The Fate of the Electric Vehicle Guide Blog

A couple of weeks ago my blog in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about electric cars was cancelled. This was not surprised to me; not only had I been gone unplugged while I was on vacation for two weeks, but even before my vacation (and lack of posts) I had lost enthusiasm for cars and my original desire to save the personal car has all but vanished by now. As a matter of fact, I had emailed several times my contact at the Seattle P-I to let him know I was no longer interested in writing about electric cars due to my now deeper understanding of Peak Oil. While I never got a reply from the numerous emails I sent him, I had told him that I was looking for new writers for the electric vehicle blog, and that if he set up a new blog for me with the topic of Peak Oil, that I would write regularly. What happened was I got no response and then soon after I returned from vacation I got an impersonal message saying my blog was cancelled. Like I said, this is not surprise to me and all is well as far as blogs are concerned.

The issue of oil depletion is something I think about day and night. It’s not that I want to or even enjoy – I simply can’t help it. This has always been the case, and it goes back to the times when I was a little child and learned about cars and also the concept of limited resources. It occurred to me early on that if the stuff we use as fuel for cars (and I loved the personal car), then a question naturally arises: how much of this stuff do we have? Answering that question allows us to think in terms of how many cars we have on the road and for how long, and things like that.
But no one seemed concerned about such questions at the time, so I filed this issue on the back of my mind and moved on with life like everyone else. Another thought that I stored away was this: “someone somewhere must be taking the issue of oil depletion into serious consideration”. So I grew up enjoying the benefits of the personal car, comparing cars for their performance and horsepower numbers, trusting that car sales would increase year after year after year, and so on. I was also a huge Formula 1 fan; not to mention the fact that Ayrton Senna, who was a spectacular F1 driver before his accident in Italy in 1994 in which he died, was a national hero in Brazil. I even remember my dad once being given a VIP pass to a F1 cockpit for a race that took place at the circuit in Interlagos, Sao Paulo – a pass that was given to him by the French company and fuel supplier Elf.

Well, I am an adult now and have come to realize that no one has really taken the issue of oil depletion into consideration – had anyone done so we wouldn’t have squandered the oil reserves to the point that we’re now peaking in production or have peaked. We’re now in a tough predicament. While I don’t consider myself the one man responsible for creating this predicament, the truth is that for most of my life I’ve been complicit in having a lifestyle that has promoted a wasteful consumption of oil. I have given much of my energy, time and hard money to automobile companies, the ones that produce and have produced all the internal combustion engines that are the main culprit of oil depletion, and arguably the biggest contributor to global warming (as far as human activity is concerned), not to mention the pollution of the atmosphere that we all breath into our lungs.

I am just about done reading the book The Long Descent, by John Michael Greer. I find the book excellent, and it has offered a few new thoughts to me. I thought I’d share them here for people to consider also.

1) We have billions of cars in circulation, all of which use the internal combustion engine. In an age of oil and energy scarcity, chances are that we will not be able to fuel these vehicles for as long as they can be driven. Many of these cars were built to last 30 years or more sometimes, and they are typically discarded once the engine (and transmission) goes out of commission. Well, for the first time in history we now face the issue that a car will be discarded while it is still drivable and has engine life left – for the simple fact that fueling it with gasoline or diesel will be prohibitively expensive.

2) Renewable energy can do nothing for us. When I first “found out” about Peak Oil, that is to say, when the issue was brought up to my attention in a way that I understood and that showed the urgency to take action, my first thought was “we should all be investing in renewable energy and that’s where I should be working”. Well, much like I gave up on the dream of electric cars to keep our lifestyles unchanged, I have also given up on the dream of renewable energy as a replacement for petroleum that would keep our lifestyles unchanged and permitted the exponential growth that the world economies are based on.

3) The future will not be like the past. That is to say, before the industrial revolution when most people lived in rural areas and few people lived in the cities, some people think that deindustrialization will cause people to do the exact opposite of what industrialization did: an exodus from cities to the countryside, and people will be farming and growing food the same way they did before the discovery of petroleum. Well, everything indicates that in the future people will not live the same way they did before. The reasons are obvious: population is much larger, we have acquired enormous knowledge of technologies and things that did not exist before, and we are a much different culture now in the age of economies based on petroleum. People also have lost all farming skills as new generations came along. I, for example, was born in the city and have always lived in the city. I know very little about rural life. My point is this: even if I moved to a farm, the way I do things and live my life would be different from say, a person who lived on a farm 200 years ago.

These factors make life in the future unpredictable and in my opinion, sort of exciting and interesting. Peak Oil needs not be bad news. Peak Oil actually may be just what will save humanity from the path of destroying its habitat and consuming itself.

The Fate of the Electric Vehicle Guide Blog

A couple of weeks ago my blog in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about electric cars was cancelled. This was not surprised to me; not only had I been gone unplugged while I was on vacation for two weeks, but even before my vacation (and lack of posts) I had lost enthusiasm for cars and my original desire to save the personal car has all but vanished by now. As a matter of fact, I had emailed several times my contact at the Seattle P-I to let him know I was no longer interested in writing about electric cars due to my now deeper understanding of Peak Oil. While I never got a reply from the numerous emails I sent him, I had told him that I was looking for new writers for the electric vehicle blog, and that if he set up a new blog for me with the topic of Peak Oil, that I would write regularly. What happened was I got no response and then soon after I returned from vacation I got an impersonal message saying my blog was cancelled. Like I said, this is not surprise to me and all is well as far as blogs are concerned.

The issue of oil depletion is something I think about day and night. It’s not that I want to or even enjoy – I simply can’t help it. This has always been the case, and it goes back to the times when I was a little child and learned about cars and also the concept of limited resources. It occurred to me early on that if the stuff we use as fuel for cars (and I loved the personal car), then a question naturally arises: how much of this stuff do we have? Answering that question allows us to think in terms of how many cars we have on the road and for how long, and things like that.
But no one seemed concerned about such questions at the time, so I filed this issue on the back of my mind and moved on with life like everyone else. Another thought that I stored away was this: “someone somewhere must be taking the issue of oil depletion into serious consideration”. So I grew up enjoying the benefits of the personal car, comparing cars for their performance and horsepower numbers, trusting that car sales would increase year after year after year, and so on. I was also a huge Formula 1 fan; not to mention the fact that Ayrton Senna, who was a spectacular F1 driver before his accident in Italy in 1994 in which he died, was a national hero in Brazil. I even remember my dad once being given a VIP pass to a F1 cockpit for a race that took place at the circuit in Interlagos, Sao Paulo – a pass that was given to him by the French company and fuel supplier Elf.

Well, I am an adult now and have come to realize that no one has really taken the issue of oil depletion into consideration – had anyone done so we wouldn’t have squandered the oil reserves to the point that we’re now peaking in production or have peaked. We’re now in a tough predicament. While I don’t consider myself the one man responsible for creating this predicament, the truth is that for most of my life I’ve been complicit in having a lifestyle that has promoted a wasteful consumption of oil. I have given much of my energy, time and hard money to automobile companies, the ones that produce and have produced all the internal combustion engines that are the main culprit of oil depletion, and arguably the biggest contributor to global warming (as far as human activity is concerned), not to mention the pollution of the atmosphere that we all breath into our lungs.

I am just about done reading the book The Long Descent, by John Michael Greer. I find the book excellent, and it has offered a few new thoughts to me. I thought I’d share them here for people to consider also.

1) We have billions of cars in circulation, all of which use the internal combustion engine. In an age of oil and energy scarcity, chances are that we will not be able to fuel these vehicles for as long as they can be driven. Many of these cars were built to last 30 years or more sometimes, and they are typically discarded once the engine (and transmission) goes out of commission. Well, for the first time in history we now face the issue that a car will be discarded while it is still drivable and has engine life left – for the simple fact that fueling it with gasoline or diesel will be prohibitively expensive.

2) Renewable energy can do nothing for us. When I first “found out” about Peak Oil, that is to say, when the issue was brought up to my attention in a way that I understood and that showed the urgency to take action, my first thought was “we should all be investing in renewable energy and that’s where I should be working”. Well, much like I gave up on the dream of electric cars to keep our lifestyles unchanged, I have also given up on the dream of renewable energy as a replacement for petroleum that would keep our lifestyles unchanged and permitted the exponential growth that the world economies are based on.

3) The future will not be like the past. That is to say, before the industrial revolution when most people lived in rural areas and few people lived in the cities, some people think that deindustrialization will cause people to do the exact opposite of what industrialization did: an exodus from cities to the countryside, and people will be farming and growing food the same way they did before the discovery of petroleum. Well, everything indicates that in the future people will not live the same way they did before. The reasons are obvious: population is much larger, we have acquired enormous knowledge of technologies and things that did not exist before, and we are a much different culture now in the age of economies based on petroleum. People also have lost all farming skills as new generations came along. I, for example, was born in the city and have always lived in the city. I know very little about rural life. My point is this: even if I moved to a farm, the way I do things and live my life would be different from say, a person who lived on a farm 200 years ago.

These factors make life in the future unpredictable and in my opinion, sort of exciting and interesting. Peak Oil needs not be bad news. Peak Oil actually may be just what will save humanity from the path of destroying its habitat and consuming itself.

How much oil is required for manufacturing, maintaining and driving a vehicle?

Well, this question is definitely hard to answer. There's so much that goes behind building a car in terms of energy expenditure, that I consider impossible to get an accurate number. But we may be able to get an estimate. Here's a great question: which requires more energy - manufacturing a car or driving and maintaining it? In the case of electric vehicles no oil is necessary to power the car and the energy can come from 100% renewable sources as mentioned in my previous post. EVs require very little maintenance in comparison to ICEs; something I'll get into details later.

According to Colin Campbell, it takes between 17 and 50 barrels of oil to manufacture a single car. Of course no auto plant is built for the purpose of building a single car (not typically anyway), so this information is broken down and the impact on the environment is always from manufacturing large numbers of vehicles and not just one. But let's use these numbers as a basis until we get something more accurate. What is the amount of oil that it takes to drive a car? This last question is a little easier to answer, though it'll require some research. I'll probably use the Toyota Camry for this measurement since it's the "best-selling passenger car in America". I'll use the average miles-per-gallon (MPG) of the Toyota Camry to calculate how much gasoline it uses in its lifetime. For the lifetime I'll probably use 300,000 miles since I believe that's how long those engines last on average. Then the last step will be to convert the energy in a gallon of gasoline to the energy in a barrel of oil. This should give us an estimate. If anyone has any ideas or pointers, please let me know. In the meantime I'll be working on this. Please check back soon!
- Ricardo Parker

Source: http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/whats_in_barrel_oil.html

How much oil is required for manufacturing, maintaining and driving a vehicle?

Well, this question is definitely hard to answer. There's so much that goes behind building a car in terms of energy expenditure, that I consider impossible to get an accurate number. But we may be able to get an estimate. Here's a great question: which requires more energy - manufacturing a car or driving and maintaining it? In the case of electric vehicles no oil is necessary to power the car and the energy can come from 100% renewable sources as mentioned in my previous post. EVs require very little maintenance in comparison to ICEs; something I'll get into details later.

According to Colin Campbell, it takes between 17 and 50 barrels of oil to manufacture a single car. Of course no auto plant is built for the purpose of building a single car (not typically anyway), so this information is broken down and the impact on the environment is always from manufacturing large numbers of vehicles and not just one. But let's use these numbers as a basis until we get something more accurate. What is the amount of oil that it takes to drive a car? This last question is a little easier to answer, though it'll require some research. I'll probably use the Toyota Camry for this measurement since it's the "best-selling passenger car in America". I'll use the average miles-per-gallon (MPG) of the Toyota Camry to calculate how much gasoline it uses in its lifetime. For the lifetime I'll probably use 300,000 miles since I believe that's how long those engines last on average. Then the last step will be to convert the energy in a gallon of gasoline to the energy in a barrel of oil. This should give us an estimate. If anyone has any ideas or pointers, please let me know. In the meantime I'll be working on this. Please check back soon!
- Ricardo Parker

Source: http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/whats_in_barrel_oil.html

Welcome Folks!

Welcome to ElectricKar.com!

My goal is to make this the #1 site for electric vehicles with the intention of educating the public, answering all questions and promoting EV technology. We will use a blog to start and upgrade as needed. After 6 months of research I believe I can provide the answers to most questions that are out there. So please challenge me with your questions! If I don't have the answer I promise to do the research necessary to get it. I'm that passionate about electric vehicles.

Why Electric Vehicles?

Unlike conventional cars which use an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and require some sort of liquid fuel for propulsion, Electric Vehicles (EVs) require only electricity. The large majority of cars on the planet run on gasoline, which is a product of oil. Aside from the numerous disadvantages of burning oil - air pollution, contribution to Global Warming and the threat to US national security that comes from importing energy that comes mostly from unfriendly nations - oil is a finite resource. It's estimated that we humans have burned just over 50% of all the oil available, in a period of roughly 150 years. Because world demand for oil keeps increasing in an oil-fueled global economy that is conditioned to grow, it's estimated that at current rates it will take us 91 more years to use up the remaining oil. So, whether this happens sooner or later is irrelevant: the fact is that the primary source of energy used to move our vehicles (among other activities) will come to an end, and not too far from now. Electric Vehicles are one answer to this serious issue that we all face. EVs do not require the burning of fossil fuels for propulsion since electricity can be generated from renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind power, biomass, and other sources that we may discover and develop. Unlike other fuel alternatives for vehicles (hydrogen, biofuels, etc) which require the building of an infrastructure for providing the fuel, it's fair to say that the infrastructure for powering EVs already exists: electric outlets can be found in our homes and offices. Cars are not being driven most of the time, so when they are parked they could be charged for the next trip. While the typical 110v electric outlet is not ideal for charging an electric car because it can take up to 8 hours to fully charge one, power stations with a much faster energy transfer rate can be installed at parking lots, rest areas, and convenience stores. With a power outlet an electric car, such as the soon to be released Tesla Roadster, can be charged in 30 minutes or less. The amount of time to charge any electric car will likely decrease greatly once EV technology is developed further. But even if it will take 8 hours to fully charge a car on an 100v outlet: this may be a good alternative for some people already, who have their cars parked for 8 hours or more in their workplace while they work.
- Ricardo Parker

Welcome Folks!

Welcome to ElectricKar.com!

My goal is to make this the #1 site for electric vehicles with the intention of educating the public, answering all questions and promoting EV technology. We will use a blog to start and upgrade as needed. After 6 months of research I believe I can provide the answers to most questions that are out there. So please challenge me with your questions! If I don't have the answer I promise to do the research necessary to get it. I'm that passionate about electric vehicles.

Why Electric Vehicles?

Unlike conventional cars which use an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and require some sort of liquid fuel for propulsion, Electric Vehicles (EVs) require only electricity. The large majority of cars on the planet run on gasoline, which is a product of oil. Aside from the numerous disadvantages of burning oil - air pollution, contribution to Global Warming and the threat to US national security that comes from importing energy that comes mostly from unfriendly nations - oil is a finite resource. It's estimated that we humans have burned just over 50% of all the oil available, in a period of roughly 150 years. Because world demand for oil keeps increasing in an oil-fueled global economy that is conditioned to grow, it's estimated that at current rates it will take us 91 more years to use up the remaining oil. So, whether this happens sooner or later is irrelevant: the fact is that the primary source of energy used to move our vehicles (among other activities) will come to an end, and not too far from now. Electric Vehicles are one answer to this serious issue that we all face. EVs do not require the burning of fossil fuels for propulsion since electricity can be generated from renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind power, biomass, and other sources that we may discover and develop. Unlike other fuel alternatives for vehicles (hydrogen, biofuels, etc) which require the building of an infrastructure for providing the fuel, it's fair to say that the infrastructure for powering EVs already exists: electric outlets can be found in our homes and offices. Cars are not being driven most of the time, so when they are parked they could be charged for the next trip. While the typical 110v electric outlet is not ideal for charging an electric car because it can take up to 8 hours to fully charge one, power stations with a much faster energy transfer rate can be installed at parking lots, rest areas, and convenience stores. With a power outlet an electric car, such as the soon to be released Tesla Roadster, can be charged in 30 minutes or less. The amount of time to charge any electric car will likely decrease greatly once EV technology is developed further. But even if it will take 8 hours to fully charge a car on an 100v outlet: this may be a good alternative for some people already, who have their cars parked for 8 hours or more in their workplace while they work.
- Ricardo Parker