Plug-in Cars Will Soon be More Expensive in West Virginia

[PV1]

http://home.earthlink.net/~timster/id19.html

Sadly, the hype of natural gas vehicles goes this far. I've yet to see an NGV the road (except for Waste Management trucks), and I don't see how they are a good solution. They are still limited on their fuel supply, subject to price spikes in fuel, and they still burn fossil fuels. With the fracking and pipelines, the land around here (I live just north of West Virginia) is being destroyed for natural gas.

I've seen countless Volts, 3 LEAFs, a Tesla Roadster, and an electric Smart car lookalike on the road, as well as a solar array to conquer them all that was NOT owned by a utility. Everyone I talk to say that my car is the only i-MiEV they've seen, either ever or on the road. I wouldn't be surprised if it is the only one in my county.

In my opinion, if natural gas is going to be used, it should be used to generate electricity for baseload power, and it should be extracted without fracking. It would be best to leave what's left of fossil fuels in the ground.

 

[JoeS]

Hi PV1, thanks for posting.

Sad to see this lack of support for EVs, while still subsidizing natural gas, butane, and propane.

Hmmm, buying a Prius in West Virginia might actually be the 'cleaner' option vs. an EV. Here's the link to the UCS reports:

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicle...issions-and-charging-costs-electric-cars.html

West Virginia electricity Net Generation 97% Coal

By contrast, California electricity Net Generation 1% Coal

Ref: http://www.getenergyactive.org/fuel/state.htm

 

[PV1]

What really is interesting to me is that there are 19 wind turbines on the eastern ridge of northern Cheat Lake that 'nobody knows about'. I've searched on the internet and talked to some people, nothing documented and the people didn't know about them. While I know that most of WV is too barren of civilization for EVs to make perfect sense, there are places such as Morgantown that can really benefit. That's actually where I bought my i. The salesman I bought from drives another i, with a big 'all electric' sign on it, all around Morgantown, they host events at the Best Buy, and they keep a stock of them parked in front of the dealer.

I don't know if I totally agree with the math. One thing to remember, a gallon of gasoline also has electricity usage mixed in with it, as well as the 20 lbs. of CO2 coming out the pipe. I don't know what the figure is, but to get a fair comparison, the electricity usage has to be accounted for both vehicle types. The national average emissions for electricity is 1.2 lbs./kWh. Morgantown's electricity is 70% coal (national is 40%), and therefore emits 1.5 lbs./kWh. So, 13.3 kWh equals the tailpipe emissions of one gallon of gas. With the national average, 16.6 kWh equals just the tailpipe emissions of a gallon of gas. A gallon can have up to 12 kWh tied to it, so a gallon almost doubles its emissions when the electricity consumption is accounted for. An i can travel 60-90 miles and emit 20 lbs. of CO2 at the national average, or 50-75 miles at Morgantown's average. This doesn't include gasoline's electricity usage, so your Prius would have to get much higher than EPA ratings to be cleaner.


Source:
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/how-clean.html

Zip code: 26505