Ian On EVs

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List of all EVs available in Canada, with C$ pricing, from PlugNDrive.ca.

September is the time of National Drive Electric Week, and our nearest event for 2023 was in Waterloo via WREVA, and will be again in the fall of 2024. Here’s my shot of the hundred or so EVs brought out by their owners. There was a Rivian, 2 Ford F150 Lightnings (one making pancakes for attendees on an electric griddle running of the pickup’s battery) and at least one 'Stang, various Hyundai, Kia, Volvo and PoleStar both, Vinfast, VW, Smart, and a BMW i3 (apologies if I missed any). It was a beautiful day, so perhaps a lot of people who might have attended were out camping or canoeing; we spent more time in talking to other EV owners than with potential purchasers, and in making our Tesla sing and dance in coordination with others.

2023 is also the year of NACS, the North American Charging standard. Based on Tesla’s plug, this is being standardized, and has buy-in from all major car makers. Aptera, GM and Ford were among the first, with Hyundai being among the last; see Hyundai/Kia seen taking photos at Tesla supercharger: NACS support imminent?

The rationale for electric vehicles is so compelling it hardly needs explanation. They actually cost less, in terms of total cost of ownership, (TCO) as pointed out:

EVs are much easier on the driver. The brain-deadening particulate pollution from combustion at source of an EV is zero, the metallic-and-asbestos particulate emission from mechanical braking is drastically curtailed, the greenhouse gas emission at source is zero, and the noisy, smelly gasoline engine and its very inefficient fuel infrastructure is rendered unnecessary. Gasoline engines and especially diesel in contrast emit large amounts of particulate pollution ("soot") which sickens and kills people, even hitting them before they’re born, and adds billions of dollars to healthcare costs. Gasoline cars catch fire and burn several hundred times a day in the US, killing on average about a person a day. Both suicides and accidental deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning are another toxic effect. In fact, the internal combustion engine is already dead, it just hasn’t realized it yet. Don’t take my word for it; see here and in the Economist. Or, if you follow entrepreneurs, here’s Sir Richard Branson, founder of various Virgin Enterprises, on Why we should switch by 2025 not 2040. If you want to see my word on it, check out my Note to My Friends and Neighbors in the Oil Patch.

Overall pollution and GHG is less when EVs are used, even where dirty fuel is used to produce electricity, as has been spelled out many times, by the Union of Concerned Scientists and by the International Council on Clean Transportation and by this paper in Science Direct (original article here). Indeed, given the massive amount of energy used by refineries, and trucking the fuel to the gas station, and the pumping stations, and the gas stations with their garish all-night lighting, some have estimated that it takes more electricity (in addition to the gasoline burning!) to drive a gasoline-powered car 100 miles than it takes to drive an electric car the same distance! EVs are thus significantly more efficient than the ICE vehicles they are starting to replace. When you hear otherwise, it’s probably funded by the fossil fuel industry, stock market short sellers, or somebody with an axe to grind. See CNBC.

Even staid old-line makers like Jaguar and Porsche have committed to electrification. Porsche offers this discussion on the all-electric powertrain to be used in their near-future EVs, and what electrification means to the automotive world. Porsche exhibited a prototype TayCan at the Toronto Auto Show CIAS 2018. Volkswagen announced a new modular chassis plan (MEB) due to power several models of EV.

However we are creatures of habit, and habits suggest buying a regular gas guzzler or "ICE" (Infernal Combustion Engine) car. So think about the following:

Note that, in terms of cars, I am primarily focused on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) rather than, say, hydrogen fuel cell EVs (HFCEVs). Hydrogen at first seems like a good candidate for a fuel source as it is a very plentiful element, and "pollution free" since 2H + O → H₂O - the output of this oxydation reaction is energy and water. However, the laws of physics show that you must use as much energy to drive the reduction (to split water to get the hydrogen) as you get out of the oxidation, thus already half the energy is wasted. That, plus a number of fires at hydrogen fueling stations (not to mention the long shadow of the Hindenburg) have led car makers to abandon hydrogen, most recently Daimler. Hydrogen may have a place in, for example, trans-oceanic shipping, but you won’t see it dominating on the roads of major countries.

Aside: If you find this information useful, and/or are interested in learning about or buying a Tesla, please use my referral code; if you buy a Tesla using that code, you get 1,000 miles of free supercharging credit on any new Tesla vehicle.