Using federal stimulus money, the state of Oregon has unveiled an ‘electric highway’ where EV drivers can plug in (for free!) along the duration of its route. Could this new sort of highway be the way of the future?
California and Washington state are also planning electric highways in the near future. The hope is that electric vehicle drivers will be able to go from Mexico to Canada on a single stretch of electric highway by the end of 2013.
To cut fuel consumption – Go Green!, Go EV
Example – Car doing 10,000 miles (16,000Km) /yr
> Small diesel car at 45mpg (UK) would need ~1000 litres bio-diesel which needs about 2000 sq-m (~0.5 acres) of land to grow energy crops.
> Small petrol car running on bio-methanol needs about 7000 sq-m (~1.75 acres) of land for growing energy crop (sugar beet in UK).
> Performance EV (e.g. Tesla Roadster) could do 10K mi/yr powered from about 3 sq-m of CPV (Concentrating PV) panels located in a suitable place, (e.g. Mohave Desert).
Conclusion: best way to cut back on fuel is to drive an EV, even if powered from grid electricity the overall fuel per mile is still likely to be lower. OK, there are currently cost, range and refuelling (charging) times issues but these are gradually being addressed. If the UK could switch to EVs for all land transport (powered from renewable sources) it would cut about 20% from our energy consumption, equivalent to about 40Mtoe/yr, or about 300 million barrels of oil per year!