Slide 1
America’s current fleet of gasoline-powered cars and trucks
leaves us dependent on oil, contributes to air pollution problems that threaten
our health, and produces large amounts of global warming pollution. “Plug-in”
cars are emerging as an effective way to lower global warming emissions, oil
use, and smog. A plug-in car is one that can be recharged from the electric
grid. Plug-in cars come in two types: plug-in hybrids that are paired with
small gasoline engines, and fully electric vehicles that consume no gasoline at
all.
As automakers race to become the first to introduce a mass
production plug-in vehicle to American consumers, citizens and decision-makers
are grappling to understand the implications of switching to a vehicle fleet
fueled primarily by electricity for our environment, for consumers, and for the
nation as a whole.
Plug-in vehicles have the potential to make an immediate
difference in reducing air pollution and curbing dependence on oil. Over the
long term, plug-ins can play a critical role in the effort to stop global
warming. The technology needed to build workable plug-in vehicles exists today,
but it will take a coherent strategy and concerted action in order to take full
advantage of the potential of plug-in vehicles.
Plug-in cars can make a major contribution to America’s
efforts to reduce global warming pollution.
·More than 40 recent studies show that plug-in
cars produce lower carbon dioxide than traditional gasoline-powered cars. One
study by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
(PNNL) found that an electric car fueled by unused capacity in the current
electric system would emit 27 percent less global warming pollution than a car
fueled by gasoline, and would reduce global warming pollution in almost every
area of the country, even where the primary source of electricity is coal.
·To take full advantage of the potential of
plug-in vehicles, however, America must move toward a cleaner electricity grid.
A study by the University of California, Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship
& Technology showed that if half of the light vehicles in the United States
were electric vehicles powered by completely clean electricity in 2030, total
fleet emissions would be reduced by 62 percent.
Switching to plug-in cars will improve our air quality
for most Americans.
·Replacing gasoline with electricity will reduce
the smog found in our cities and other densely populated areas. The PNNL
study found that powering a car on electricity would result in 93 percent less
smog-forming volatile organic compound (VOCs) and 31 percent less nitrogen
oxide (NOx) emissions than powering a car on gasoline.
·A study by the Electric Power Research Institute
and the Natural Resources Defense Council found that, combined with our current
emissions standards for power plants, converting 40 percent of U.S. cars to
plug-in hybrids by 2030 would reduce smog for 61 percent of Americans, and
increase it for 1 percent of Americans. Soot would decrease for 82
percent of the population, and increase for 3 percent of the population.
·Powering cars on clean electricity such as wind
and solar power would virtually eliminate vehicle-related air pollution –
whether from the tailpipe or the power plant.
Switching to plug-in cars will reduce oil consumption
·A study by the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory found that if three-fourths of the cars, pick-up trucks, SUVs and
vans in the United States were electric vehicles, oil use would be reduced by
the equivalent of 52 percent of U.S. oil imports.
The technology for plug-in vehicles exists today, and
plug-ins have several advantages over gasoline-powered cars.
·Plug-in hybrids that have been converted from
conventional hybrids already exist that achieve 100 miles per gallon or more.
·Electric cars that can go over 200 miles on one
charge are being sold in the United States today.
·Most plug-in cars can charge in a normal wall
outlet found in many home garages, and rapid chargers have been developed that
can fill a 100-mile battery in under 30 minutes.
·Electric cars are much simpler to maintain than
conventional cars, with few moving part compared with the hundreds of moving
parts required for an internal combustion engine. Electric cars have no
oil changes, and require far less regular maintenance.
Plug-in cars will be more expensive than gasoline-powered
cars.. However, operating costs of plug-in vehicles will be lower.
And, over time, many factors will contribute to declining costs.
·The high incremental cost of a plug-in car is
largely due to the cost of batteries. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory
has estimated the near-term incremental cost of a plug-in hybrid to be about
$10,000-27,000, depending on the size of the battery. In the long term, they
predict the incremental cost will drop to $6,000-$13,000.
·Operating costs of plug-in cars are likely
significantly lower than that of gasoline-powered cars. Electricity costs
three to five cents per mile with average electric rates, or the equivalent of
$0.75 to $1.25 a gallon of gasoline. Maintenance costs for fully electric
cars will also likely be lower as electric vehicles are mechanically simpler
than those with internal combustion engines.
·Plug-in vehicles could come with new models of
ownership. Some companies, for example, could lease batteries to owners,
eliminating the upfront cost of purchasing the battery and the potential cost
of replacing it when it is no longer able to power a vehicle.
America’s electric system has the capacity to fuel most
of our cars today, but the nation will need to clean up our electric grid to
reap the full potential of plug-in cars.
·A study by the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory found thatAmerica’s electric system could fuel 73 percent of
U.S. cars, pickup-up trucks, SUVs and vans without building another power
plant, by charging vehicles at night.
·Utilities can structure electricity prices so
that it is cheaper to charge cars at times of the day when there is lower
electric demand, ensuring that a large number of plug-in cars do not put a
strain on the utility. These rate structures will encourage plug-in car
owners to use “smart chargers” that charge cars only when demand and
electricity prices are low.
·With investments in “smart grid” technology,
plug-in cars could help stabilize the electric grid and provide emergency
backup power – reducing the cost of electricity for all consumers and making
the grid better able to accommodate intermittent forms of renewable energy
generation such as wind and solar power.
There are still barriers to the widespread adoption of
plug-in cars, but smart public policy strategies can help to overcome those
barriers.
·Despite rapid advances in battery technology,
automakers and battery developers still have strides to make in arriving at
battery designs that deliver the range and affordability American consumers are
looking for. Continued funding for research and development of advanced
batteries can help.
·The initial price of plug-in cars will likely
be high, but getting significant numbers of plug-in cars on the road
quickly is important to prove that the technology is viable and identifying
unexpected hurdles. Financial incentives for buyers of the first
generation of plug-in hybrids, coupled with policies to encourage the
purchase of plug-ins by government and private fleets, can help get
significant numbers of plug-in cars on the road quickly. So too, could a low-carbon
fuel standard that allows plug-in vehicles to contribute to the goal of
reducing life-cycle global warming emissions (including from indirect land-use
impacts) from vehicle fuels by 10 percent by 2020.
·Unlocking the full environmental and economic
potential of plug-in vehicles will require efforts to clean up and modernize
America’s electric grid. The United States should encourage the use of clean
energy by adopting a renewable electricity standard requiring that 25
percent of our electricity come from renewable energy by 2025. The nation
should further reduce global warming emissions from power plants by adopting a cap
on global warming pollution that reduces emissions to 35 percent below 2005
levels by 2020 and to 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. Finally, the nation
should invest in the adoption of “smart grid” technologies that would
allow plug-in vehicles to help stabilize the grid.
·The lack of public charging infrastructure –
while not a deal-breaker for plug-in vehicle owners who can charge their cars
at home – could limit the willingness of some consumers to buy or use plug-in
vehicles. Local, state and federal governments should jump-start the creation
of charging infrastructure by installing chargers at publicly owned facilities,
developing procedures for the installation of chargers on city streets, and
providing incentives for private development of charging infrastructure.
