Solar powered electric cars are the future
Apparently electric cars can produce as much CO2 emissions as a regular diesel car according to a consumer watchdog. This was something I read in the Mail Online and something I found quite interesting as an advocate of electric transport. To be fair I’m more interested in electric motorcycles and bicycles, but I wouldn’t say ‘No’ if someone decided to offer me a free electric car one day!
Basically the experts were taking into account the fact that these electric vehicles are charged by plugging into the mains. Electricity is more frequently generated by coal, gas or occasionally nuclear fuel and therefore it wouldn’t technically be right to claim zero emissions because in generating that electricity in the first place some waste products or emissions will have been produced. So what’s the solution to all this?
You’ve got it. Solar power, wind power, tidal power and geothermic energy should be able to come to the rescue. For the purpose of this argument I’ll concentrate on solar power as not everyone lives by the see, can have a turbine in their back garden or dig a 2 kilometer hole in the ground next to the veggie patch.
Renewable energy might not be a practical solution for everyone. If you’re living in the middle of a block of flats for example you won’t be able to capture any free energy easily. Actually, you might have a problem plugging you’re electric car in unless the building has some sort of basement outlet. That’s perhaps another issue that electric vehicles may face. I’m considering the average or above average suburban family who are likely to be able to afford an electric car though. The chances are they live in a large modern house with plenty of roof space and a large enough garden to accommodate a small array of solar panels.
At the moment, however, you’d probably need a fairly large number of cells to charge you’re vehicle up in a 24 hour period ready for use the next day. There’s also an issue in that you’re likely to be out driving whilst the sun is shining arriving home after dark to plug in your car before you go to bed.
As you can see, solar energy and electric cars as a combination could be quite tricky. I suspect that in this instance it might be necessary either to have swap-able battery packs (possibly impractical) or store the energy for later use. I had at first thought of using storage batteries but then it occurred to me, why not just sell your home captured solar energy to the grid during the day and buy it back at night when you plug your car in?
For a system such as this to work, one in which you could truly claim that your electric car produces zero emissions there would have to be a great deal of will power. I think that at the end of the day, however, the extra work and expense would probably be worthwhile. We all know that fossil fuels are limited and that the populace generally have little faith in nuclear power, which only leaves us with renewable sources of energy. The sooner we act and implement low cost alternative solutions to our energy needs the better off we will all be in the long run.
It is my belief that a solar electric vehicle combination is a winner for everyone despite the technical challenges and dare I say it, lack of political will to move forward. Solar cells are becoming more efficient and (or) cheaper to produce so it makes absolute sense in my opinion to strive towards the ultimate goal of cheap efficient transport powered by a truly renewable energy source - our sun.
