The Electric Car Elephant In The Lounge

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It is all too easy to imagine electric cars magically wishing carbon away. However, the electricity to charge them will come largely from oil, coal, and nuclear for a while to come. These fossil energy reserves are hardly what we might call safely green. If Britain is anything to go by, the electric car elephant in the closet is the fossil fuel for charging, which we thought electric cars would help us phase out.

The Electric Car Elephant is Trumpeting in Britain

 the electric car elephant
Hinkley Point: Richard Baker: CC 2.0

The Power Technology Company has been investigating what it calls Britain’s pipe dream to phase out coal power stations by 2025. The government is cutting green energy subsidies back because Brexit is proving to be expensive.

Moreover, the Hinckley Point nuclear power station due to feed 7% of the nation’s electricity is running into technical trouble. that might kill the project. This is because engineers in France are concerned about the design of its sister plant across the channel.

The Power Technology Company thinks electric car owners will charge their vehicles at home when they return from work. The British Government would like all new cars and vans to be electric by 2040, but it hopes this happens sooner. When it does, charging them simultaneously would cause a demand spike equal to almost ten Hinckley Points.

Batteries Are Not Ready to Handle This Load

 the electric car elephant
Electric Car Charging: Slowking4: GNU FDL 1.2

The electric car elephant is we cannot imagine batteries delivering almost 32,000 megawatts of power as technology stands. Moreover, they would have to sustain this for as long as the mass charging event lasted.

The Power Technology Company sees a return to coal generation in Britain, buy using carbon capture and storage technology this time.

Their method involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions, transporting them to somewhere, and burying the gas deep in rock formations several miles underground. We understand this is already happening under approval of the Kyoto Protocol. From earth carbon pollution comes, and so it seems to earth it shall return. Could anything be more ironic than this?

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About Author

I tripped over a shrinking bank balance and fell into the writing gig unintentionally. This was after I escaped the corporate world and searched in vain for ways to become rich on the internet by doing nothing. Despite the fact that writing is no recipe for wealth, I rather enjoy it. I will not deny I am obsessed with it when I have the time. I live in Margate on the Kwazulu-Natal south coast of South Africa. I work from home where I ponder on the future of the planet, and what lies beyond in the great hereafter. Sometimes I step out of my computer into the silent riverine forests, and empty golden beaches for which the area is renowned. Richard

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