With the UK going thro a big freeze one of the things thats come to light is a problems with electric cars. You know the one that all the 'celebs' got, well it seems in the cold, that their performance and range has been cut by about 50% due to the effect of the cold on the batteries. I also have to agree with Russ on the pollution thing. (spent 20 years working in air pollution for the environment and workplace) Disposal of batteries is never taken in to account and they have the bad boys of pollution in them. Heavy metals such as Lithium, Nickle, Cadmium, Chromium are as toxic as you can get. I use this battery thing when giving talks to school kids. They understand because everything they have and use seems to be battery powered these days.
Now on to the production miles of these batteries. Talk about food miles! left in the dark by the amount of energy used to produce and make a set of batteries for a vehicle. Also consider the losses in this process. From the extraction of the prime energy source (coal, gas etc) to the conversion to electricity, to its distribution, to the transformer for your car, to the storage and final used to move a vehicle. Its a chain full of losses, so efficient its not.
Sorry to go on but its one of my pet hates by enviro do gooders. Incidentally when they can get an electric vehicle system with an efficiency anywhere near the efficiency of an internal combustion engine then they may be getting somewhere.
Anyway back to gas guzzling T Buckets
Gerry
