Guest Column: Embracing electricity on the road

ing cars and robots that would serve their every need. Reality may be a bit disappointing in comparison, but that doesn’t mean that technology has not become more exciting along the way. Electric cars have finally taken off—as technology develops further, it may not be long before non-electric cars become irrelevant.
This technology does come with a decent amount of controversy, however. Many are quick to point out that electricity still comes primarily from coal, so they can’t be as environmentally friendly as some suggest. But in this one case, is coal really such a bad thing?
Despite the claims of performance and exciting viral videos showing how fun electric cars can be to drive, people still take issue with electricity as a means to improve transportation. Critics may address range anxiety, lack of convenience or how the cars reinforce a coal based electrical grid. As concerns over range anxiety are quelled, heads turn towards power.
According to eia.gov, modern coal power plants achieve around 32 percent thermal efficiency, meaning that for every bit of heat that comes from the furnace, only 32 percent of that becomes electricity. Natural gas power plants, on the other hand, exceed 40 percent. That still seems surprisingly low, but on the other hand, gasoline cars only range from 14-30 percent. Electric cars, thus, can gain up to 20 percent more out of our energy infrastructure, and at the worst still manage a net improvement, which does translate into less emissions, but also free miles for the driver from the total energy input.
What would it take to get to this level of efficiency? Drivers could stay safe and buy high efficiency gasoline cars and still be relatively free from burden, but at what cost?  America is a country of cars. People take pride, and even security, in the power of their cars. To get that high level of efficiency out of gasoline, society would need to force people to sacrifice power, by buying cars such as the regularly looked down upon Prius.
We as a society don’t need to take power away from the driver to be more fuel efficient. Embracing electric cars not only brings America to the cutting edge of technology, but can allow us to feel good about it along the way, despite what critics say.

Bobby Orwig
Senior Sustainable and Renewable Energy Sources major
[email protected]