“….The UK Government has pledged to cover 75 per cent of the cost of thousands of new electric car charge points at people’s homes, on the streets, at railway stations and on the public sector estate.

Funding for the scheme comes from the Government’s £400 million commitment to increase the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles and is available until April 2015…..”19 February 2013 By Edward Gen

“…  According to the WSJ Environmental Capitol blog,  Lux Research, a research and consulting firm that specializes in providing strategic analysis related to emerging technologies, believes high battery price, low oil prices, and low demand for new cars could limit the growth of hybrid electric cars.…”

Making Coal Car Batteries: The CO2 Impact

Posted on Jun 16, 2011

A London group with the comically oxymoronic name of Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership has been busy disproving its own sponsored premise. Turns out that manufacturing a battery for a typical “electric” car puts 3.8 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That’s two-thirds of the carbon emitted in the manufacturing of a complete medium-sized gasoline car.

What additional carbon dioxide would be emitted in the process of scrapping or recycling millions of “electric” car batteries every year? As the LCVP admits, that remains one of our “gaps in understanding.”

The inescapable fact is that no automobile will ever be “low carbon.” Merely making these rolling piles of metal and plastic and lithium is inherently energy- and carbon-intensive.

DbC will say it again: Cars-first transportation was and is a capitalist pipe-dream.

http://www.deathbycar.info/2011/06/ev-batteries-co2/

Is a nuclear-powered car in our future?

September 1, 2011

Stevens hasn’t set a date on when his prototype will be completed, but whether this technology will ever see the light of day is a valid question. Judging from his past online posts in forums and news sites, he’s been touting this system for years despite his claim that auto manufacturers could have it working in vehicles within two years. And even if Stevens manages to pull off a thorium-powered car, it’s likely to raise safety concerns.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20100035-48/is-a-nuclear-powered-car-in-our-future/

Nuclear power undermines electric cars’ green image

Updated 2012-03-25

“….The government is trying to restart dozens of nuclear power plants for the first time since the Fukushimi disaster last year that resulted from the March earthquake and tsunami. Nuclear power now has a terrible image problem because of the fire and radiation leaks at the plant.

Since electric cars run on juice from the nuclear power plants, owners are having trouble trying to replace the green halo that they thought they could proudly wear before the disaster, the Associated Press reports, via Bloomberg BusinessWeek. In Japan, just as in the U.S., electric cars were being seen as important symbols of a green future. Nissan’s Leaf electric, among others, is made in Japan where it is sold in addition to being shipped to the U.S.

Electric cars have the same problem in the U.S., but it is generally overlooked. Much of the electricity in the U.S. is made from coal, oil or nuclear generation……”

“…..In Japan, electric car drivers are already feeling the heat. With nuclear likely to remain a major source of power, “then the green image of the electric car will get bashed to bits, maybe to the extent it will be irreparable,” Ryuichi Kino, who has written books on nuclear power and hybrid technology, is quoted as saying by the AP….”

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/03/nissan-leaf-japan-electric-cars-nuclear-power-nukes/1#.USTK3HYgjxY

Why we will never have nuclear powered cars

January 4th, 2013

For one thing, the regulatory hurdles to getting a nuclear reactor into an automobile are likely to be insurmountable.  All nuclear power reactors must conform to strict safety and security guidelines.

In the case of an automobile, it is probably not a bad thing that safety regulations would prevent it from taking to the road.  The core of an operating nuclear reactor does indeed become very radioactive, and if a road accident lead to a containment breach, the decay of short-lived isotopes could produce lethal levels of radiation exposure to the cars occupants.

http://depletedcranium.com/why-we-will-never-have-nuclear-powered-cars/

Nuclear Powered Electric Vehicles (Fast Fission Podcast 3)

October 13, 2009

Will hybrid electric vehicles spell the end of the oil age?  At least one major international bank thinks so.  This week Deutsche Bank released a report that predicts a oil prices will spike causing US consumers to flock to high-mileage hybrid vehicles.  This in turn will cause petroleum demand to dive and never recover.  In the end, electric and hybrid electric vehicles will take over the roads.

When this happens, with one-fifth of the electric grid powered from clean nuclear energy, we’ll be shifting our transportation energy source from imported oil to home grown nuclear energy.

But not everyone agrees.  According to the WSJ Environmental Capitol blog,  Lux Research, a research and consulting firm that specializes in providing strategic analysis related to emerging technologies, believes high battery price, low oil prices, and low demand for new cars could limit the growth of hybrid electric cars.

I agree that economics will be a key factor in whether or not the average consumer will choose hybrids or EV’s over traditional gasoline or diesel powered vehicles.  But there’s more to consumer behaviors than simple economic; convenience, and emotions pay a role, too.

I wonder if anyone over at Lux Research has actually driven a hybrid.  I have and I can tell you that even at current fuel prices the cost savings to driving a hybrid are significant and the increase in range means fewer stops at the filling station.   There’s something very satisfying to getting 500 miles from a 10 gallon tank of gas!  Of course the same thing is possible in light weight diesel engine vehicles.

http://thisweekinnuclear.com/?p=755

China’s nuclear powered car

October 23rd, 2012

A £37 million funding package for electric car charge points has been announced by the Government.