How EVs Are Driving Us to an Eco-Friendly Future
Source: https://www.eetimes.com/how-evs-are-driving-us-to-an-eco-friendly-future/
Author: Daniel Richmond
A standard power plant on the grid is significantly more efficient than a gasoline engine in a car. Natural-gas-fueled power plants can reach efficiencies as high as 60%, while the efficiency of an internal combustion engine in a vehicle can be as low as 20%, according to the National Academy of Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Therefore, EVs make much more efficient use of fossil fuels by displacing the energy conversion from inside a gasoline engine to a more efficient power plant. The U.S. electrical grid receives about 40% of its energy from renewable sources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Forty percent of the electricity used by EVs is clean, compared to 0% of the energy from gasoline—a number which will never get any higher. All things considered, by switching from an ICEV to an EV, a driver can expect to reduce their carbon footprint from driving by 60% to 70%—even without being powered by clean, renewable electricity. Obviously, a customer whose electric car is completely powered by clean electricity would reduce their carbon footprint from driving by 100%.