Going green with Battery powered Cars,,, Really??
People go home and charge their batteries with electricity which inturn is generated out of coal (Yes, world still uses Coal for generation of electricity ).What is so Green about a Battery powered car??
About 40% of world electricity comes from burning Coal, about 49% of USA's electricity comes from burning coal.The figure is 70% for India.
Facts about Coal -->
Gross carbon dioxide emissions from coal usage are slightly more than those from petroleum and about double the amount from natural gas.
The thermodynamic efficiency of Coal at best is 35% which means, 65% of the coal energy is waste heat.
Coal is the largest producer of Carbon di oxide, a greenhouse gas, in environment barring the natural processes.
Coal-fired power plant releases emissions including mercury, selenium, and arsenic which are harmful to human health and the environment.
Consider this -->
Calculation says, a KG of coal is burnt to produce 2KW-hr of energy.
Now, if you keep using that electricity to charge your car batteries every alternate day, I wonder how much amount of Burnt Coal will you be responsible for??
However, if a country uses non renewable sources to generate electricity, battery powered cars are a go-ahead to them.
Considering the fact that more and more Electricity will be generated from non renewable sources in future, we should give a lot of thrust on developing Battery powered Cars, but as of now, I think, it ends up polluting more.
India's case
I came across an amazing article which I think all of you should read. Do read all the 6 parts
Some interesting points from the article :-
(India's)Estimated annual CO2 emissions: 1.275 billion tons in 2003 (4th biggest worldwide, not including entire European Union)
According to Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the renewable power capacity was around 8 Gigawatts at the end of March 2006, roughly 6.5 percent of the total power generation capacity.
Nearly 70 percent of the country’s electricity is generated from the inexpensive and abundant, but environmentally hazardous fossil fuel - Coal.
According to researchers at Stanford University, replacing 30 GW of coal energy with nuclear energy would save India up to 218 million tons of emitted carbon dioxide each year.
No, wonder I wanted to personally shoot down everyone from left (party) when they were against the Indo-US Nuclear deal.Anyway, Its a different issue, will discuss about it some day.
Now,why would someone want to use a battery powered car in India if only 6.5 % of electricity is coming from non-renewable sources??
I wonder when will Coal be replaced as a source for producing electricity?? not anytime soon I guess, atleast not in India!! So is battery powered car really a good deal for India?I don't think so.
You can also check out India's energy information at,
Weirdly, the statistics are a little different here, that too for the same year.For example, the below line
Hydroelectricity has been a consistent source of power in India, accounting for nearly 16 percent of power generated in 2006. (Remember the other article says, renewable power capacity is roughly 6.5%).
But even this article says
Nearly all power in India is generated with conventional thermal sources, which produced over 80 percent of electricity in 2006.
So, yeah the bottom line is!!
If you are in India, Don't use Battery Powered Cars as of now :-)
By the way, all the users of REWA in Bangalore, Pune, the car has miserably failed German crash tests, and is banned, refrain from using one.Either ways, it doesn't look like it can take a crash even from a cycle.
11 comments:
Chikki I always wondered how Battery powered cars saved the environment - I guess maybe the emissions on the road are avoided but that's it.
So it seems whether you use petrol or you use battery operated cars, you are directly or indirectly, harming your environment! We should encourage the use of smart looking bicycles on campuses, and on some city roads too... no cars etc allowed!
I haven't thought much of power generation except that we are outrageously deficient:(
I was under the impression that America uses a lot more Nuclear Power ...
Hydro electricity seems to be a great option??
I loved Swadesh - I like Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)'s approach, I wish we had a system where smaller, profit making companies were encouraged to provide electricity... and those who really needed could pay extra and get as much electricityas they needed... not sure if and how that can work, just wondering. ..Kind of no taxes on profit to companies which produce electricity from non renewable sources, because we desperately need electric power, ...many industries that depend on electricity will be happy to pay more, so will a lot of home users.
If we can improve our railways, and flight services, and tele communications (with privatization) why shouldn't we privatise -and encourage private participation in power generation also?
Rewa is unsafe! Though it looks cute, I would be very worried sitting in it, I think, we in India only think of saving fuel not of safety!
@IHM (Not that if i don't write this "@IHM", there is going to be a confusion..;-) )
The thing is, so what if they don't pollute when on road, the electricity with which the batteries are charged ended up polluting more by burning coal ( releases more Carbon di Oxide than petroleum, also the efficiency is less).
If a country like France where more than 70-80% of electricity is generated from nuclear energy uses battery powered cars, then I think, you will actually pollute lesser.Or any country which has atleast 70% or more its electricity coming from Renewable sources, then its fine.But a country like India where hardly 20% of energy comes from renewable sources shouldn't probably be using battery powered cars, they end up polluting more.
America derives around 20% of its electricity from nuclear energy, ( that 20% is pretty high in real terms, but to really get the best out of battery operated cars or any damn thing, we should obviously consider percentages ).
Intermittent electric supply is having a very bad effect on our economy, much more than what we can imagine, all infra-critical projects never come up in India.
Suzlon is doing a great work, its an Indian company which produces wind energy, its doing good elsewhere in the world too.
We should definitely privatize electricity, like Reliance supplies in Mumbai, but you know IHM, we are not that much of a capitalist country, we are somewhere in between socialist and capitalist. Finally people are learning their mistakes and moving towards capitalism.But we really move slow.
Someone once compared China and India with rabbit and tortoise correspondingly.:).
Rewa is definitely unsafe, I wonder why people who buy it want to risk their lifes, forget trucks,buses,SUVs, a Maruti 800 can probably crush it.
Well, wat about costs?? When oil had reached nearly $150 per barrel, driving a fuel car got costly isn't it?? A battery car can reduce that part of the cost.
@Ankit
Oh yeah, I did not talk about costs at all.
My point was what is so green about a battery powered car?I mean, if you are in a country which either presently or in near future is not going to use non renewable sources to generate most of its electricity, then why use battery powered cars and pollute all the more?
there is nothing green about battery powered cars - as you say.
@Anrosh,
Ya, atleast not now or in near future.
I had a great temptation to buy this, I am glad I refrained.
The pockets you mentioned made me smile. :) Many residential complexes observed Earth Hour. The DG sets were not switched on too.
@Indrani
Lol, everytime I comment on your blog, you come to my blog, read my latest post, and then reply to my comment and add your comment.:-)!!
Thank god, you did not Buy Rewa ( Do you know if REWA can sue me for publicly speaking against it?).
Yeah,India does contribute to many such Earth hours every day.Nothing new for us, right?;-).
lol@ being sued for speaking against Rewa. Who is she?
@IHM,
Who?Indrani is a blogger, and Rewa is the electric car of India..But you already know what REWA Is..so, I am not sure what are you asking?..:-)..
Yea, I am worried REWA might sue me, I am publicly writing articles against it..;-)
I have 1800 W solar panel which can easily top up the battery for my 40 km per day usage. I cannot afford list price of 400 K plus for Reva but could have had pollution free driving. BTW I am a farmer not paying income tax and not having depreciation benefits. Maybe driving using solar power is justified ??
Post a Comment