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MG MGA - Electrifying

Now here's something you don't see every day....
http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/bobwing.html
Ian Pearl

Thank goodness! Another 'zero polution' car which forgets about the emmisions from the power plant it uses to recharge the batteries.
Bill Young

Yup, batteries are about the least-efficient, most-polluting way to power a car, unless you have a windmill, hydro dam or lots of photovoltaics on your property.
David Breneman

Yes, but politically, the most sensible. The owner incurs no wrath for pollution, while the power plants have no additional wrath other than what they are already dealing with. The public at large says, "No pollution, what a great guy!", and the tree huggers think that trees are saved, none of which is true.
mike parker

But it doesn't go "Vroom vroom"
Art

Don't forget the pollution from smelting the lead for the batteries. We have a town here in Australia that had a lead smelter (Port Pirie) and most of the town is contaminated.
When you add together the pollution from power generation, lead smelting, sulfuric acid production, disposal of lead-acid batteries, electric cars should be banned.

Mick
Mick Anderson

Mick,
You hit the nail on the head, especially with the sulfuric acid. If we all went to electric, I think that the acid rain problem would terrify even the non-environmentalists.
mike parker

Yes, but at least you wouldn't have to change that damn oil filter!
Ian Pearl

And as the power plant pumps out it's pollutants, the EPA measures it and decrees that emissions standards for older cars will need to be enforced in order to increase the overall air quality. It's a crazy world we live in, where image is everything and substance is secondary.
R. L Carleen

Politics, politics
mike parker

It's another case of NIMBYs. Power stations pollute, but somewhere-else. Our little cars pollute but over here.

On the other hand, power stations are very efficient at extracting energy from their fuel. I don't have figures but even taking into account transmission losses and the second law of thermodynamics the electric car may be comparable in terms of energy efficiency.

This doesn't look at the lead smelting and acid production mentioned, but no-one has mentioned iron and steel production (for the engine) and petrol refining.
Dan Smithers

Electric cars wan't become practical until nuclear fusion becomes practical (although there is currently a bidding war going on between France and Japan to host the world's first working fusion reactor -- recent technological advances are making the technology feasable). An abundant, cheap, clean source of electricity will be necessary to separate hydrogen out of sea water, to power the fuel cells that will run the electric cars. But, barring some stupendous breakthrough technology (like making battery charging more than 40% efficient) batteries are *not* going to power practical electric cars, fuel cells are. Until then, electric cars are just a vanity niche-market item.
David Breneman

This thread was discussed between 04/01/2005 and 06/01/2005

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