Originally Posted by Cujet
EV thoughts: Most of us consider the powerplant to grid to charger to battery, then from battery to motor to wheel,
conversion to have significant losses.
What's interesting is that we now know exactly how big the losses are, as the US Government publishes them!
EV Grid to wheel efficiency is 59% to 62%.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/evtech.shtml
Worldwide fuel burning powerplant average efficiency is 33%
USA powerplant fuel burning efficiency average is possibly as high as 38%
(yes, the best NG powerplants can achieve 60% in ideal conditions)
National grid losses are about 7.5%
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/
We also know that EV's, driven normally in mixed driving consume about 340WH per mile. NOTE: Cold weather and heat use/Hot weather and AC use dramatically affect consumption. The 340wh per mile number is relatively accurate in overall use. Yes, some EV owners consume 280 wh per mile. They live in temperate climates, drive slow and don't use heat or AC.
Interestingly, it seems to take 1.6 gallons of fuel oil to make enough power to charge an EV to go 40 highway miles.
More interestingly, in some locations, (once fees and taxes are added in) EV's cost considerably more per mile than gas vehicles.
The Chevy Volt, which can be operated either as a EV or as a gas only vehicle costs 10c/mile (locally) on electric power and 5.3c/mile on gas.
Best post in here and again, VW is not in any way abandoning the internal combustion engine.
Hmmm ... BUT in regards to the above, sounds like a good argument for gasoline BUT, its only half the story, your post points out the real cost (efficiency) of producing electricity to power a vehicle from start to finish but doesnt show the cost to produce a gallon of gasoline.
Good post though as it does point out to the end user/consumer, actual cost and sadly, government is using money form your paycheck and giving it to manufacturers to lower the purchase price of the electric vehicles.