Black clouds on electric cars. Here's the fuel of the future better than … electricity – Cars and Cars

With winter, the theme of smog comes back, which is also supposed to be a "merit" of dilapidated cars emitting exhaust gases of excessive toxicity. The police organize actions to catch the car. Drivers lose their registration certificates, tickets fall and … the next day is old. Almost for the bad air, electric vehicles have been promoting for some time. Even the government has announced an electromobility plan for the launch of a national battery car on the market. It turns out however that putting everything on the electronic car does not need to be improved …

– In the discussion on ecological sources of energy Vehicles must take into account a number of factors and the starting point is the destination of the car. – says dziennik.pl prof. Marcin Ślęzak, Director of the Institute of Motorized Transport. According to the researcher in town, driving at once hybrid vehicles as well as electric They will work in the same way, but because of the presence of an internal combustion engine in the first case, the car will also use fuel, which will increase the operating costs. Nevertheless, the hybrid – from the point of view of utility – presents a definite advantage …

– Most electric vehicles available on the market do not guarantee this autonomy and this functionality in urban driving like hybrid vehicles – says Ślęzak. The expert observes at the same time that the fuel consumption of a hybrid vehicle, for example when driving on a highway, may be higher than that of a conventional car, due to the mass of the hybrid system.

"Dirty current"

Another problem concerns carbon dioxide emissions for both types of propulsion. In the case of Poland, whose energy is mainly based on coal, the ecology of the electric car turns out to be "covered with a black and dirty cloud".

– Hybrid vehicles emit more CO₂ in the place of use. And electric cars "zero", which is an illusion, because this issue is counted as a power station producing electricity. I'm reminding you that 80 percent electricity in Poland comes from coal – says the director ITS.

In the opinion of an expert carbon footprintThis is to say that the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions directly related to the production of an electric vehicle compared to the long-term production and operation of electric vehicles. a car equipped with a combustion engine can be comparable and often has the disadvantage of the first. – Especially when we include additional emissions related to the acquisition of rare earths for the needs of battery production. Because lithium, cobalt or neodymium must be extracted and processed. Not to mention the issue of battery disposal, which is complex and consumes a lot of energy. – explains Ślęzak.

It's like The electricity for electric cars is dirty in the Polish reality, they can illustrate the calculations of the consulting firm A.T. Kearney. According to its analysts, producing 1 kWh of electricity from coal results in the emission of 650 g of CO₂. And now, if an average electrician consumes 16 kWh of electricity over 100 km, more than 10 kg of carbon dioxide "emit" into the atmosphere. There is more than 100 g CO per kilometer₂ – many gasoline cars have similar emissions. A.T. Kearney even points out that in extreme cases, modern combustion engines may be more environmentally friendly than batteries. And it is also a higher value (more damaging to the environment) than in the case of a conventional hybrid drive.

Tired production

But the problem lies not only in the "carbon footprint" of electricity production for "the electrician". The Fraunhofer Institute of Building Physics calculated that it took twice as much energy to produce an electric car as for a conventional car. According to German scientists, the process of creating batteries for the BMW i3 electric is associated with the emission of three tons of CO₂. A similar amount at a distance of 30 thousand km is produced by the average gasoline.

Few charging stations and charging times

The loading infrastructure is another problem. The network of chargers for electric vehicles is constantly expanding.

– We do not have as many stations for electric carswhat for conventionally driven vehicles. Outraged Loading time the battery is disproportionate to the supply of hydrocarbons – note Ślęzak from ITS.

And here, while conventional eco-friendly hybrids appear with the diesel-electric system – these cars do not require charging at the socket. Their batteries (with a capacity of 1 to 1.5 kWh) are much smaller than those of electric cars and they charge with recovery (braking, braking or downhill). Thus, the energy recovered later facilitates, for example, the departure under the lights or is used when driving at low speed in the city (driving in traffic) or when maneuvering in the parking lot.

Hydrogen fuel of the future

So if in the opinion of scientists electric cars they are not at all ecological because they are painted by companies and in Polish reality hybrid can be treated as the optimal solution for the transition period, what will be the clean and innocent fuel of tomorrow?

– In the speech on the development of driving vehicles and their future, it is also worth paying attention to vehicles powered by fuel cells – Hydrogen is an excellent source of energy for cars – indicates the ITS representative.

Why? In the opinion of an expert the autonomy of a vehicle equipped with fuel cells is greater as the range of an electric vehicle powered by batteries. Another benefit is "clean electricity".

As Ślęzak explains, hydrogen used as fuel in fuel cells to convert chemical energy into electricity is ideal for cars because the derivative of its oxidation is Steam water escaping from the exhaust system. Thus, hydrogen cars do not emit harmful substances into the atmosphere and their operation will help reduce environmental pollution.

– If we produce hydrogen with the help of renewable energy, we will also reduce the carbon footprint.which is a derivative of the operation of a fuel cell vehicle. In addition, the complete refueling process of a passenger car does not last more than a few minutes and its cost is comparable to the price of gasoline. – recognizes the director of the Motor Transport Institute.