gas power

Solid-state batteries for cars

September 19, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Battery-powered electric vehicles have historically faced the challenges of limited driving range and long charging time. In recent years, both of these limitations have been largely overcome for many if not most drivers. Popular EVs on the market can go 300 miles and more on a charge and today’s fastest charging networks can add 200 miles of range in 20 minutes. But many people want even more range and even faster charging. Both of these things will happen in the not-too-distant future.

Multiple companies are working on solid-state batteries, which hold more energy in a given volume than current batteries. The lithium-ion batteries that power today’s EVs (as well as our phones and computers) have a liquid or gel electrolyte. Solid-state batteries use a solid ceramic or polymer electrolyte that provides higher energy density, faster charging times, and reduced fire risk as well.

Samsung announced that it will produce solid-state batteries for vehicles by 2027. Toyota says it is on track to develop a solid-state battery by 2027 or 2028. California-based QuantumScape has an agreement to supply solid-state batteries to Volkswagen for mass production. Tesla has not said what it is doing with regard to solid-state batteries, but it is likely that it’s also pursuing the technology.

The upshot of all of this is that EV ranges are likely to increase dramatically over the next several years leading to the availability of vehicles that can go 600 miles or more on a charge. Given that the cost of EVs is already rapidly becoming at least competitive with if not lower than that of gasoline-powered cars, the days of internal combustion are becoming numbered.

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Want an EV With 600 Miles of Range? It’s Coming

Photo, posted August 17, 2024, courtesy of Bill Abbott via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Banning Gas-Powered Cars | Earth Wise

September 30, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

In June, the European Union voted to ban the sale of new gas- and diesel-powered vehicles starting in 2035. The EU joined Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and several other countries in imposing future gas car bans.

Here in the U.S., on August 25th, California adopted rules banning the sales of new gas-powered cars and light trucks by 2035. New York passed a similar law last year and its ban will also cover heavy trucks by 2045.

California’s action is particularly significant because there are other states that have trigger laws that impose their own bans based on what California does. Washington state, Massachusetts, and Virginia are in this category, although the governor of Virginia has said he plans to try to repeal the law.

An additional 12 states have policies tied to California’s and are likely to adopt their own versions of the 2035 ban. These are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

When these regulatory actions are coupled with the major investments in electric vehicles being made by virtually all automakers, the transition to electric vehicles appears to be inevitable.

As far as people who love their gas-powered cars are concerned, the new rules only apply to new car sales. So, consumers can still buy and own used cars that run on gasoline. If there are states that never impose bans on new gas-powered vehicles, then consumers can go to those states and buy one, assuming there are any being made at that point. It seems likely that gas-powered cars will end up being made for hobbyists and aficionados only.

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California Just Banned Gas-Powered Cars. Here’s Everything You Need to Know

Photo, posted May 20, 2018, courtesy of James Loesch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Cheaper Electric Cars | Earth Wise

January 18, 2022 By EarthWise 1 Comment

The price of the batteries that power electric cars has fallen by about 90% since 2010. This continuing trend will eventually make EVs less expensive than gas cars.

For many years, researchers have estimated that when battery packs reach the price of $100 per kilowatt-hour of energy storage, electric cars will cost about the same as gasoline-powered vehicles. In 2021, the average price of lithium-ion battery packs fell to $132 per kilowatt-hour, down 6% from the previous year. According to analysts, batteries should hit the average of $100 as soon as 2024.

It is not the case that as soon as the $100 level is reached, EVs will abruptly reach cost parity. Across different manufacturers and vehicle types, the price shift will occur at different rates. However, by the time batteries reach $60 a kilowatt-hour, EVs will be cheaper than equivalent gasoline models across every vehicle segment.

It is not known exactly when EVs will cost less than gasoline models, but there is little doubt that this point is coming. We have only been talking about the purchase price of a new vehicle. When one looks at the total cost of ownership of a vehicle, including fuel, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation, it is a different story.

Because of savings on fuel and maintenance, EVs are already in many if not most cases cheaper to own than gas-powered cars. The Department of Energy provides an online calculator to help consumers estimate the cost differences between gasoline and electricity.

In any case, the number of electric cars on the market is increasing and the number of gas-powered cars will be shrinking. Sooner or later, we will all drive electric.

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Inside Clean Energy: Batteries Got Cheaper in 2021. So How Close Are We to EVs That Cost Less than Gasoline Vehicles?

Photo, posted July 29, 2017, courtesy of Steve Jurvetson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

How Green Are Electric Cars? | Earth Wise

April 12, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Environmental groups, governments, and automakers are all promoting electric vehicles as an important technology to combat climate change. For example, GM plans to stop selling gas-powered cars by 2035 and Volvo intends to be all-electric by 2030.

There are still those who question how green electric vehicles actually are. All products and technologies do have their environmental impacts. In general, today’s electric cars produce significantly fewer planet-warming emissions than gas-powered cars, but there are factors that affect the results for specific vehicles.

The biggest issue is the source of electricity used to charge up the cars. In places where coal still provides a substantial fraction of electric generation, electric cars don’t fare as well. But coal’s contributions to the grid are declining rapidly and even cleaner fossil fuels like natural gas are gradually being replaced by green generation from wind and solar power. If the grid was entirely carbon-free, then there would be no emissions associated with operating the vehicle.

MIT has created an interactive online tool that incorporates a comprehensive set of factors contributing to the emissions associated with cars: what it takes to manufacture the cars, how much gasoline conventional cars burn, and where the electricity to charge electric vehicles comes from.

The tool provides information like the average amount of carbon dioxide emitted for every mile driven over a car’s lifetime.

Results will vary with location and various other vehicle factors, but in the great majority of cases, electric cars are much greener than gasoline cars, and as the grid becomes greener, the cars will become greener as well.

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Web Links

CarbonCounter 2021

How Green Are Electric Vehicles?

Photo, posted January 29, 2020, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.