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Could Future Mazda Engines Emit Less CO2 Than Electric Cars?
Could Future Mazda Engines Emit Less CO2 Than Electric Cars?
Is it possible to make a gasoline engine so efficient that it would emit less carbon dioxide per mile than is created by generating electricity to run an electric car over that same mile? Small Japanese carmaker Mazda says yes. In an interview published last week with the British magazine Autocar, Mazda claimed that its next generation of SkyActiv engines will be so fuel-efficient that they'll be cleaner to run than electric cars |
The comments on that article are interesting, and fairly typical. The EV guys are all pointing out that the "well to wheels" EV number is being compared to straight tailpipe numbers, vs well to wheels tailpipe.
But none of them are pointing out the "battery creation to well to wheels" problem. Lithium battery creation is highly toxic and less sustainable than petroleum, and batteries will always remain their own worst enemy to EV cars. They are heavy, expensive, messy to produce, and are incredibly inefficient at storing energy. |
go green, kill the earth with electric cars!
if a method of producing hydrogen more efficiently came along then i think the game would change. |
Considering that last time I did the math assuming that 30% of the worlds electricity is produced by coal, all it takes is a 49 MPG+ gasoline engine or 59+ MPG diesel engine to match the CO2 emissions. I would say it's very probable. However, the more coal is curbed, the harder it would be to match it.
This is what I put together a year or two ago... at the time it was the latest solid data I could find. This also doesn't include the CO2 from burning Natural Gas, which brings it down about another 10 MPG (39 MPG gasoline engine) Coal: Carbon Dioxide Emission Factors for Coal Gas / Diesel: http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=307&t=11 50% electricity from coal in the USA and 30% globally 1 gallon of gasoline: 19.4 lbs of CO2 1 gallon of diesel: 22.2 lb of CO2 1 ton of "clean coal" (There is worse quality burned elsewhere in the world): 2.86 tons (5720 lbs) of CO2 1941.74 KWh of electricity Nissan Leaf: 109 miles per charge 0.34 miles per KWh 0.34 / 1941.74 = 0.000175 (0.0175%) Leaf mile per ton of coal 5720 lbs CO2 * 0.000175 = 1 lb CO2 per Leaf mile USA: 0.5 lb CO2 per Leaf mile Global: 0.3 lb CO2 per Leaf mile 2012 Skyactive Mazda3, non hybrid (40 MPG) 19.4 lb CO2 / 40 MPG = 0.49 lb CO2 per mile Toyota Prius C (non plugin) (50 MPG) 19.4 lb CO2 / 50 MPG = 0.39 lb CO2 per mile If my math is wrong, just let me know, and I'll update my data sheet... Also like RIWWP said, no one is taking into account batteries too... those things are a mess... EDIT: since I last updated this, I didn't think to include the fact that our E10 gas in the USA brings it down to 17.7 lb CO2 per gallon of gas, so the number is even lower. |
Originally Posted by Karack
(Post 4583869)
if a method of producing hydrogen more efficiently came along then i think the game would change.
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/p...er-nature.html Simulates photosythesis and uses sunlight to split hydrogen from oxygen from the moisture in the air. It doesn't escape the special materials problem though. |
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