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Miracle cure eFuels comes to the rescue of the German car industry! That is what I understand from the recent reactions in German politics. E.g. from @_FriedrichMerz (@CDU) as discussed by @Stefan_Hajek in @wiwo.
Unfortunately, reality is
You see, it IS eminently possible to power the trusted combustion engine with fuels that are produced using low carbon electricity. That's not the problem.
The problem is that you need A LOT MORE ENERGY while propping up an engine whose only advantage is that it can burn stuff.
Let's look at that engine first. Don't get me wrong: Germany should be proud at the heights to which it has taken this extremely complex marvel of engineering. The electric motor is simple by comparison. But also better on all fronts.
Actually, the higher the overcapacity of the combustion engine in normal use (e.g. for a car that can accelerate quickly) the the bigger the disadvantage of the combustion vehicle. Here the relatively slow and small Porsche already uses six time as much energy.
Then there's the losses when producing fuel from electricity. When you add that up you end up with around 87% energy losses versus 73% losses for the electric vehicle. So eFuels need over five times (73/13=5.6) more energy.
https://t.co/8iGbwQiIOY
Unfortunately, reality is
You see, it IS eminently possible to power the trusted combustion engine with fuels that are produced using low carbon electricity. That's not the problem.
The problem is that you need A LOT MORE ENERGY while propping up an engine whose only advantage is that it can burn stuff.
Let's look at that engine first. Don't get me wrong: Germany should be proud at the heights to which it has taken this extremely complex marvel of engineering. The electric motor is simple by comparison. But also better on all fronts.
Actually, the higher the overcapacity of the combustion engine in normal use (e.g. for a car that can accelerate quickly) the the bigger the disadvantage of the combustion vehicle. Here the relatively slow and small Porsche already uses six time as much energy.
Then there's the losses when producing fuel from electricity. When you add that up you end up with around 87% energy losses versus 73% losses for the electric vehicle. So eFuels need over five times (73/13=5.6) more energy.
https://t.co/8iGbwQiIOY
I am sick and tired of of people who proclaim anti-renewable nonsense as fact and get away with it.
I think @mattwridley misunderstands @borisjohnson's green agenda on all 10 points but allow me to focus on the points regarding electric vehicles that are my academic specialty. https://t.co/jk2LkEUc5T
Matt Ridley is a journalist, biologist and viscount who owns coal mines on his family estate. He's (unsurprisingly) pro fossil fuels.
In this piece he gives ten things that are wrong with Johnsons green plans that I think mostly show how wrong he is himself.
I want to focus on my academic specialty: in his tweet and in his column in the @Telegraph he claims that the electric car emits more CO2 over its lifetime than a diesel car because of the battery production.
Let's look at the facts.
First the claim that the battery lasts less than 100k miles.
Here's the blog from my good friend @M_Steinbuch showing what hundreds of @Tesla drivers measure. And to the right what Tesla reports. Over 300k miles is closer to the truth. No idea where he gets this 100k nonsense.
I think @mattwridley misunderstands @borisjohnson's green agenda on all 10 points but allow me to focus on the points regarding electric vehicles that are my academic specialty. https://t.co/jk2LkEUc5T
It takes a lot more emissions to make an electric car than a petrol one because of the battery. https://t.co/BdJxAOaQvr
— Matt Ridley (@mattwridley) November 25, 2020
Matt Ridley is a journalist, biologist and viscount who owns coal mines on his family estate. He's (unsurprisingly) pro fossil fuels.
In this piece he gives ten things that are wrong with Johnsons green plans that I think mostly show how wrong he is himself.
I want to focus on my academic specialty: in his tweet and in his column in the @Telegraph he claims that the electric car emits more CO2 over its lifetime than a diesel car because of the battery production.
Let's look at the facts.
First the claim that the battery lasts less than 100k miles.
Here's the blog from my good friend @M_Steinbuch showing what hundreds of @Tesla drivers measure. And to the right what Tesla reports. Over 300k miles is closer to the truth. No idea where he gets this 100k nonsense.