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Please get an electric car!

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Today I was driving close to Rome and in front of me there was a Mercedes ML Diesel. So much smoke was coming out from the tailpipe of the Mercedes ML. I was disgusted from the scene that was in front of me. No respect of the environment with all that smoke coming out from the tailpipe IMO. :cursing:

So I thought "Please get an electric car!"
 
I agree with your sentiment...but let's remember that there is smoke coming out of a smokestack somewhere to enable your Tesla to charge. It's less visible to you, and cleaner than a diesel engine most likely. But it's there.

Agree. But getting a cleaner grid is another matter. We know that many efforts are being done with respect to this matter.
In the meanwhile everybody should check the emissions coming from the tailpipe of his car and, if possible get an electric car IMO.
 
I agree with your sentiment...but let's remember that there is smoke coming out of a smokestack somewhere to enable your Tesla to charge. It's less visible to you, and cleaner than a diesel engine most likely. But it's there.

This doesn't really relate to the fact that localized pollution in cities is a worse problem because of how many people live there and have to breathe this stuff.

Also it is a false equivalency to begin with, as charging a Tesla vs filling up with gas produces far less pollution.
 
Not always. What about solar and other renewables?

Agreed. Look at people like wk057 who is powering his Model S with 100% solar power.

There are places here in the US where a high percentage of grid energy comes from hydroelectric or wind power. Take Idaho for example, where nearly 80% of the energy generated there comes just from those two sources alone. Grid solar power is also a factor too, and may be one day soon grid ocean/wave power will join the mix.
 
Nuff said:
sourve_energy_2011.jpg
 
I agree with your sentiment...but let's remember that there is smoke coming out of a smokestack somewhere to enable your Tesla to charge. It's less visible to you, and cleaner than a diesel engine most likely. But it's there.

However, a diesel exhausting black smoke has an emissions system that's not working properly and will be outputting exponentially more pollution. Could be a deletion* or just a failed DPF.
 
I agree with your sentiment...but let's remember that there is smoke coming out of a smokestack somewhere to enable your Tesla to charge. It's less visible to you, and cleaner than a diesel engine most likely. But it's there.

I disagree with you. Do your research. There is no smoke charging my Tesla.

But I drive it because its a better car in every way, not because of no smoke.
 
I agree with your sentiment...but let's remember that there is smoke coming out of a smokestack somewhere to enable your Tesla to charge. It's less visible to you, and cleaner than a diesel engine most likely. But it's there.
As many have pointed out, that is not necessarily true. Sure, if you are charging your EV in West Virginia coal is being burned to do that. But over time more and more renewables are coming online and our electricity is getting cleaner.

This is something that many people fail to realize: gasoline cars will always be restricted to burning hydrocarbons which are always "dirty" but EV power generation will become "cleaner" over time.

I will be putting PV on my roof in the near future and suddenly my Tesla's will be cleaner. Can't do that with an ICE.
 
This point comes up often when discussing electric cars. The simple answer is it does depend on what kind of gas car you're comparing with and how clean the electricity supply is where you charge it, but in the vast majority of cases, an electric car generates less greenhouse gas emissions than a comparable gas car. The key number is the carbon intensity of the electrical supply mix, measured in tonnes of CO2 equivalent per GWh of electricity production (or equivalently, g per kWh). This article suggests that the threshold where electric and gas cars generate a similar amount of emissions is around 500 to 700 tCO2e/GWh. I did a quick calculation comparing a Nissan Leaf with a Prius, and the threshold I came up with was 830. I expect that for larger cars, the emissions from a gas car (and therefore the equivalence threshold) would go up faster than the corresponding emissions from electricity for an electric car, since electric motors are so much more efficient. In any case, it'll vary depending on exactly how you do the calculation but it's in that range.

Where I live, the average carbon intensity for electricity generation is around 35, and at night when I normally charge, it's about 25 - actually less, since these numbers don't factor in distributed solar generation. So an electric car is MUCH better in terms of emissions. This would be true unless you live somewhere that has the majority of electricity production from coal AND the gas car you're comparing with is very efficient. And as others have pointed out, there are lots of people who have even lower-emission electrical supplies.

So the next time someone says electric cars just move emissions to the generation plant, politely educate them!
 
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The respect for the environment can be seen also in little things like the tailpipe of your car. If all of us made a little bit more for the environment the situation of the Earth could get better IMHO.

Raffy, I am Earth Hour Ambassador at my work, so I prepared a little presentation on the subject. One of the slides included a recommendation to buy not an electric car, but a Tesla electric car:love:. I just slipped it in unobtrusively and fittingly amongst other Earth Hour slides. Tesla photos, few specs and store map were in there and then I mass emailed the presso. Couldn't resist :wink: promoting Tesla
 
http://tkm.sebe2013.eu/index.php?title=National_Legal_Environment_Italy&oldid=58668#ENERGY_SECTOR

Most of you are making some irrelevant argument like you didn't even read what I wrote or what the OP wrote or where he's from.

Electricity sector in Italy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Italy uses a lot of natural gas, and has a good chunk of hydro and solar . In 2009 coal was only 12%. With decent insolation, particularly in Sardinia, Sicily and Southern Italy, they have good prospects of increasing solar from the current 3%.

Also, in Italy, there is quite a bit of use of CNG, with market share of new vehicle sales at 5.3% in 2014. So an alternative would be "Please buy a CNG car!"
 
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