On today’s BradCast, idiocy in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House and — much more importantly — the future of cars and a clean, livable planet!
First up, as the death toll mounts in Guatemala and the waters continue to rise in South Carolina, all thanks to global warming, the state’s U.S. Senator and woeful 2016 GOP Presidential candidate Lindsey Graham embarasses himself as he begs for federal relief from the government, while conveniently “forgetting” that he repeatedly voted against similar aid for other states after Hurricane Sandy.
Then, speaking of disasters and climate change, Steve LeVine, author of The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World
LeVine explains how Volkswagen, whose recent emissions test cheating scandal will cost them billions in fines, may be able to help save themselves by helping to power the future of electric cars in a massive way. That future, LeVine tells me, is just about here. “In the coming 3-5 years,” he says, we will be hitting “a critical mass.”
“All of this has been triggered by [Tesla CEO] Elon Musk. Musk has put the fear into car makers — they think that he could be a game changer, and they could be left out,” LeVine explains. “You’ve got GM, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, BMW, Nissan [and] a bunch of others car-makers, all planning to launch their own 200-mile, $35-40K [electric] cars” in the next several years. Even Apple is getting in the game. But, that new generation of clean cars needs to be powered, and VW could help their horrible damaged image by taking a leading role.
Finally, we go back to more idiocy in Congress to finish out today’s show, as two incapable jackasses battle it out to win the GOP nomination in hopes of becoming the next Speaker of the U.S. House and, incidentally, third in the line of succession to become the President of the United States. And, speaking of which, is that the “death rattle” of the Jeb Bush campaign that we hear?…
Electric cars should generate MORE carbon emissions than ordinary diesel & gasoline cars (if the electricity comes from a typical power plant). How about saying so, media? Instead of merely misleadingly calling them “clean cars.” (Are you paid propagandists, or journalists?)
Here’s why that is so, and will always be so. Power plants in the USA today have on average fuel->electricity efficiencies of 33-40% although the most efficient ones available on the market today can go as high as 60%. Car engines have efficiencies 25-30% (gas) or up to 50% (diesel). “Hybrid” gasoline+electric cars
can reach higher efficiencies than gasoline alone. Additional losses are incurred by transmission over long resistive electric lines between power plant to your car (typically 6.6% loss in USA) and by battery charge & discharge efficiencies being below 100% (ranging from 50% to 90% depending on battery type). Now do the arithmetic.
And, on top of that, electric cars cost more and last less long, and battery disposal can create serious pollution. For example the Tesla electric “roadster” sold by your hero Elon Musk, cost $109K in 2010, versus typical new gasoline cars at $30K.