I’ve been saying for most of a decade that EVs are both cheaper and more efficient than their gasoline- or diesel-smoking companions. I’ve posted several articles confirming this over the years. Here is the latest one from early 2024, Electric vehicles use half the energy of gas powered vehicles. This article from Yale University - to nobody’s great surprise - still says the same thing. EVs are just plain better.
So where does the electricity for EVs come from? One source is solar energy. Well, in fact, that’s the only source - all energy on this planet is originated by the sun’s nuclear reaction (other than nuclear reactors we build here, but we need the sun’s energy to build those too, and look at Chernobyl and Fukushima for how that can end). Most fossil fuel - oil, coal, most "natural gas" - is hundred-million-year-old photosynthesis products that we dig up and burn.
Solar cells represent our best hope for capturing energy at its original source: the sun. All our energy comes from there, either directly or indirectly or very indirectly. But even making them creates some carbon dioxide emissions. The two main types are silicon (Si-PV), used in most existing installations, and perovskite, not widely used yet. This new process for injecting perovskite into inert sealed chambers gives them longer life by avoiding oxygen contact (which causes, you may guess, oxidation).
