First drive: electric BMW Mini E

You’re wrong 3 ways:

1)  In “Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future” by Carson and Vaitheeswaran it points out that even if *all* electric power came from coal, having electric cars reduces the emissions to 75% that of petrol cars.  This is due to the fact that electric cars are much much more efficient at power delivery.  This is why the Prius - a 5 seater passenger sedan powered by petrol - can do 4.4liters/100km because it’s motor powers an electric generator which in turn powers the wheels.

2)  But not all our electricity comes from coal.

It is possible to clean up power generation in power stations - its not possible to make millions of petrol powered cars clean.

With the drastic effect of climate change, power generation will be even cleaner.

This FUD about the source of power was a response by the Big Oil lobby against ZEV electric cars produced in California.

3) Cars produce emissions in city areas, sitting in traffic jams, belching C02 and other pollutants directly in the air we breathe.  Electric cars are very effective at reducing pollution in our built up areas, as they produce no tailpipe emissions outside our schools and houses.

Power costs.

These are not mated directly to the total megawatt hours consumed in a day - it has much more to do with the peak output required in a day - the number of generators needed to be spun up to meet the peak loads.  Charging of EV’s occurs over time, typically in the parking lot at work, or overnight in the garage and will not impact to any measurable amount on your power costs.

But don’t worry - no-one is going to force you to buy an electric car.

But why would you when petrol prices are crazy, and likely to be taxed more and more with new environmental policies.

I’ll be quite happy to never have to visit a petrol station ever again, and watch the savings both in air quality and in my bank account.

In Sydney we are barely able to generate enough electricity to meet our current needs. The grid would not be able to cope with everyone (or even a few people) plugging in their electric cars to charge. It will be a long time before that changes.

Mr Gover, you didn’t say how much torque the Mini E has. Apparently electric cars are very quick off the line, say, to 60kmh. Is this true of the car?
To the other contributors: from what I’ve heard the coal burnt to provide the electricity for 1km of driving for an electric car, produces much les emissions than the petrol burnt by a regular car. And to AA, there will be an electric car in Australia soon, the GM Volt.

Apparently MINI E drivers can charge the lithium-ion battery in their garage via a “wallbox” electricity adapter which speeds up the process of charging. Charging through a normal plug extends the time.

Come on Will, Corey, think. It may not be much, if any, greener. But it will at least stop the oil companies holding us to ransom for their fuel!

With all these electric cars we’ll supposedly get, wouldn’t they increase - significantly increase - the electricity demand? As has been mentioned if we’re still using coal to produce our power then there’s not much saving in emissions (although I do remember reading an article saying the government/electric companies planning some sort of ‘green’ electric grid by 2010 specifically for the influx of electric cars). If that’s the case then that’s good, and I think electric cars will be great (so long as they’re not all small hatch backs). But still, wouldn’t the increased demand of electricity up the price (in the same way diesel is more expensive because of it’s increased demand)?

What is the point of lauding these vehicles? They require plugging in to the main power supply which will need to burn more fossil fuels in order for supply to keep up with demand. This will still continue to create more environmental issues. I don’t understand the value of that? It’s still the same outcome, just a different means of getting there.

Its bullsh*t that they arent bringing these types of electric cars to Australia.
Yes, I agree we have no infrastructure in place to charge your car on the road, but hell… let us charge them at home and with a 240km range, its more than ample to take me to work, the shops and back home again. If I run out of battery because I am too stupid to watch the “fuel” gauge the same as with petrol, then thats my own problem and I’ll have to get a tow! I would imagine that I would be a good candidate for a “demo” vehicle. I do the right amount of KMs a day in varying conditions driving past LOTS of people for advertising!
C’mon Mitsubishi/BMW/GM etc etc, stop the rubbish excuses and send some our way!

Electric cars in Australia will NOT be green.  Until the government commits to renewable energy schemes such as hydro, solar, wind, tidal etc (and God forbid nuclear), we will just be changing the source of pollutants.  ie. carbon emissions from petrol/diesel etc or an increase in electricity generation which is derived from burning fossil fuels.

Remember most electricity here in Australia is derived from burning black coal AND the dirtier brown coal! 

So much for green driving!

As long as the electric car can be charged from regular household electric plug, then I do see any problem of selling electric car here in Australia. I can charge the car in my garage at night and use it for traveling to work next morning. I live about 30 km from office and a electric car of 100 Km range would be more than adequate for my day to day office commute. I hope my next car would be an electric car like the iMIEV or Smart one.