Electric Cars Using More Than Twice as Much Oil as Diesel Vehicles

 

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Very brief German summary at the bottom of the post / sehr kurze deutsche Zusammenfassung ganz unten

  

It turns out the electric vehicle is an exorbitant guzzler of oil, gas, and coal:

The vast majority of the electric power in the world is generated by oil, natural gas, or coal and it is this coal/oil/natural gas generated electricity that powers the vast majority of “electric” cars.

These “electric” cars consume far more oil, natural gas, or coal than a gas or diesel vehicle would for the same miles driven.

Rather than referring to coal, natural gas, and oil, I am just going to say oil. And I am going to compare a light duty diesel vehicle to a typical electric car.

Are you ready to be shocked?

Efficiency of Oil/Gas/Coal burning vehicles
(higher is better):

Diesel     47%
Gas        34%
Electric   18%

The percentages are the efficiency of a particular energy conversion process.

Generally energy conversion from one form to another loses some of the energy as part of the conversion process. Generally the lost energy is lost as heat.

When you have multiple steps in a conversion you multiply the efficiencies together to get the cumulative efficiency.

Oil or Coal burning power plants are 35% efficient at converting oil to electricity. Natural Gas plants are slightly more efficient.

Energy efficiency from the oil drum all the way through to the energy becoming mechanical energy meant to drive the wheels of the vehicle:

Diesel      47%
Gas         34%
Electric    18%

Electric Car Efficiency:

oil to electricity 35% -> transmission line 90% -> battery charging 85% -> battery discharging 85% -> through electric motor 85%.

So the potential energy in oil goes through:

0.35 * 0.90 * 0.85 * 0.85 * 0.85 = 18% efficiency to get through the electric motor

18% of the energy in a barrel of oil makes it through the electric motor.

Gas vehicle Efficiency:

oil to gas 90% -> transportation 95% -> through engine 40%

34% of the energy in a barrel of oil makes it through the gas engine.

Diesel vehicle Efficiency:

oil to diesel 90% -> transportation 95% -> through engine 55%

47% of the energy in a barrel of oil makes it through the diesel engine.

Relative energy output out the motor/engine in barrels of oil:

(this is relative mechanical energy at the output of the engine/motor needed to do the same work (produce the same amount of mechanical energy)) (which is simply the inverse of the efficiency times barrels of oil)

Electric Car: 5.5 barrels
Gas Car:      2.9 barrels
Diesel Car:   2.1 barrels

All these vehicles will go the same distance but the electric car uses around twice as much oil to do it.

Read the entire article here. 

Deutsche Zusammenfassung:

Bei der Umwandlung der Energie (größtenteils aus Öl, Erdgas oder Kohle gewonnen), die verwendet wird, um ein elektrisch betriebenes Auto anzutreiben, schaut unterm Strich ein Wirkungsgrad von 18% heraus.

Ein mit Erdgas angetriebenes Fahrzeug weist einen Wirkungsgrad von 34% auf.

Der Star ist der Dieselmotor mit einem Wirkungsgrad von 47%.

Das Elektroauto verbraucht pro gefahrenen Kilometer mehr als doppelt soviel Öl (oder Gas oder Kohle) wie ein Diesel.

See also here. Here.