Let's Talk About EV Conversion

It's a good song.

 

I like the torque but i don't care about speed. I want long range per charge and fast recharge times. Soon this is coming. I like that I'm not burning gas at all. That's the main thing.

 

By US gov in 2020 the numbers for the USA:

Fossil fuels are the largest sources of energy for electricity generation
Natural gas was the largest source—about 40%—of U.S. electricity generation in 2020. Natural gas is used in steam turbines and gas turbines to generate electricity.
Coal was the third-largest energy source for U.S. electricity generation in 2020—about 19%. Nearly all coal-fired power plants use steam turbines. A few coal-fired power plants convert coal to a gas for use in a gas turbine to generate electricity.
Petroleum was the source of less than 1% of U.S. electricity generation in 2020

Nuclear energy provides one-fifth of U.S. electricity
Nuclear energy was the source of about 20% of U.S. electricity generation in 2020. Nuclear power plants use steam turbines to produce electricity from nuclear fission.

Renewable energy sources provide an increasing share of U.S. electricity
Many renewable energy sources are used to generate electricity and were the source of about 20% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2020

If the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is not accurate about it, I don't know who is.

In Poland, where I am now 80% of electricity comes from fossil fuel which is worse than world average which is about 60 electrical energy generated from fossil fuel. US is in line with world average.

Regardless of that I am sure that burning bio ethanol or bio diesel in a car is much better best for the environment that making electricity and batteries to store it. So if my truck lasts till all oil is gone, I'd rather convert it to bio ethanol or bio diesel, than EV.

 

You literally just confirmed that coal is the lowest.
And I wonder how many are actually combined cycle (probably 25-50% would be my guess)

You also need to look regionally with coal:EV use (ie: big cities typically have higher EV and less/no coal reliance, ex: California, Chicago)

 

Eco thing is not about coal but fossil fuels in general (which is 60% now). The main complain is not the pollution (they figured it out even with the coal burning plants) but using O2 for burning a carbon that is stored under the ground (in different form i.e coal, oil and gas).That adds CO2 which was not in the atmosphere for the last million years.

Burning a carbon recovered from CO2 that is currently in the atmosphere has zero impact on the greenhouse effect. My point is that unless all electrical energy used to charge EV comes from renewable resources or sun, or geothermal or nuclear, the EV will contribute to a greenhouse effect more than car powered by bio diesel or ethanol. Keep in mind, that the electrical energy created by a powerplant is partially lost in transmission and distribution, and finally in the battery itself (heat when charging and discharging) so the efficiency of EV is lower than what they say.

This is bullshit myth created by corporations and paid politicians that EV is the "clean energy" vehicle. For now it is as clean as the choo-choo train, but it looks much ugier than choo-choo .

As for the concept of converting 1st gen taco to EV it is that kind of project as putting boxed Cummins diesel in it - expensive, lot of work and no real benefit. Just for the art of doing it.

If the day comes, when the gasoline is gone I would rather run a car on pure ethanol (made from corn, potatoes or crop). The same piston engine can actually produce more power when dialed in for ethanol than regular gasoline (the energy density of ethanol is lower than gasoline, but for the same engine displacement you can pump more fuel for proper combustion). On the top of that an engine powered by ethanol can be easy supercharged with no knocking issues giving even more power. But hopefully I will die before that time comes leaving that problem to a younger generation .

 

If we’re going to knock EVs for grid side inefficiency, then it’s only fair we start looking at gasoline distribution infrastructure as well for the ICE column.

The real gain for EVs is that everything on the vehicle is very efficient, especially relative to ICEs. Additionally, as the grid gets cleaner, the entire ev fleet does automatically.

 

Oil refineries use a lot of power to make gasoline. Then trucks polluting to deliver it, electric to pump it then it's burned in cars and put into the air. Only one step to charge an EV, from the power plant to your house or charging station.

 

Let's knock it altogether and say that if you want an EV to save the environment and to not burn gas, then you should not use any vehicle whatsoever. Almost everything is made because of oil. Don't use shoes or clothes either as those were made by oil and fuel burning machines.

 

No one ever said production of EV's or everyday products doesn't require the use of fossil fuels. It's just not that world....yet.

 

How do they get the materials to make the batteries and motors? Also how do they make the tires, body parts, etc?

 

Mining, some recycled batteries to make new, tires and plastic parts. But still both ICE and EV have their production drawbacks. ICE more than EV but they are close and EV is getting cleaner by the year to produce.

 

Until they make EV batteries that can be fully charged in less than 3 minutes and last about 400 miles before the next charge, and for those batteries to last OVER 300k miles, all for an affordable price, then I don't see EV ever replacing ICE.

 

It'll take time. ICE engines have had a century to get where they are now.

 

It doesn't help that big oil is a bunch of shady MF's.

 

Make a nuclear powered vehicle instead for real efficiency. Lol

 

I'll most likely be a gas head until I die. Can't afford fancy EV.

 

Cost isn't a factor to me, it's the lack of convenience (and rumble engine noises too haha). I think hybrids are a better path.

 

How can you make a new tire from recycled one? I know about tires recycling into other low-end products, but never heard of recycling tires to make a new one.

By the way, do you know that Tesla in Norway is a "disposable" good. Any minor accident will total it. With government subsidizing new EV it is cheaper to buy a new one than fixing even a small fender bender on that aluminium body.

 

well, I leav at midnight for the coast to do a few days of fishing, 200 miles or so on-way. Do I use my Tacoma that gets 23 mpg or my Prius that gets 49??

 

Don't use a boat either cause it burns fuel and it's made from plastic parts. How dare you