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Loading...12 Myths About Electric Vehicles
- Dave Chameides
- January 5, 2010
- 3:01 pm
- 190 comments
I’d really like to take credit for the information below, but the truth of the matter is it comes from my friends at Plug In America. PIA is an amazing advocacy group that seeks to inform the public and shape policy regarding all aspects of electric and plug in electric vehicles. They do amazing work and have great stuff on their site like a vehicle tracker that shows everything that is known about electric vehicles from the companies that are/will be making them.
MYTH: EVs don’t have enough range. You’ll be stranded when you run out of electricity.
FACT: Americans drive an average of 40 miles per day, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Most new Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) have a range of at least double that and can be charged at any ordinary electrical outlet (120V) or publicly accessible station with a faster charger. The latter, already in use, will proliferate as the plug-in infrastructure is built out. At present, all it takes is planning for Electric Vehicle (EV) owners, who can travel up to 120 miles on a single charge, to use their cars on heavy travel days. Alternatively, a Plug-in Electric Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV) goes at least 300 miles on a combination of electricity and gasoline.
MYTH: EVs are good for short city trips only.
FACT: Consumers have owned and driven EVs for seven years or more and regularly use them for trips of up to 120 miles.
MYTH: EVs just replace the tailpipe with a smokestack.
FACT: Even today, with 52 percent of U.S. electricity generated by coal-fired power plants, plug-in cars reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and most other pollutants compared with conventional gas or hybrid vehicles. Plug-ins can run on renewable electricity from sources such as the sun or wind. PHEVs will reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions, even if the source of electricity is mostly coal, a 2007 study by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and NRDC showed. Read the summary of some 30 studies, analyses and presentations on this topic.
MYTH: The charging infrastructure must be built before people will adopt EVs.
FACT: Most charging will be done at home, so a public charging infrastructure isn’t a prerequisite. Still, a robust infrastructure will help, especially for apartment dwellers and those regularly driving long distances. But at least seven companies are competing to dominate the public-charging-station market and a trade group representing the nation’s electric utilities has pledged to “aggressively” create the infrastructure to support “full-scale commercialization and deployment” of plug-ins.
Read more: Conscious Consumer, Conservation, Do Good, Home, Life, Reduce, Recycle & Reuse, Sustainable Dave, Transportation, battery, electric cars, EV, lithium
Dave Chameides
Dave Chameides is a filmmaker and environmental educator. His website and newsletter are designed to inspire thought and dialogue on environmental solutions and revolve around the idea that no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. "Give people the facts, and they'll choose to do the right thing."
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
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Thank you for the wise advice. I have been an advocate for others and even myself when it was neces…
190 comments
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How about this one: FACT: The electric vehicles cannot be manufactured in any feasible way without light electric motors that are only possible because their manufacture depends on the use of rare earth metals (with exotic names like Neodymium) which are difficult to locate in mineable quantities. Right now, China is the only major source of these, and they are limiting export of such metals. This will limit the number of new electric vehicles that can be made, or possibly allow China to monopolize the market for such vehicles at some point in the future.
Anyone want to debunk that "myth" for me?
Thank you for the good information!
Here in B.C., as you go further north into the province, one will see EVERY parking-lot has a post for each parking-spot..this is for the winter, which usually gets to around 20 below freezing or more..and the post is an electrical outlet for plugging in your vehicles' block-heater..an electric coil placed inside the engine to keep the water from freezing while parked..so at least in those areas, the infrastructure for electric plug-ins is already in place..We get most of our power from hydro-electric, which of course ruins the land by damming rivers and flooding pristine valleys...so I too am of course in favour of a better renewable resource like solar or wind power, but at least in these particular towns/cities..there would be no problem of keeping the batteries re-charged...and we have had battery-recyclers here for as long as i have been alive,(car battery recyclers pay from 5 to 20 dollars each for the scrap) so no...the old dead batteries would not end up in a landfill somewhere up here.
thank you
Good info!
Im 14 at the time and for my first car I am planning to get a EV. The cost will drop quite a bit by the time Im ready for driving so Ill be off to a good start! Plus no need to ask my parents for gas money :)
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