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Old 02-26-2008, 11:07 PM   #23 (permalink)
diesel_john
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
"Only?" Even at only 30 to 40% efficiency at the power plant, electric drive is far more efficient than internal combustion.

That's problematic. Don't forget: some people will pay more for efficiency; the bottom line isn't always cost.
On top of that, people pay anywhere from 5 or 6 cents all the way up to 20+ cents per kWh for electricity, so quoting a MP$ figure for electric falls apart there. The price of fossil fuel doesn't see the same kind of spread across the country (some, but not that much).
I bought a windmill which will take 7 years to pay for itself, just to save from buying 17,500 kw-hrs @ $0.10 over that time. That's the cost I'll pay.

I was just looking at the bigger picture, it's good that electric cars fit the job in a lot of places. But for the sake of comparison the dollar is fairly consistent over the US at least. That's how i will know what some people will pay for efficiency.
If i say my energy cost is 16 miles per $. Then everyone can compare their cost in their location.

Would it be easier to quote miles per kw-hr, rather than trying to figure out how many gallons the power plant had to burn?

Since this post is about an efficiency test of an electric vehicle, I don't know how to convert that to other energy sources for the purpose of comparison.

Last edited by diesel_john; 02-26-2008 at 11:49 PM..
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