing out fuel cell powered vehicles in the face of low numbers of existing fueling stations. For all the promotion from either side, future “green” cars may become too expensive for private ownership, and various approaches to providing personal mobility may replace the traditional owner-driver model. Regardless of the outcomes or market shares, the technology will be applicable to personal aviation, although perhaps at a significant price. Battery-Powered Vehicles Lead – For Now According to EV World, “In the last year, global registrations of electric vehicles from the first three years of …
How Green was GFC Electricity?
The blog received several comments about the relative energy use of electric aircraft, and how NASA and the CAFE Foundation might have overstated the efficiency and low emissions for the electric aircraft in the competition. Reader Robert Swanson thought the conversion between kilowatt hours and gasoline created a discrepancy. “The discrepancy in performance of gasoline and electric powered aircraft is due to an absurd conversion factor between kWh and gallons of gasoline. The conversion should be calculated from the number of gallons of gasoline consumed by the engine driving the generator used to charge the batteries.” Steven Crow added this objection. “Even after reading the relevant pdf’s, it is far from clear to me how CAFE computed ‘mileage’ for the electric aircraft. The right way of doing it is clear enough: base the mileage on the fossil fuel used to charge the batteries. Electric motors and batteries are not subject to Carnot efficiency limitations. They can seem to be nearly …