Killing the electric car again: the culprits are the same as the last time--batteries.
Chief Executive (U.S.) › Nbr. 2009, January 2009
Linked as:
Summary
BATTERY TECHNOLOGY
See the full content of this document
Extract
Killing the electric car again: the culprits are the same as the last time--batteries.
When U.S. gasoline prices soared to more than $4 per gallon in the summer of 2008, drivers and automakers ramped up the search for new ways to fuel cars. Energy hawks worry about continued U.S. dependence on oil from hostile countries--we import more than two-thirds of the oil we use. In addition, concerns about global warming are also driving the search for new, low-carbon ways to transport people and goods. Congress has passed a biofuels mandate requiring the production of billions of gallons of ethanol to pour into our gas tanks. The big unintended downside is that turning food into fuel boosts food prices and may not even help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Cars using hydrogen fuel cells are a no-go. Fuel cells are expensive; no good way has been found to store enough fuel in a vehicle's tank and most hydrogen is produced using natural gas, which means that global-warming carbon dioxide is emitted anyway. So why not just burn natural gas, rather than waste energy producing hydrogen?
So the most intriguing po...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
