{"id":4367,"date":"2011-05-03T16:54:19","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T20:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.energyrefuge.com\/blog\/?p=4367"},"modified":"2017-09-05T17:50:45","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T21:50:45","slug":"powering-cars-with-renewable-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.energyrefuge.com\/blog\/powering-cars-with-renewable-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Powering Cars with Renewable Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Via Nissan<\/figcaption><\/figure>Transportation is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions, therefore replacing fossil fuels to power our road vehicles, planes and ships is one of the challenges of the green revolution. The electric vehicle has taken an incredible stride forward since 2010. With charging stations popping up everywhere, and becoming easier to find<\/a>, they are definitely going to make a huge contribution to the transport mix.<\/p>\n

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Nick Nigro comments on Txchnologist <\/a>that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153no single alternative will dominate the future the way that gasoline-powered cars own our roads today. The competition will be fierce because these new technologies will not only be competing against each other, but also against the ever-improving internal combustion engine. By 2035, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite possible a new gasoline-powered car will get 50 mpg and a hybrid-electric car (like the Toyota Prius) will achieve 75 mpg.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

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In his article Nigro lists five factors that he believes will give alternative energy<\/a> technologies the edge to compete with conventional vehicles. <\/p>\n

One of them is diversity and adaptability to changes. He also says manufacturers need to create economies of scales to build millions of these vehicles as ramping up production drives down costs. Third, Nigro recommends reducing costs and improving car performance through learning-by-doing. The next suggestion may be one of the trickiest: finding ways to overcome consumers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 resistance to new technology. Cars are major purchases so it’s only natural that people are cautious about their money. Finally, Nigro says we need to overcome the chicken and egg dilemma of the car and refuelling infrastructure, which, according to him, will require a great deal of public support to overcome.<\/p>\n

And that public support will have to happen. As wind and solar power<\/a> make a bigger contribution to the grid, electric cars will become cleaner by default, although it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fact that even when electricity is coal-generated, electric cars are still cleaner than their fossil fuel counterparts<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Oil is not going to be available forever and when we think that 70% of the oil consumed in the U.S. goes to transportation, we need to rethink how all these machines are powered. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a matter of if, but a matter of how and when.<\/p>\n

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