We always have thought that a key paradigm shift in energy is how we are using less of it. But what would be the impact of electric vehicles on gas and power use?
The answer is that we don't yet know, but we should at least start asking the question. One more transformation over the next few years looks like being EVs.
After years of hope and hype, electron-powered driving finally appears to be on the verge of reality.
In the next three years, at least a dozen pure electric or plug-in hybrid cars are slated to hit the market in the U.S. Electricity-driven vehicles from giants such as General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co., as well as start-ups like Fisker Automotive Inc. in Irvine, will provide consumers with a wide variety of choices. ..
Battery makers and automakers alike are tooling up factories to produce big volumes of electric vehicles. Meanwhile, power utilities and regulators are scrambling to figure out just how big the market will be..."This is happening and it's happening soon," said Mark Duvall, director of electric transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute, an independent, nonprofit research group. "By the end of 2011, consumers will have more choices in vehicles they can plug in than they currently do for hybrids."...
But in the last couple of years, huge improvements and new battery chemistries "opened the opportunity" for ambitious product plans, she said. Gioia predicts that as many as a quarter of new vehicles sold by 2020 will be electrics, plug-in hybrids or traditional hybrids.
It's too early to say at this point how much electricity, and gas to generate that, will be needed to power EVs. But it's not too early to say that abundant natural gas and distributed generation is the way to supply those needs whatever they end up being.
Comments