acceleration

Battery life in electric cars

January 9, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Most of us have lots of experience with the batteries in phones, computers, and other gadgets. Batteries don’t last forever, and we sometimes have to replace them. It’s a fact of life. These days, it’s becoming more common to drive electric cars and the fundamental principle is the same. However, the battery pack in an EV is the most expensive part of the car, so its reliability and lifespan is a greater concern.

EV batteries generally have generous warranties. In the US, EV batteries are required by federal law to be covered for at least 8 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. So, the financial exposure from the battery pack is reasonably limited. Even so, EV owners would like to know that their car’s battery pack is likely to last a long time.

Battery life is generally determined by laboratory tests involving repeated charge-discharge cycles over a relatively short period of time, as opposed to those cycles being spaced out over years.

A new study by Stanford University looked at battery performance under conditions much more like what would be experienced in the real world. Cars experience frequent acceleration, braking that charges the batteries a bit, lots of stops, periods of rest, and so forth. Nothing like just charging and discharging repeatedly.

The study found that today’s EV batteries may last up to 40% longer than expected. Real-world stop-and-go driving benefits batteries more than standard test conditions.

The cost of EV batteries continues to get lower all the time and it is likely to be quite a long time before one is likely to need a new battery assuming one even keeps the car long enough.

**********

Web Links

Existing EV batteries may last up to 40% longer than expected

Photo, posted August 27, 2021, courtesy of Ron Frazier via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Antarctic greening

November 6, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Antarctic Peninsula, like other polar regions, is warming faster than the rest of the world. Ocean heatwaves and ice loss are becoming more common and more severe.

New research by the universities of Exeter and Hertfordshire in the UK along with the British Antarctic Survey used satellite data to assess how much the Antarctic Peninsula has been greening in response to climate change. The Antarctic Peninsula is an 800-mile extension of Antarctica toward the southern tip of South America.

The study found that the area of vegetation cover across the Peninsula increased from less than one square kilometer in 1986 to almost 12 square kilometers in 2021. This greening trend accelerated by more than 30% in the period 2016-2021 relative to the entire 1986-2021 period.

An earlier study also showed that the rates of plant growth on the Antarctic Peninsula has increased dramatically in recent decades. The landscape is almost entirely dominated by snow, ice, and rock, with only a tiny fraction supporting plant life. The plants found on the Peninsula – mostly mosses – grow in some of the harshest conditions on earth. But that tiny fraction has greatly increased, showing that this isolated wilderness is being altered by climate change.

The sensitivity of the Antarctic Peninsula’s vegetation to the changing climate is evident and as warming continues, there could be fundamental changes to the biology and landscape of this unique and vulnerable region.

**********

Web Links

Antarctic ‘greening’ at dramatic rate

Photo, posted June 2, 2018, courtesy of Murray Foubister via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Europe Is Warming Faster Than The Rest Of The Planet | Earth Wise

January 3, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A new study by researchers at Stockholm University has found that the warming during the summer months in Europe has been much faster than the global average. The findings, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, are that the climate across the European continent has become drier, particularly in southern Europe, leading to worse heat waves and an increased risk of fires.

Warming over land areas occurs much faster than over oceans. The global average warming to date is 1.6 degrees Celsius over land and 0.9 degrees over oceans. This means that the global emissions budget to keep warming below 1.5 degrees has already been used up over land. The new study in fact shows that the emissions budget to avoid 2 degrees of warming has already been exceeded over large parts of Europe during the summer half-year (April to September).

This accelerated warming in Europe has led to more frequent heat waves. These, in turn, increase the risk of fires, such as the devastating fires in southern Europe this past summer.

Southern Europe has been experiencing a positive feedback situation in which the ongoing warming has been amplified because of drier soil and decreased evaporation. Added to that, there has been less cloud coverage over large parts of Europe, probably as a result of less water vapor in the air.

The study also looked at the impact of aerosol particles on temperatures in Europe. As the amount of relatively short-lived aerosol particles has decreased with the reduction of coal-fired power plants, the temporary cooling effects of those particles partially masking the underlying warming trend have diminished. In contrast, carbon dioxide emissions stay in the atmosphere for centuries.

**********

Web Links

Large parts of Europe are warming twice as fast as the planet on average

Photo, posted April 18, 2020, courtesy of Roman Ranniew via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Strategies To Promote Green Products | Earth Wise

March 26, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Green products are environmentally-friendly products with features that are less harmful to people and the planet. For instance, green products may require fewer resources to produce, consume less energy, contain non-toxic ingredients, or create fewer emissions. Some examples include biodegradable waste bags, LED light bulbs, low-flow shower heads, organic cotton clothing, and reusable coffee cups and water bottles.

But according to new research from two universities in the United Kingdom, companies looking to promote their latest environmentally-friendly product should actually downplay its greenness if they want consumers to buy it.

The study, by researchers from the University of East Anglia and the University of Leeds, found advertising that highlights a product’s green attributes can lead consumers to associate it with weak performance. The findings, which were recently published in the Journal of Advertising, indicate that companies should downplay a product’s green qualities and instead promote it on more traditional aspects.

An example of these two distinct advertising strategies – green emphasis versus green understatement – can be found in the auto industry. Car manufacturer Toyota prominently highlights the low emissions and low fuel consumption features of the Prius, employing what the researchers term as ‘explicit signals’. In contrast, automaker Tesla reduces the prominence of its green attributes, focusing instead on its cars’ acceleration, handling, and other performance-related characteristics. This is known as the ‘implicit signals’ marketing approach.

After conducting two experiments, the research team found that the implicit, rather than explicit, marketing approach about greenness leads to higher performance evaluations and purchase intent.

Consumers appear more likely to engage in pro-social actions when it’s accompanied by some form of personal benefit.

**********

Web Links

Highlighting product greenness may put consumers off buying

Photo, posted December 21, 2019, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.