CONFRONTIN

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ARMIN

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Electric Vehicles

Myths vs. Facts

Cheap oil is tapped out. Americans send about a third of a

trillion dollars overseas to pay for oil every year and oil

imports are responsible for 50% of our trade deficit.1

Whether oil is domestic or imported, our economy remains at

the mercy of rising and volatile oil prices set by global

demand. By contrast, car and truck innovation provides

Americans with real options to cope with high gas prices.

And electric vehicles (EVs) free households and businesses from the gas pump altogether. EVs

also improve local air quality, improve our energy security, and help combat climate change.

EVs are here today. The Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf and Tesla Roadster are in dealerships now,

and over the next two years virtually every automaker will introduce a plug-in electric or plug

-in hybrid car or truck. By getting EVs rolling, more than half the miles we drive could be

electric by 2030.2

Below we address some of the most common questions about this new technology.

Myth: “Sure, EVs have no tailpipe pollution, but once you account for the pollution from

the electricity that fuels them, Electric vehicles (EVs) aren’t any cleaner than gasoline

vehicles.”

Fact: Even when powered by electricity made from coal, EVs are still cleaner to operate

than a comparable car powered with a gasoline engine. A typical car fueled by gasoline

emits more than twice as

much global warming

pollution as an EV charged

using average US electricity

(see graph). EVs also get

cleaner over time as states

increasingly require utilities to

generate more power from

renewable sources such as

wind and solar power.

Contact:

Zoe Lipman Senior Manager Transportation Solutions, Climate & Energy Program 202-797-6614 (p) 202-797-6646 (f) lipman@nwf.org

Siel via flickr.com

Data from US EPA3 and Energy Information Administration

4 ________________________________________________

1 US Census Bureau: Bureau of Economy Analysis. “US International Trade in Goods and Services.” June 2010.

<http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/trade/2010/trad0610.htm>. 2 Electrification Coalition. “Electrification Roadmap.” November 2009.

<http://electrificationcoalition.org/reports/EC-Roadmap-screen.pdf>. 3 US Environmental Protection Agency. “Emission Facts: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle.” January 2010.

<http://www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05004.htm>. comparing mid-sized sedans; not accounting for petroleum refining emissions 4 US Energy Information Administration. “Carbon Dioxide Emissions from the Generation of Electric Power in the United States.” July

2000. <http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/co2_report/co2report.html>.

Myth: “Demand for EVs will require more power plants to be built.”

Fact: Like new TVs or air conditioning units, EVs do increase electric power use. But, if

managed correctly, that power can be fully provided using the power plants we have

today. Much of the day, most power plants operate far below their capacity. That idle off

-peak capacity would be sufficient to power 84% of all vehicles if they were EVs.5 Today’s

electric vehicles come with technology to help ensure that most cars charge “off peak”—at

night, or at other times when power plants are less busy. Consumers and power

companies can also benefit by maximizing this kind of charging.

Myth: “EVs can’t meet every driver’s needs.”

Fact: No one car or technology meets every driver’s needs, but new, mass market, high

performing EVs provide consumers with real, gasoline-free driving choices for the first

time. And even amongst the first electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, there are a variety of

combinations of range, price, and availability of gas engine backup that can meet the

needs of many different lifestyles.

Today’s EV batteries provide strong vehicle performance over distances that meet most

households’ daily driving needs. The typical American driver drives fewer than 35 miles

per day on average,6 and our most frequent trips are much shorter—closer to 10 miles (see

graphs below and on next page). Current electric vehicles are of two types: (1) all- electric

cars with a range of 70 miles or more on one charge, and (2) plug-in electric hybrids that

drive from 10- 40 miles all-electric before they switch to gasoline backup for long

distances. These two approaches meet most driving needs while providing low fueling cost

and low pollution.

Unlike many other alternative fuels, electricity is everywhere, so the infrastructure

upgrades needed for EVs are comparatively modest. If we make upgrades to home outlets

easy, and provide

workplace and

public charging

where necessary,

we can make using

an EV as

convenient, or

more convenient,

than fueling at the

gas station.

“New, mass market,

high performing EVs

provide consumers

with real, gasoline-

free driving choices

for the first time.”

50.7%

29.5%

17.8%

2.0%

Share of Vehicle Trips by Trip Distance

<10 miles

10 to 15 miles

15 to 20 miles

>20 miles

Data from the 2009 Transportation Energy Data Book7

________________________________________________

5 “The existing electricity infrastructure as a national resource has sufficient available capacity to fuel 84% of the nation’s cars, pickup

trucks, and SUVs (198 million) or 73% of the light duty fleet (about 217 million vehicles) for a daily drive of 33 miles on average.”

Kintner-Meyer, Michael; Schneider, Kevin; Pratt, Robert. “Impacts Assessment of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles on Electric Utilities and Re-

gional U.S. Power Grids; Part 1: Technical Analysis” Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. December 2006. pg.15.

<http://energytech.pnl.gov/publications/pdf/PHEV_Feasibility_Analysis_Part1.pdf>. 6 Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Transportation Energy Data Book. Chapter 8 Household Vehicle and Characteristics. 2009.

<http://cta.ornl.gov/data/chapter8.shtml>. 2000. <http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/co2_report/co2report.html>. 7 Ibid.

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30 trips

/year

100 trips/year

350 trips/year

560 trips/year

700 trips/year

950 trips /year

0 10 20 30 40 50

Other

Work Related Business

School/Church

To/From Work

Shopping

Social and Recreational

Average Trip Lengths per Household (miles)

Data from the US Department of Transportation8

Myth: “EVs are too expensive.”

Fact: Nowadays, expensive is relative. Filling up an electric vehicle costs the equivalent of

about 75 cents per gallon,10

while gas prices are heading towards $4/gallon. And electricity

comes from much more stable, domestic sources, meaning household and business budgets

don’t get squeezed by sudden changes in global oil prices.

Today, the purchase price of a new EV is higher than a comparable gasoline

vehicle. However, the cost to fuel an EV is so much lower that even these first

generation vehicles can pay-off the added investment over the life of the vehicle.9

Federal and local tax incentives and the opportunity to lease the first EVs can also

help make the first generation of EVs affordable, while helping the industry to

scale up fast enough to quickly drive down costs.

There is no reason to believe EVs will stay expensive. Like other new technologies,

battery costs are expected to drop over time due to economies of scale and

ongoing innovation in battery chemistries and technologies (see graph below).

EVs are cheaper to operate: EVs are cheaper to operate: EVs are cheaper to operate: EVs are cheaper to operate:

EV ($0.085 / kWh) * (0.35 kWh / mile)= 3 cents per mile3 cents per mile3 cents per mile3 cents per mile. Internal combustion (gas) engine ($3.00 / gallon gasoline) * (1 gal gas / 25 miles)= 12 cents per mile12 cents per mile12 cents per mile12 cents per mile.

________________________________________________

8 Hu, Pat S. and Timothy R. Reuscher. Summary of Travel Trends. Federal Highway Administration, December 2004.

<http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/pub/STT.pdf> 9 Assuming a gas price of $3.50/gallon, a price difference of $15K between an EV and an ICE, and the ICE fuel economy of 26 miles/gallon

10 “Electric Cars— How Much Does It Cost per Charge?” Scientific American. 13 March 2009.

<http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=electric-cars-cost-per-charge>. 11

“The Recovery Act: Transforming the American Economy through Innovation.” August 2010.

<www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/Recovery_Act_Innovation.pdf>.

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Advanced

Internal

Combustion

Engines

Hybrid Electric

Vehicles

Plug-in Hybrid

Electric Vehicles

Battery Electric

Vehicle

Fuel Cell

Pictured above are examples of cars on the road today that exemplify the ongoing and

overlapping evolution of automotive technology. Innovations from aerodynamics to power

electronics are shared across the vehicles that will drive us into a cleaner and more secure

transportation future.

For more information on EVs, see the following websites.

Go Electric Drive: Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Program:

www.goelectricdrive.com www.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels

To see other solutions to climate change: www.nwf.org/Global-Warming

EV production anchors thousands of jobs in advanced vehicle, battery, and component

manufacturing today and is projected to generate tens of thousands more over the next

decade.12

With rapid adoption of EVs and ongoing US leadership in technology and

manufacturing innovation, studies suggest the US could see a net employment gain as high

as 350,000 jobs in EV-related manufacturing, construction, and operations jobs, and up to

1.9 million jobs when the overall economic impacts of reduced oil dependence are

included.13

Myth: “EVs are just the latest technology fad.”

Fact: Electrification is an integral part of today’s advanced vehicle technology

development. Investments to improve EV technology speed innovation and improve the

competitiveness of the whole advanced vehicle supply chain. Advancements in batteries,

electric powertrain, and their components improve the full range of hybrid vehicles, while

improvements in materials and aerodynamics are equally critical for improving the efficiency

of the best gasoline vehicles.

________________________________________________

12 US Department of Energy. “The Recovery Act: Transforming America’s Transportation Sector— Batteries and Electric Vehicles.” 14 July

2010. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/Battery-and-Electric-Vehicle-Report-FINAL.pdf>. 13

Becker, Thomas A.; Ikhlaq Sidhu; and Burghardt Tenderich. Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at the University of California,

Berkley. Electric Vehicles in the United States: A New Model with Forecasts to 2030. August 24, 2009. < http://cet.berkeley.edu/dl/

CET_Technical%20Brief_EconomicModel2030_f.pdf>.

As well as “Economic Impact of the Electrification Roadmap.” April 2010.

<http://electrificationcoalition.org/media/EC_ImpactReport.pdf>. 14

Flickr.com Create Commons photographs from left to right: Cruze by David Pinter; Prius by Paul Garland; Volt by C.C. Chapman; Leaf

by J.M. Rosenfeld

Chevrolet Cruze Toyota Prius Chevrolet Volt Nissan Leaf

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