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There are a number of compelling benefits to electric cars over convention petrol/diesel vehicles. These include a vast improvement in air quality in our cities. Reduction in health costs caused by air pollution. Less noise pollution. Less CO2 into the atmosphere (even if powered via a coal fired power plant).
Electric cars are also much cheaper to run (see MEC Fuel Savings Calculator) and require minimal servicing. The batteries are recyclable and not considered hazardous to the environment. (see our Benefits menu under the Resource link in the main menu)
Electric cars are generally more expensive to purchase than their petrol or diesesl equivalents. This is mainly due to expenses related to efficiencies of scale,
as scale production of electric vehicles is in its infancy. However the running costs of electric cars are generally 70% to 80% less than conventional vehicles - the initial extra purchase cost is recovered from the lower running costs. While production costs reduce with efficiencies of scale and the price of oil continues to rise, these savings will increase further.
Electric cars are already available in Australia but they are typically conventional vehicles converted to electric. See Converts in the main menu to find out more about vehicle conversions in your state. The major manufacturers have no immediate plans for large scale distribution of electric cars in Australia in the near future. However there will be limited numbers of the Mitsubishi MiEV scheduled for Australia in 2010. These will probably be prohitively expensive for the average consumer (around $70,000). Better Place plans to introduce the Better Place Project in Canberra in 2012 and Better Place vehicles will be much more affordable. Although many models will be available in other countries in 2010 it would seem that Australia will not see these until 2012 - 2015.
There are some models of electric vehicles that can travel over 400kms on a single charge but the average range of the production models currently being built is 160kms before recharging. is an issue for electric vehicle uptake but this is more to do with perception than reality. The average Australian passenger vehicle travels 13,900 kms per annum (38.08 kms daily average) according to the as at 2006, a range easily achievable by electric vehicles.
The amount of emissions from coal fired electricity consumed by electric vehicles to travel the same distance as petrol (or diesel) vehicles is less (see for examples). The benefits do not stop there. Electric vehicles produce zero local emissions which means much cleaner air in our cities and huge savings in health costs (see MEC ). Electric vehicles also have the ability to be powered by clean renewable energy (green energy) which means that emissions are eliminated altogether. The additional cost of using renewable energy to power electric vehicles in Australia is less than the price of a cup of coffee weekly (see MEC for details) and still results in significant savings on fuel running costs compared to petrol or diesel.
Additional power generation will not be needed for many years in the gradual shift to electric vehicles. A recent by the UK Department of Transport has confirmed that there is sufficient power generation capacity in the existing UK grid for substantial numbers of electric vehicles. This is the same in virtually all industrialised countries where there is excess night time capacity. As the fleet gradually electrifies and the grid transitions to cleaner energy there will be no need for attitional dirty, old technology, power plants.
The lithium ion batteries favoured for modern electric vehicles (because of their higher energy density and low discharge rates) are recognised as being non hazardous to the environment. They are also fully recyclable (see MEC ).
It would seem that there is sufficient Lithium easily available to power the global fleet. As lithium ion batteries are fully recyclable and the lithium carbonate can be reused, a supply problem seems most unlikely.
One million tonnes of lithium would be sufficient to power 250 million vehicles like the Nissan Leaf which uses about 4kg of lithium (metal equivalent). There are more than 13 million tonnes of identified land based lithium resources globally according to 2009 and estimates of 230 billion tonnes to be found in sea water (see MEC ).
There are a number of safety aspects to consider with electric vehicles. With less noise than conventional vehicles at low speed they may present a hazard to pedestrians especially in shopping centres or carparks. This issue is currently being looked into globally (see MEC ) but can easily be addressed by making minimal noise levels compulsory on vehicles if deemed necessary. As far as electrical hazards are concerned, electric vehicles have to comply with electrical safety standards. It must be remembered that no type of car is 'safe' - for example a cup of petrol when mixed with air has enough .
That depends on where you live and how much capacity is in the batteries. For example, the average price for electricity per kilo Watt hour is $0.18 and it takes approximately 14 kWh to travel 100kms, so it will cost approximately $2.52 in electricity charges to travel 100kms. In comparison, the average petrol car in Australia uses 11.1 litres of fuel to travel 100kms (Aus. Bureau of Statistics). That's a cost
of $13.54 to travel 100kms at $1.22 per litre. Even a very efficient diesel vehicle (5 litres per 100kms) will cost $6.10.
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