Quote:
Originally Posted by Sedoy
That's true, but let's not forget that internal combustion engines can only convert around 28% of fuel energy into kinetic energy, while EVs are much more efficient, achieving around 80% efficiency (from the grid including charging losses) in converting chemical battery energy to kinetic energy. Therefore, a more accurate comparison in terms of actual work being done (motion) would be approximately 33.5 cents of gasoline compared to 18.9 cents for EVs.
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Correct, but that's an internal combustion engine that needs a wide powerband and connected to a transmission so it can offer a wide variety of speeds. So the engine loses efficiency thru heat loss and transmission losses.
Take the IC engine out of the mechanical effort to generate propulsion and make the engine differently. Design it to lose less heat, tune it for max power at a specific RPM and have it connected to just an on-board electrical generator. Make the engine much lighter out of higher temperature-tolerant materials like ceramic. Add in a small battery for peak energy requirements and excess load capture. Up the efficiency of the chemical combustion process and decrease the parasitic loss of moving electricity over hundreds of miles and several transformer stepdowns/stepups to charge a huge, heavy battery. Have the electicty move thru wires for just a few feet with virtually zero energy loss. THAT system is 80% efficient too, possibly more efficient.
That series hybrid vehicle still uses gasoline, or diesel, or bio-fuel diesel; it doesn't disrupt the petrochemical industry and doesn't disrupt the electrical energy grid, and reduces mining pollution and the conflict minerals trade. It keeps electricity, jet fuel, heating oil, gasoline, and diesel prices in check. Such a vehicle vastly extends the Earth's remaining oil reserves (if you believe they are finite).
THAT is the smart approach and easily accomplished before 2035...