By Bill Moore
Several years ago, the Photovoltaic trade publication Photon International posed some questions about biofuels, solar panels, and cars:
Given a hectare of land — roughly 2.4 acres — which energy crop would power a motor vehicle the furthest? The energy derived from various biofuels grown on the theoretical hectare were capable of propelling an internal combustion engine vehicle several tens of thousands of kilometers.Â
What if solar panels were installed on that same hectare of ground and the electricity produced over the year was used to power an electric car; how far could that car travel?
The answer is more than 3 million kilometres! Why the huge difference? Two fundamental reasons: solar panels convert sunlight more efficiently than plants and can do it year around, while most croplands in the northern hemisphere have to lie fallow a good part of year.
More importantly, an electric car is so much more efficient. The efficiency of electric motors is 85-95 percent, while even the best diesel engine is only one-third as effective. Most of the energy in gasoline is wasted heat; only a small percent of the energy burned reaches the wheels and actually moves the car.
Besides unparalleled efficiency and surprising performance, the electric car is the ultimate alternative fuel vehicle. Its “fueling” infrastructure is ubiquitous: there are literally tens of millions of electric power outlets everywhere. Those outlets are powered by electricity generated mainly from domestic fuels: coal, natural gas, hydro-power, nuclear, geothermal and renewables like wind and solar.
We also have sufficient overnight capacity in our current electrical infrastructure to power tens of millions of electric cars and trucks. Pacific Northwest National Labs calculated in 2006 that 70% of America’s 230 million motor vehicles could be charged overnight if they were electric, with an actual decrease in carbon dioxide emissions despite much of that base load power coming from coal.
Electric cars are just emerging from a long technological hibernation, despite being around since the days of Thomas Edison.  They remain relatively expensive, and recharge times are far longer than the typical stop at a filling station, but advances in battery technology is providing greater durability, longer service life and faster recharge times.
Experiments with modern nano-based lithium batteries have demonstrated 10-minute recharges and driving ranges well in excess of 100 miles with second and third generation batteries promising 200 and then 300 miles between recharges by around 2015. However, before electric cars become as commonplace as cell phones, costs will have to come down. That will happen, as it did with cell phones, with volume and advances in technology and manufacturing processes.
Despite the current limited number of commercially-available electric vehicles, hope is around the corner. While currently only Tesla is delivering cars, both domestic and foreign car companies are racing to bring vehicles to market: Mitsubishi, Nissan, Ford, Chrysler, GM and  BYD all have plans to offer electric cars here in North America starting as early as 2010.
To be sure, they will initially be in relatively small numbers, as the industry gets comfortable with the technology and nurtures its supplier base. The trend, however, is clearly towards the increasing electrification of the motor vehicle fleet worldwide, promising a less petroleum-dependent, more sustainable transportation system in the coming decades.
Bill Moore is the Publisher of EV World.Com. EV World.com provides a human face to the topic of sustainable transportation with a focus on the people and policy, as well as technology.
