Why electric cars?

Readers letters

Another problem of electric vehicles is the lack of waste heat. How will electric cars be heated in winter?

Electric cars are over-hyped. Liquid hydro-carbon oils are very compact stores of energy, greatly helped because one of the reagents—oxygen from the air—is not carried on the vehicle. When fossil fuels run out oil from plants will be available, at a price. What better use than for mobile power?

Another problem of electric vehicles is the lack of waste heat. How will electric cars be heated in winter? Perhaps a further drain on the bulky battery? Storage blocks heated before the journey, adding more weight? A separate oil-burning heater? Or shall we all return to the special, thick, garments that were the fashion in the early days of motoring?

More electric vehicles will increase the need for electricity so that extra electricity will be made by the ‘marginal’ generators—with the lowest efficiency. There will also be the transmission loses to the charging station. Although small IC engines will be less efficient than large power stations the electricity distribution losses are likely to be bigger than the losses incurred in the distribution of oil based fuel.

Batteries have much shorter lives than fuel tanks. They are made from metals that are expensive and that may, in the future, be in short supply. Batteries are likely (certain?) to remain heavier than full fuel tanks. They do not get lighter as the power they contain is used.