Electric Cars in the Bay Area and Beyond by Ruby Fisher-Smith

Date of presentation: 9-25-12     

Purpose:

The purpose of sharing this presentation was to provide some background to the discussion of electric vehicles as an alternative to internal combustion vehicles, and to ground this discussion with the application of the electric vehicle trend in local news.

Background information:

Pros:

• Electric vehicles convert about 59–62% of the electrical energy from the grid to power at the wheels—conventional gasoline vehicles only convert about 17–21% of the energy stored in gasoline to power at the wheels
• Don’t emit tailpipe pollutants, but the energy companies that provide electricity might
• Don’t depend on foreign energy, electricity is domestic

Cons:

• Most EVs can only go about 100–200 miles before recharging—gasoline vehicles can go over 300 miles before refueling.
• Many people feel insecure because charging stations do not exist in such abundance as gas stations do
• Fully recharging the battery pack can take 4 to 8 hours. Even a "quick charge" to 80% capacity can take 30 min.

Charging Stations in San Francisco:

• Bay area has about 500 charging stations, although they are not evenly spread out over the region
• Additional charging stations will be needed to convince the more mainstream consumer to go electric
• So far, electric car sales in the bay area have been about 0.4% of all car sales
• firms such as NRG Energy Inc., 350Green and Ecotality Inc. have plans to install more electric-car charging facilities in the Bay Area.
• NRG, a power company based in Princeton, N.J., signed an agreement with the state of California to install 55 next-generation electric-vehicle fueling stations across the Bay Area as part of a four-year plan to build 200 fast-charging stations in the state. The company says it hoping to start putting in the stations early next year.

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think that electric cars are better than internal combustion vehicles? Why or why not?
2. Would you buy an electric car given the opportunity?
3. Do you think making more charging stations in the bay area will cause a significant increase in electric car sales? What do you think about the “chicken and the egg” idea put forth in the video regarding the charging stations and car sales?
4.  Do you think the electric car should be subsidized? If so, in what ways? If not, why?

Follow Up Research: 

•  More about EV batteries: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/vehicles/electric-car-battery1.htm
• Information about Battery swapping stations: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/place-live-battery-switch-stations/story?id=13742428#.UGsSSaRejyc
• More about battery swapping stations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8nTAjVaa7Y

Sources Used in Report:

"Electric cars' side effects." The Futurist May-June 2012: 4. Gale Science In Context. Web. 25 Sep. 2012.

"Electric Vehicles." Electric Vehicles. US Department of Energy, n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. <http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/evtech.shtml>.

Sweet, Cassandra. "Pursuing Power: Where Electric Cars Can Fill Up." The Wall Street Journal. WSJ, 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444450004578002452949001868.html>.