Electric Cars Have All the Advantage

by Brian T Lynch, MSW

A deceptive Facebook post circulating about the dubious value of electric vehicles over combustion engine cars was reposted by a friend. It is obviously dated, but since it is still spreading, let me debunk it and offer you updated information on the value of electric vehicles. The text in parentheses and bold italics below are the main talking points from this post. If you see the post on your timeline, repost this rebuttal.

"A Tesla requires 75-amp service. Our residential infrastructure cannot bear the load."

Tesla vehicles do not require 75-amp chargers. And 200 Amp service has been the standard for most newer homes for decades. Small, older homes may indeed have between 100- and 150-amp service, but the average U.S. home today has something in between 100- and 200-amp service. Regardless, the assertion that a Tesla requires a 75-amp charger is false (see Tesla chart). And if you can afford a Tesla, you almost certainly live in a home with 200 amp service. That said, electric utility companies are in the business of selling electricity. If everyone on the block needed more juice to charge their vehicles, the utility companies would be responsive to see that you have the electricity you need.

"… not only are we being urged to buy these things and replace our reliable, cheap generating systems with expensive new windmills and solar cells..."

This is comment is patently false. Renewable energy generation is cheaper than the dirty, polluting coal, gas, and oil-fired plants. These dinosaurs (pun intended) need to become extinct. This bar chart is just a sample from one very politically conservative state. Do the research, and you will see ample evidence that renewables are cheaper.

"Eric test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors, and he writes, "For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine."

Apparently, Eric was invited to drive the Chevy Volt plugin hybrid, which was discontinued in 2019. This post circulating on Facebook has to be older, at least three years old. To be clear, a hybrid and a plugin hybrid are not electric vehicles. They are gasoline vehicles with an electric assist to lower MPG. A hybrid car does that by killing the engine during idling and when traveling very slowly, as in a parking lot. A plugin hybrid has a larger battery capacity to eliminate the need for the gas engine to kick on during short trips, which is the bulk of most travel. No electric vehicle has a gas engine or is gas-assisted. Whatever Eric was invited to test drive, it was not the current 2022 Chevy Volt E.V. Here are some particulars on this all-electric vehicle:

"According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kWh of electricity. I pay approximately (it varies with the amount used and the seasons) $1.16 kWh. 16 KWh x $1.16 per kWh = $18.56 to charge the battery. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery."

Maybe that was true for the plugin hybrid Volt in the past. However, a 2022 all-electric Volt E.V. has a 65-kWh battery with a 259-mile range on a full charge, which takes 7 hours (@240 volts) to entirely change. But, a D.C. fast public charging system also reduces the time to 1hr and 15 minutes (a leisurely meantime on a long trip).

 

"I pay approximately $1.16 per kWh. Sixteen kWh x $1.16 per kWh = $18.56 to charge the battery. $18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery. Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 Mpg = $0.10 per mile."

First, if your electric company charges you $1.16/kW, I recommend getting rooftop solar to reduce your electricity bills. In my area (see below), the electric company rate is $0.0846 per kWh. Multiply that by a 65 kWh storage battery, and the cost of a full charge is $5.50. Say that I am an erratic driver who can only get 200 miles on a charge. Then $5.50 divided by 200 miles = $0.0275 per mile. That's 2.75 cents per mile, which is much less than ten cents per mile.

"The gasoline-powered car costs about $25,000 while the Volt costs $46,000 plus."

Wrong again! I'm not advocating for the Chevy Volt. I have no opinion on the various electric vehicles on the market today. But the cost of them all has come down in recent years, bolstered by multiple federal, state, and local incentive programs. For example, this clip is from the Chevy Website:

"The 2022 Bolt EV starts at $31,995 (including DFC), before any available state, local, or utility incentives."

The U.S. Department of Energy grants up to $7,500 in nonrefundable tax credits to the first 200,000 buyers of eligible E.V.s per automaker (Jun 12, 2021). That drops the base price down to about $24,500. That brings the cost of the vehicle under the gasoline model in this factitious Facebook post.

Finally, and here is the real point of it all, one gallon of gas produces 19.64 pounds of carbon. One kWh of electricity generated at a fossil fuel-powered electric plant produces 0.92 pounds of carbon. If your gasoline engine car gets 30 miles/gal., you release .654 pounds of carbon into the air per mile. In the Chevy Volt EV you release .254 pounds of carbon into the air from a fossil fuel power plant. If the electricity that charged your battery happens to come from a solar or wind farm, you produce ZERO carbon emissions per mile. And isn't that the real goal?