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Re: Some questions I got from a listener by email

Re: Some questions I got from a listener by email

Submitted by ben on Wed, 03/05/2008 - 04:18.
Ernesto, thank you for this comprehensive reply!

Here are some of my comments:

Question 1:

The CO2 content of gasoline is 8.9kg CO2/gallon or for a 30 mpg car, you would be producing 296 g CO2/mile or 185 g CO2/km (note: Prius produces 104 g CO2/km). Or, put another way, the energy content of gasoline is roughly 37 kWh/gallon and this would mean that CO2 produced from gasoline is roughly 268 g CO2/kWh.

In the US, the grid produces on average 606 g CO2/kWh, in Canada, the grid produces on average 255 g CO2/kWh, The efficiency of an electric car using Li-ion batteries is ~0.21kWh/km producing 127 g CO2/km in the US or 53 g CO2/km in Canada (BEV info comes from Ulf Bossel's presentation Note: Here's a podcast interview with Ulf Bossel, it's a good one).

So, to summarize:
30mpg gasoline car: 0.77 kWh/km, 185 g CO2/km
Li-ion BEV: 0.21 kWh/km, 127 g CO2/km in the US or 53 g CO2/km in Canada
I'll take a stab at the other questions a bit later ;).
Some questions I got from a listener by email By: ben (9 replies) Sat, 02/09/2008 - 14:53