How an obscure energy calculation could dramatically speed up America’s #EV future
"After the phase-in ends in 2030, #MPGRatings for EVs will be about 65% lower.
Currently, one EV sale could offset around five gas-powered car sales on company ledgers, according to Burns. By 2030, when EV fuel economy ratings will be closer to gas-powered cars, he said the ratio will be more like 1:1.
The final proposal will land at 28,996 Wh/gal in 2030."
@CelloMomOnCars I fully expect infrastructure EV fueling on the road to ‘inflate to gasoline dollars per mile, which doesn’t help the direct pocket book economics that will convince drivers to accept shorter range vehicles.
The efficiency of EVs is measured by kWh per 100 miles. The #MPG equivalent is too high and is getting a correction (from 33,705 Wh/gal to 28,996 Wh/gal) which will result in the sales of more EVs for a given MPG fleet average efficiency.
"The Biden administration proposed the petroleum equivalency rule on April 11 last year. The following day, the EPA released its landmark tailpipe emission proposal — which became a lightning rod for political attention and debate."
You would think that kWh/gal is a well defined number but apparently there is policy and politics involved. You know that MPG is never really MPG either, right? It depends very much on the test cycle which depends on policy also, and gets. over-stated, especially for more fuel-efficient cars.
A very long time ago I did a survey of the MPG of a Prius worldwide. The spread was huge. I need to do it again, to see if things have improved.
What is the function of the standard? If it us to measure carbon, then we could compare avg. CO2 kg of 1USgal gasoline (including refining & transport); vs 1kwh of electricity (including avg. US generation, transmission and EV charging loss).
If it is to measure consumer cost, then "US miles per US dollar" would be better (using average home & fast-charge costs, and average mix of city/highway driving at typical speed mix)
If you burn gas or diesel, it's very clear how much CO2 gets emitted, so you can measure fuel efficiency in g CO2 / km.
It's impossible to do this for EVs because the number depends very much on how the electricity is generated: whether from your rooftop solar or from the coal plant down the road. Similarly, electricity rates vary.
For doing a comparison, the MPG-e is not an unreasonable measure. (Just don't mess with the number!).