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Super drivers and electric cars

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The average American driver travels about 13,400 miles a year. The top 10% of drivers average about 40,200 miles a year and account for 35% of the nation’s gasoline use from private light-duty vehicles, meaning cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, and minivans.  Those 21 million Americans alone burn more gasoline than is burned each year in Brazil, Canada, and Russia combined.

These super drivers often live in rural areas and small towns, drive an average of 116 miles each weekday, and typically own vehicles that are larger and less fuel efficient.  Many have long commutes to work because they were pushed out of cities by rising housing prices.  Some are tradespeople who travel from site to site all day in their jobs. 

Given the disproportionate amount of gasoline usage by this small segment of the population, the key to cutting vehicle emissions by adopting electric vehicles may rest with super drivers.  And so far, not many of them have made the transition.

A report by the environmental nonprofit group Coltura contends that getting super drivers to switch to electric cars would lead to a much faster reduction in emissions.

The range of most recent electric cars is sufficient for most super drivers.  The obstacles remaining include availability of convenient charging stations, but that is changing.  Finding the right vehicle might also be a problem, but electric pickup trucks and large SUVs are entering the market. 

The transition to electric vehicles is important for society, and the most active drivers need to take part in it.

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Are You a Super Driver? Some States Want to Help You Go Electric.

Photo, posted January 9, 2025, courtesy of Phillip Pessar via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Battery life in electric cars

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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.

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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

A better way to extract lithium

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Lithium is the critical component in the batteries that power phones and computers, electric cars, and the systems that store energy generated by solar and wind farms.  Lithium is not particularly rare, but it is difficult and often environmentally harmful to extract from where it is found.

Traditional ore sources are increasingly difficult and expensive to mine.  The largest known deposits of lithium are in natural brines – the salty water found in geothermal environments.  These brines also contain other ions like sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, and efficiently separating out the lithium is extremely challenging.

Traditional separation techniques consume large amounts of energy and produce chemical waste, particularly hazardous chlorine gas.  These techniques typically suffer from poor selectivity; that is, the process is interfered with by the other ions present in natural brines.

A team of researchers at Rice University has developed a three-chamber electrochemical reactor that improves the selectivity and efficiency of lithium extraction from brines.  The middle chamber of the reactor contains a specialized membrane that acts as a barrier to chloride ions, preventing them from getting to the electrode area where they can form chlorine gas.

The new reactor has achieved a lithium purity rate of 97.5%, which means the setup can effectively separate lithium from other ions in the brine and allow the production of high-quality lithium hydroxide, the key material for battery manufacturing. 

The Rice University reactor design has the potential to be a game changer for lithium extraction from geothermal brines.

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‘Game changer’ in lithium extraction: Rice researchers develop novel electrochemical reactor

Photo, posted October 21, 2023, courtesy of Simaron via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Mining extinct volcanoes

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Rare earth elements are a group of 17 elements that are used to improve the performance, efficiency, and durability of a wide range of products.  More than 200 products across a diverse set of applications make use of rare earth elements.  Although the amount of rare earth used in a particular product may not be very much of its weight, volume, or monetary value, it may often be necessary for the device even to function.  Rare earth elements react with other elements to form compounds that are essential because of their specific chemical behaviors. 

Rare earth elements are not actually rare; in fact, they are fairly common.  But they are mostly not found in their pure form and are generally difficult to refine.  China accounts for more than 90% of global production of rare earth elements and this represents a strategic problem for the rest of the world.

New research by scientists from the Australian National University has found that some extinct volcanoes, which have not erupted for thousands or even millions of years, may be rich sources of rare earth elements.  Furthermore, those elements may be easier to extract than the ones from other sources because the iron-rich magma that formed the volcanoes could be up to 100 times more efficient at concentrating rare-earths than magma found in active volcanoes today.

The clean tech industry uses rare earths for wind turbines, solar panels, and electric cars.  The demand for rare earths may grow fivefold by the end of this decade.  Relying on just one country for the world’s supply is a major concern.  There are ancient volcanoes all over the planet and they may represent a solution to a global problem.

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Extinct Volcanoes Could Be Source of Key Metals Needed for Clean Tech

Photo, posted June 6, 2020, courtesy of Dennis Jarvis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A structural battery

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The size and especially the weight of batteries is a critical factor for most things that use them.  Battery weight is a key limitation for computers and cell phones. It is even more of a limitation for electric cars, ships, or planes.

If the battery of a device or vehicle can also function as a load-bearing structure, its weight and energy consumption can be dramatically reduced.  This concept of a structural battery is sometimes called massless energy storage.  It has the potential to halve the weight of a laptop computer, make cell phones as thin as a credit card, and increase the range of an electric car by as much as 70%.

Researchers at Chalmers University in Sweden have been working on structural battery technology for many years.  Their first published results in 2018 showed how stiff, strong carbon fibers could be used for chemical storage of electrical energy.

Since then, they have been creating batteries with increasing energy density.  Their latest versions still have only a quarter of the capacity of today’s lithium-ion batteries. But if batteries can be part of the structure of a vehicle, for example, and can be made of lightweight materials like carbon fiber, then the overall weight of the vehicle can be greatly reduced and not nearly as much energy will be needed to power it.

The goal of the Chalmers research is to achieve battery performance that makes it possible to commercialize the technology.  There is a lot of engineering work to be done before these structural batteries can go from laboratory proofs of concept to real world use.  But the potential is quite promising.

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World’s strongest battery paves way for light, energy-efficient vehicles

Photo, posted August 8, 2024, courtesy of NOI Techpark via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric cars and power outages

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As more and more cars are powered by electricity instead of gasoline, people are beginning to worry about what happens during power outages caused by storms and other disruptive events.  It is easy to jump to the conclusion that this is a brand-new problem for drivers.  However, when electricity goes out over a sizeable area, most gas pumps stop working and it isn’t easy to keep gas cars running either.

Electric cars are often charged at home every day and such cars are more likely to be almost fully charged than nearly depleted at any time.  For those drivers, a power failure is unlikely to be much of a concern unless it persists for a very lengthy period.  On road trips, unless a power outage extends over a very wide area, one can probably get to a charger that is still operating.

Nonetheless, the federal government has commissioned researchers at Iowa State University to study potential solutions to possible difficulties in keeping electric cars running during power failures.  The goal of the study is to find ways to reduce the outage frequency of chargers by 75% and the power restoration time by 50%.

The study will evaluate the resiliency of charging stations in extreme weather events and identify ways to quickly restore power to charging stations in the event of outages.  Included are onsite solar power and battery storage at chargers as well as redundant power lines from different electrical substations.  There is even the possibility  of trucks delivering pre-charged batteries to charging stations after a storm.  Identifying and developing technologies to improve the resilience of charging stations is an important goal as the transition to electric vehicles continues.

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Researchers working to keep electric vehicles charging, even when the lights go out

Photo, posted July 29, 2013, courtesy of Jeff Cooper via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric cars: Boom or bust?

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Media coverage of electric cars in this country is pretty confusing.  Are electric cars taking over or has the EV bubble burst?

EVs currently represent about 8% of the US new car market.  But they continue to face some relatively unique headwinds in this country.  A very powerful and influential oil industry makes sure that anti-EV stories occupy center stage in the media.  Traditional car dealers don’t want to sell EVs because they don’t make much money from parts and service.  And EVs often find themselves tangled up in American politics.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world tells a very different story.  Globally, EVs constitute 20% of new car sales, but in some places, they are doing much better than that.

So far this year, almost 87% of new car sales in Norway are electric and in August, the figure was 94%.  Norway has some incentives in place for EV owners, but the fact that nearly all new cars on the road are electric is far more than the result of incentives.

One might argue that Norway, a country with only 5 million people, faces a much easier task of transitioning to EVs.   But how about China with its 1.4 billion people?  In July, plug-in vehicles in China were 51% of new auto sales.  And the numbers continue to rise.

There are plenty of articles out there explaining why electric cars just can’t meet people’s needs, have insurmountable problems, and how having too many of them would collapse electric grids and otherwise wreak havoc with society.  Apparently, the Norwegians and Chinese, among a growing number of other countries, haven’t gotten the memo.

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Elbil Thinks Electric Car Sales In Norway Could Hit 100% By Next Year

Photo, posted July 27, 2024, courtesy of Amaury Laporte via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Where do states get their electricity?

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How the United States produces its electricity has changed dramatically over the past few decades.  Coal used to be the dominant source of power in this country, but natural gas surpassed it in 2016, and coal’s share has been shrinking ever since.  Fossil fuel still generates the majority of America’s electricity, but renewable power is increasing its contribution all the time.

On a state-by-state basis, there are very large variations in the mix of power sources.  Ten states still get their largest amount of power from coal, but this is down from 32 states in 2001.  Four states have hydroelectric power as their largest source, including Vermont which gets more than half of its power that way. 

Texas produces more electricity than any other state by a wide margin.  It’s not just because it has a large population. It is because it uses huge amounts of power to refine petroleum products.  Coal produces only 13% of Texas’ electricity and the state is by far the country’s largest producer of wind power.

New York gets nearly half of its power from natural gas, 21% from hydroelectric power, and 21% from nuclear power.  Wind and solar power are still small, but both are growing in the state.

When people try to assess the climate impact of driving electric cars, based on the origins of the electricity they use to power the car, the results can vary dramatically based on what state they live in.  Nationwide, electricity is getting cleaner and greener, but the process is by no means uniform across the country.

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How Does Your State Make Electricity?

Photo, posted March 17, 2021, courtesy of Bureau of Reclamation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Rising fossil fuel emissions

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Almost every nation in the world has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  There is expanding use of renewable energy sources and growing numbers of electric cars.  But despite all this, carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels rose again in 2023, reaching record levels.

The world’s population continues to grow and nations with large, rapidly growing populations are becoming increasingly industrialized and are embracing more and more of the trappings of modern life.  As a result, the global burning of oil, coal, and natural gas is increasing.

Analysis of 2023 date shows that emissions from fossil fuels rose 1.1 percent compared to 2022 levels.  The total fossil fuel emissions in 2023 was 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide. 

Clearly, the world continues to head in the wrong direction in order to limit global warming.  The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from about 278 parts per million in 1750 – considered to be the start of the industrial era – to 420 parts per million in 2023.

The rise in heat-trapping carbon dioxide along with other greenhouse gases such as methane is the primary reason that the planet’s temperature is continuing to rise.  The average global surface temperature in 2023 was 1.2 degrees Celsius – or 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit – higher than it was in the NASA baseline period of 1951-1980.  Last year was the hottest year on record.  Unfortunately, the rise in global ocean temperature was even larger, compounding the effects of global warming.

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Emissions from Fossil Fuels Continue to Rise

Photo, posted June 22, 2020, courtesy of John Morton via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Wireless car charging

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It’s increasingly common to see cars hooked up to charging cables in shopping centers, rest stops, and dedicated charging stations.  Charging electric cars is easy to do, just like charging phones and laptop computers.  These days, it is pretty common to charge phones without using any charging cable at all because of the availability of wireless charging technology.  The same thing may well happen with electric cars.

A team of researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has successfully demonstrated wireless charging of electric cars with high efficiency and fairly fast charging speed.

The patented system was used to charge up a Hyundai Kona EV using electromagnetic fields, which is essentially how phone chargers work.  The technology makes use of a polyphase electromagnetic coupling coil, which is lightweight and small.  Rotating magnetic fields generated in the coil’s windings boost the power available.  The system provided 100-kW of power with 96% efficiency.  That isn’t as powerful as the fastest high-speed charging stations, but it is considerably more than any home charging solution can provide.  For many vehicles, such a charger could provide 50% battery capacity in less than 20 minutes.

Battery technology continues to improve leading to larger capacity, faster charging, longer battery life, and lower cost.  At some point, charging up an electric car will take no more time than pumping gas.

The Oak Ridge researchers consider this development to be a breakthrough achievement that could open the door to fast and efficient wireless charging for electric passenger vehicles.  One could imagine having the ability to drive up to a charging spot and charging up the battery without even getting out of the car. 

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Charging up the commute

Photo, posted July 12, 2021, courtesy of Chris Yarzab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Lithium in Arkansas

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There are more and more electric cars on the road and utilities are installing record amounts of battery storage to back up solar and wind power generation.  Both of these things currently use lithium-ion batteries so the need for them keeps growing.

There is actually plenty of lithium in the world.  Sources of more than 100 million tons have been identified, which is enough to meet the projected needs for decades.  But lithium is not easy, cheap, or environmentally friendly to extract.  It is either blasted out of rocks that are then roasted at 2000-degree temperatures, or it is extracted from brine in places like the high Andes where it leaves behind toxic residues.  Ramping up lithium production could greatly diminish the environmental benefits derived from green technologies.

A technique called direct lithium extraction, or DLE, may be a possible solution.  The lithium is pulled out of brine while leaving other dissolved compounds behind.  It is being tested in many places around the world and appears to offer the lowest negative impacts of available extraction technologies.

The Salton Sea area in California has rich deposits of lithium and is a good candidate for DLE.  But conditions may be even better in Arkansas whose Smackover Formation is a brine-rich expanse of limestone. 

The area was a productive oil field a hundred years ago and then undertook brine-processing in the 1950s to extract bromine.  So, the area already has industrial infrastructure and no new land would need to be cleared.

The former oil fields of Arkansas may become an important domestic source of lithium.

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In Rush for Lithium, Miners Turn to the Oil Fields of Arkansas

Photo, posted February 26, 2021, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

One in five cars will be electric this year

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There has been lots of turbulence in the electric car industry of late.  Part of it is aggressive publicity campaigns spreading misinformation and part of it is the natural fits and starts associated with major change.  But apart from the ups and downs of individual companies and countries, analysts are projecting another record year for the sales of electric vehicles and are expecting that plug-in cars will account for 20% of all car sales globally.  Much of the growth will be driven by China, where 38% of new car sales will be electric cars.

Global sales of plug-in cars are expected to grow by 21% this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.  Total projected sales are 16.7 million cars, including 1.9 million in the U.S., 3.4 million in Europe, and 9.7 million in China.  Because of the rapid adoption of electric cars in China, that country is expected to reach peak gasoline demand this year.  In other words, the use of gasoline in China will be diminishing from now on.

The auto industry is in flux.  The traditional big automakers are currently slowing down EV manufacturing as they work to come up to speed with the technology and market demand.  Meanwhile, EV-only carmakers such as Tesla in the U.S. and BYD in China are ratcheting up production. BYD is focusing on emerging economies with its lower-priced offerings.

In the U.S., EV adoption has been slowed somewhat by high interest rates and the slow rollout of EVs by the Big Three automakers.  But many new vehicles by a growing list of automakers will provide customers with more and more choices of EVs to suit diverse tastes and needs.

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This Year One in Five Cars Sold Globally Will Be an EV

Photo, posted November 18, 2023, courtesy of RL via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Positive tipping points and climate

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We often hear about tipping points and climate change.  Tipping points are critical thresholds that, when crossed, lead to large, accelerating, and often irreversible changes.  Some of the ones of concern with the climate are thawing permafrost, melting glaciers and ice sheets, and global temperatures reaching certain levels.  These are all tipping points that are essential to avoid.

A study published in the journal One Earth by researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK contends that in order to avoid the severe consequences of climate change, we need to trigger some positive tipping points.

Many climate-friendly changes are happening too slowly.  Triggering positive tipping points is a way to rapidly reach the high levels of decarbonization required to avoid triggering the negative tipping points of great concern.

Reaching a positive tipping point is a way that beneficial changes can rapidly gain momentum.  One example is the adoption of electric vehicles.  It has clearly reached a tipping point across Scandinavia and has happened rapidly.  Norway has managed to transition the market share of electric vehicles from under 10% to nearly 90% in less than 10 years.  At some point, everybody wanted an electric car.  This is evidence that positive tipping points can happen.

Many of the other forms of decarbonization need to move from their current level of adoption to rapid expansion.  A combination of affordability, attractiveness, availability, and political will are needed to trigger tipping points.  Exactly what those tipping point are is not necessarily known, but unless something accelerates the current pace of change, it will be very difficult to prevent negative climate tipping points from changing the world in destructive ways.

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Positive tipping points must be triggered to solve climate crisis

Photo, posted July 8, 2023, courtesy of Michael Swan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A plug for all cars

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Different brands of electric cars have required different charging connections. There has been no standard connector for charging.  But now, as the transition to electric vehicles is accelerating, there is the North American Charging Standard, which within in the next couple of years, will be common to pretty much any new electric vehicle on the road.

There have been several different charging connector systems in use by auto manufacturers and each charging station offered only a particular one of them.  The largest charging network in the US has been Tesla’s Supercharger Network, which uses a proprietary standard it put in place in 2012.  Tesla offered to open up their charging technology to other cars but auto manufacturers declined to take them up on the offer for a number of years.  The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in 2021, provided federal subsidies for building out fast charging networks, provided a common charging standard was adopted.  That has broken the log-jam.

The Tesla Charging Standard has been renamed the North American Charging Standard and Tesla opened its technology to other manufacturers in November 2022.

Automakers who have signed on to the standard include BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Lucid, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, Rivian, Subaru, Toyota, and Volvo.  In December, the Volkswagen Group – which includes Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi – announced that they are also implementing it for future vehicles in North America, starting in 2025.   (The only significant holdout is Stellantis, parent of Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep).

It will be a year or two before cars from all these companies will have the NACS connector and be able to charge at the same stations, but it will happen.

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Volkswagen, Audi, And Porsche Finally Commit To Using Tesla’s NACS Plug

Photo, posted July 8, 2023, courtesy of Michael Swan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Record high emissions

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The world is adding solar and wind power to the grid.   We are driving more and more electric cars.  Countries are pledging to cut back fossil fuel use.  There are highly visible international conferences on the climate crisis.   But despite all of these things, global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have risen once again in 2023, reaching all-time record high levels of more than 40 billion tons, about 1.1% more than the previous year.

In some places, including Europe and the U.S., fossil fuel CO2 emissions are falling, but globally, they are still rising.  Emissions continued to increase in India and China.  Global action to cut fossil fuel use is not happening fast enough to prevent the increasingly dangerous effects of climate change.

Global CO2 emissions include both the contributions of fossil fuel use and the effects of land use change.  Adding the two together, in 2023 the total was about 45 billion tons, basically unchanged from last year. 

Adding insult to injury are the emissions from fires.  The extreme wildfire seasons in Canada, Australia, and other places have contributed CO2 emissions much larger than historical averages.

About half of all the carbon dioxide emitted on Earth is absorbed by carbon sinks on land and the oceans.  The other half remains in the atmosphere, where levels are now averaging 419 parts per million, 51% above pre-industrial levels.

Current efforts are simply not profound enough or widespread enough to put global emissions on a downward trajectory.  Some climate policies in some places are proving effective, but much more needs to be done.

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Fossil CO2 emissions at record high in 2023

Photo, posted December 18, 2013, courtesy of Steve Nelson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Aluminum In Batteries | Earth Wise

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Batteries are playing a bigger and bigger role in our lives.  Apart from their use in ubiquitous smartphones, laptops, and other devices, millions of electric vehicles are hitting the roads, and utilities are installing giant banks of batteries to store energy generated by wind and solar farms.

The necessary characteristics of batteries are high energy density and stability.  The latter is needed so that batteries can be safely and reliably recharged thousands of times.  For decades, lithium-ion batteries have been the go-to for all these modern battery applications.  And they have gradually gotten better and cheaper all the time.  But the improvements are getting smaller, and the price reductions have limits.

For these reasons, researchers are always looking for batteries with higher energy density – so that, for example, electric cars can drive farther on a charge – and that can be made more cheaply, are not flammable, and are very stable.

Since the 1970s, researchers have investigated the use of aluminum for the anode of batteries because its properties would allow more energy to be stored.  However, when used in lithium-ion batteries, aluminum developed fractures and failed after a few cycles.

Researchers at Georgia Tech University have developed a type of aluminum foil with small amounts of other materials that create specific microstructures.  Used in battery anodes, this material does not degrade and appears to be a path to a better battery.  When incorporated into a solid-state battery that does not contain the flammable liquid found in standard lithium-ion batteries, the result is a battery that checks most of the boxes in the search for a better battery.

Much more work is needed to assess the potential for the aluminum-based battery, but it looks very promising.

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Aluminum Materials Show Promising Performance for Safer, Cheaper, More Powerful Batteries

Photo, posted August 27, 2019, courtesy of Marco Verch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric Cars In Norway | Earth Wise

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We are at a relatively early stage of the electric car revolution.  EV sales are increasing rapidly, but they still comprise only a small fraction of the cars on American roads.  So, there is still lots of speculation and argument about how things will actually work when a large fraction of cars are electric.  But there is at least one place where one doesn’t have to speculate:  Norway.

Last year, 80% of new-car sales in Norway were EVs.  That country is essentially an observatory for figuring out what the electrification of vehicles will mean for the environment, workers, and life in general.  In fact, sales of internal combustion cars in Norway will end in 2025.

Based on Norway’s experience, electric vehicles bring benefits and none of the dire consequences that some critics predict.  The transition isn’t problem-free.  There have been unreliable chargers and long waits during periods of high demand.  Auto dealers and retailers have had to adapt to the changes in their businesses.  The pecking order of car brands has changed dramatically making Tesla the best-selling brand and marginalizing long-established carmakers like Renault and Fiat.

But in the bigger picture, the air in Oslo, the capital of Norway, is measurably cleaner.  The city is quieter as noisy gasoline and diesel vehicles gradually disappear.  Oslo’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 30% since 2009.  Meanwhile, there hasn’t been mass unemployment among gas station workers, and the electrical grid has not collapsed.

Norway is perhaps 10 years ahead of us with respect to electric cars.  There are still problems to solve, and difficulties to overcome, but so far, it looks like it will all turn out well.

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In Norway, the Electric Vehicle Future Has Already Arrived

Photo, posted October 15, 2018, courtesy of Mario Duran-Ortiz via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric Cars Getting Cheaper | Earth Wise

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A sticking point for buying electric cars has always been that they are typically more expensive than equivalent gasoline-powered cars.  But increasing competition, government incentives, and falling prices for lithium and other battery materials is changing the equation.  In fact, the tipping point when electric cars are as cheap or even cheaper than internal combustion cars is likely to happen this year for many cars and, in fact, has already happened for some.

Battery production is ramping up for Tesla, General Motors, Ford, and others, creating cost savings from mass production. Companies manufacturing batteries in the United States are receiving government subsidies as part of a drive to establish a domestic supply chain and reduce dependence on China.  Before anyone cries foul, it should be noted that globally, oil companies received a trillion dollars in subsidies last year.  The Inflation Reduction Act is making it cheaper for automakers to build electric cars (provided they do it in the United States using US materials) and cheaper for consumers to buy them because of tax credits.

Multiple companies have lowered the price of their electric vehicles in recent months, including both the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, which are the best-selling electric cars in the United States. GM’s electric Equinox crossover will start at about $30,000, which is still about $3,400 more than the gas-powered version.  But once the electric vehicle tax credit is figured in, it will actually be cheaper.

Electric cars are already cheaper to own and operate because of the much lower cost of powering with electricity instead of gas as well as the greatly reduced maintenance costs for the vehicles.  Once the purchase price of these cars is less than that of gas-powered cars, the economics becomes a no-brainer.

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Electric Vehicles Could Match Gasoline Cars on Price This Year

Photo, posted May 11, 2021, courtesy of Chris Yarzab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Mining Metals From Water | Earth Wise

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Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington are working with industry to develop a method of extracting valuable materials from various sources of water.  The technique is the 21st-century equivalent of panning for gold in rivers and streams.

The patent-pending technology makes use of magnetic nanoparticles that are surrounded by an absorbent shell that latches on to specific materials of interest that are found in certain water sources.  These sources could include water in geothermal power plants (known as geothermal brines), water pulled from the subsurface during oil or gas production, or possibly effluents from desalination plants.  Extracting valuable materials from geothermal brines could greatly enhance the economics of geothermal power plants.

The initial focus of the development is on lithium, which is an essential element in many high-technology applications, especially in the batteries that power cell phones, computers, and electric cars.  The global market for lithium is projected to reach over $8 billion a year by 2028 and very little of it is currently produced in the United States.

The tiny particles are added to the water and any lithium is drawn out of the water and is bound to them.  Using magnets, the nanoparticles can be readily collected.  Once the particles are no longer suspended in liquid, the lithium can easily be extracted, and the nanoparticles can be reused.

PNNL is developing the technology in partnership with a company called Moselle Technology as well as with other commercial partners.  This new technology offers the promise of extracting critical materials in a quick, cost-effective manner.

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Tri-Cities Scientists “Magically” Mining Metals From Water

Photo, posted June 4, 2012, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric Vehicle Tax Credits | Earth Wise

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As of January 1, many Americans can qualify for a tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying an electric vehicle.  The credit is one of the changes enacted under last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.  The purpose is to encourage EV sales and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

There has been a tax credit for EVs for more than a decade, but its provisions made cars from any manufacturer ineligible as soon as that manufacturer had sold more than 200,000 cars.  Notably, this eliminated the credit for purchasing cars from Tesla and General Motors.  Given that electric cars are now selling in the millions, the 200,000-unit cap on the tax credit essentially made it useless as a real force to grow the industry.

The new tax credit has a somewhat complex set of requirements for determining the applicability and amount of the credit.  There are price limits on eligible vehicles depending on vehicle type and there are requirements on where vehicles are manufactured, where batteries are manufactured, and where other components are made. The intent is to encourage American manufacturing of the cars and trucks to the greatest extent.  There are also income limitations on buyers who want to take advantage of the credit, but those are quite large.  The Department of the Treasury has online detailed information about the requirements for the credit and, of course, EV manufacturers can provide the specifics for their own vehicles.

For their part, automakers are adjusting prices, building domestic manufacturing plants and battery factories, and otherwise trying to position themselves for their customers to take advantage of the credit.

The new law also provides a smaller tax credit for the purchase of used electric vehicles.

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Web Links

Electric vehicle tax credits explained: What’s new in 2023?

Treasury Releases Additional Information on Clean Vehicle Provisions of Inflation Reduction Act

Photo, posted December 9, 2022, courtesy of Choo Yut Shing via Flickr.

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