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Patents given away? Elon Musk blazing a different sort of trail.
J-Mac:
Electricity is a far better energy source than fossil fuel for a lot of reasons, but at the top of my list is that you can generate electricity fairly easily on your own whereas you cannot produce fossil fuel period. This makes electric cars much more independent.
-Renegade (June 13, 2014, 09:53 PM)
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In the future, hopefully. But today it takes lots of fossil fuel to generate the electricity. (So many people seem to miss this point.)
Jim
Renegade:
In the future, hopefully. But today it takes lots of fossil fuel to generate the electricity. (So many people seem to miss this point.)
-J-Mac (June 14, 2014, 12:43 AM)
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I could have been much clearer on that point... I don't mean running a gas generator.
Hydro, steam, solar and geothermal are some technologies that are far less fossil fuel intensive than simple fossil fuel combustion for electricity generation.
My point above was that fossil fuel reliance isn't something that a normal person can divorce themselves from, whereas with electricity, there are many ways that an individual can be self-sufficient. This alone makes electricity a very attractive energy source compared to fossil fuel, and especially within the context of vehicles and the upcoming zombie apocalypse! :D
J-Mac:
Presently only about 16% of the world's electric power is from renewable sources, with almost all of the balance coming from Fossil fuels (67%) and nuclear plants (13%). Use of renewable sources is growing but it ain't here yet. Granted that electric cars themselves run cleaner those that run on gasoline/petrol. It's just the power we use to recharge them that still isn't that clean yet.
Getting there... slooowly. 8)
Jim
wraith808:
Presently only about 16% of the world's electric power is from renewable sources, with almost all of the balance coming from Fossil fuels (67%) and nuclear plants (13%). Use of renewable sources is growing but it ain't here yet. Granted that electric cars themselves run cleaner those that run on gasoline/petrol. It's just the power we use to recharge them that still isn't that clean yet.
Getting there... slooowly. 8)
Jim
-J-Mac (June 14, 2014, 04:31 AM)
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Not necessarily true. I know of some people who charge their vehicles from renewable sources. It's just more inconvenient.
It's really a matter of it becoming a priority at this point.
J-Mac:
Presently only about 16% of the world's electric power is from renewable sources, with almost all of the balance coming from Fossil fuels (67%) and nuclear plants (13%). Use of renewable sources is growing but it ain't here yet. Granted that electric cars themselves run cleaner those that run on gasoline/petrol. It's just the power we use to recharge them that still isn't that clean yet.
Getting there... slooowly. 8)
Jim
-J-Mac (June 14, 2014, 04:31 AM)
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Not necessarily true. I know of some people who charge their vehicles from renewable sources. It's just more inconvenient.
It's really a matter of it becoming a priority at this point.
-wraith808 (June 14, 2014, 11:16 AM)
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I understand that, but just the same only 16% of the world's electric power comes from renewable sources. Period. So if all owners of electric vehicles wanted to charge their cars from renewable sources then there will very soon be a point where there isn't enough such power to cover all the electric vehicles.
Believe me - I would prefer that all vehicles to be electrically powered! (And I desperately want that Tesla!!) All I am saying is that we would not decrease our carbon footprint by as much as is thought by many, because for now - and the near future - fossil-powered power plants are needed in order to create enough electrical power to charge the vehicles. We do save the crap discharged into the atmosphere by gasoline engines, which is a big benefit. But we don’t stop using fossil fuels until there is a whole lot more renewable sourced power plants online. Which will be quite a while. There really needs to be another quantum leap in the technology for renewable-source power. E.g., we can't devote enough space to provide the windmills as desired by many. Plus windmills are only efficient in certain regions and the cost of distribution across the continent is prohibitive.
OK.. Enough from me for now. :)
Jim
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