As reported by Think
Washington - On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Richard Canny, CEO of pioneering electric car company THINK, is setting the record straight on electric vehicles. Here are Canny's top 10 EV myths, busted:
1."You are just moving the pollution out of the cities to the countryside." – Busted: Electric vehicle motors are three-to-five times more efficient than gasoline-powered vehicles. While it's best to power EVs from renewable energy sources, the efficiency of EVs makes them cleaner, producing less carbon – even when they are charged using coal-fired electricity.
2."Customers will never buy a car with less than a 200 mile range." – Busted: So-called 'range anxiety' diminishes when people get used to driving EVs on a daily basis. It's just like charging a cell phone overnight. You plug it in, and in the morning it's ready to go, fully charged. And THINK recently announced a new standard for fast charging – zero to 80% charged in just 15 minutes – to help cover those rare situations when an EV will be needed for more than 100 miles in a single day.
3."The battery won't last." – Busted: EV batteries are designed to last at least 10 years and more than 100,000 miles. THINK has cars on the road in Europe with batteries approaching the 10-year mark and brings that experience to modern Lithium batteries to ensure they meet that target.
4."You'll need to build a lot more power plants." – Busted: There's enough off-peak electricity in the U.S. to power 79% of U.S. driving demand. As more EVs are deployed, it's important to ensure that the smart-charging (time-based charging management) and vehicle-to-grid connectivity progresses as well. A connected network of millions of micro energy storage devices – which EVs would become – provides significant opportunities to improve the stability and performance of electric grids and better balance peak demand.
5."We're going to run out of Lithium – and isn't it poisonous?" – Busted: Lithium carbonate today comes from dried salt lakes in South America and China. Lithium can even be extracted from salt water and projects are under way to do this. The industry will not have a shortage of lithium for the next decade. It is also possible that new battery technologies will be based on other light metals like Zinc or Nickel. Lithium from used batteries will be recycled in dedicated recycling plants. Lithium batteries contain no poisonous heavy metals like lead in lead-acid batteries or cadmium in NiCd batteries.
Washington - On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Richard Canny, CEO of pioneering electric car company THINK, is setting the record straight on electric vehicles. Here are Canny's top 10 EV myths, busted:
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| Photo: Think |
1."You are just moving the pollution out of the cities to the countryside." – Busted: Electric vehicle motors are three-to-five times more efficient than gasoline-powered vehicles. While it's best to power EVs from renewable energy sources, the efficiency of EVs makes them cleaner, producing less carbon – even when they are charged using coal-fired electricity.
2."Customers will never buy a car with less than a 200 mile range." – Busted: So-called 'range anxiety' diminishes when people get used to driving EVs on a daily basis. It's just like charging a cell phone overnight. You plug it in, and in the morning it's ready to go, fully charged. And THINK recently announced a new standard for fast charging – zero to 80% charged in just 15 minutes – to help cover those rare situations when an EV will be needed for more than 100 miles in a single day.
3."The battery won't last." – Busted: EV batteries are designed to last at least 10 years and more than 100,000 miles. THINK has cars on the road in Europe with batteries approaching the 10-year mark and brings that experience to modern Lithium batteries to ensure they meet that target.
4."You'll need to build a lot more power plants." – Busted: There's enough off-peak electricity in the U.S. to power 79% of U.S. driving demand. As more EVs are deployed, it's important to ensure that the smart-charging (time-based charging management) and vehicle-to-grid connectivity progresses as well. A connected network of millions of micro energy storage devices – which EVs would become – provides significant opportunities to improve the stability and performance of electric grids and better balance peak demand.
5."We're going to run out of Lithium – and isn't it poisonous?" – Busted: Lithium carbonate today comes from dried salt lakes in South America and China. Lithium can even be extracted from salt water and projects are under way to do this. The industry will not have a shortage of lithium for the next decade. It is also possible that new battery technologies will be based on other light metals like Zinc or Nickel. Lithium from used batteries will be recycled in dedicated recycling plants. Lithium batteries contain no poisonous heavy metals like lead in lead-acid batteries or cadmium in NiCd batteries.
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| Photo: Think |