Clever Little Chevy song

Music (piano by Fred Ewing, vocals and lyrics by Jack Lucero Fleck):
tune: Surrey with the Fringe on the Top (from Oklahoma)


When I take you on a ride with me
Honey, here’s the way it’s goin’ to be
You will ride inside a car with solar power
One that runs on electricity.

SUVs are just too top heavy
Come and take a ride in my Chevy
It’s some fun to ride in my Chevy that won’t binge on gas
Just plug in and see how it’s better
I could tell as soon as I met her
She’s so cute that I’d like to pet her and she takes off fast!

The cord is orange, and the battery’s strong,
It’s charged by our solar panels
The ra-dio’s playin’ our fav’rite song
On one of our dozens of channels

Think I’ll take a ride to the levee
Quiet as a mouse in my Chevy
Now I hope they build up a bevy with their nuts and bolts
Of those clever little Chevy’s that we call th-e Volts

Pipelines, oil spills, earth left in tatters
Though big oil just keeps gettin fatter
Without my car I’d be much sadder ‘cuz it’s built to last
We can drive right on past the station
Every day’s’a gas free vacation
Thanks to electrification we can save our cash

We’ve got CO2 that’s wreckin' the earth
And making our future hotter
With oil boys takin' us for all we’re worth
The Volt makes you glad that you’ve got her

We’ve been lookin' for a solution
To all of this global pollution
Now it’s here and it’s no illusion with each nut and bolt
It’s that clever little Chevy and we call it the Volt

220 Volts now installed

The ChargePoint people installed a 220 Volt charger last week, just missing a whole lot of rain.  It comes in handy when we go somewhere in the morning and use our charge.  For example, this morning  we went to San Francisco for a dental appointment, and I'm charging the car up to go to chorus practice tonight (still a bargain at 11 cents per kwh, rather than our usual 5 cents).  The cost of the charger to us was around $430.  The charger plus $1500 installation cost was subsidized--lucky us!  I wouldn't have opted for the 220 volts without the subsidy, but it is nice to have.



Consumer Reports on the Volt

I'm a big fan of Consumer Reports--especially their reviews of autos every year in the April issue. I always liked the little red circles indicating good reliability records that showed up next to the Toyotas and Hondas and felt bad about all the little black circles indicating lousy reliability that showed up next to the U.S. cars.

So of course I was interested to see what Consumer Reports would say about the Volt. Their article is sub-headed "GM's plug-in hybrid goes gas-free for short trips, but is pricey". Now I won't argue too much about the pricey point. I do think the price needs to come down for the car to be more affordable. However, I would still contend that, with the $7500 tax credit, and with $4 a gallon gas, the car is a good investment. If the price can come down another $5000 and if the tax credit can hold, it will be a great investment.

My bigger argument is with the phrase "short trips". Our Volt goes about 35 miles before it switches over to the gas generator that keeps the electric motor running. Now, to me, that is not a "short trip". In fact it covers more than 80% of the trips I normally make here in Oakland. For our last 1600 miles, we used 8.6 gallons of gas. At 37 miles per gallon that means we went about 318 mles on gas and 1278 miles on the batteries. (that's 186 miles per gallon in case you wondered) Now I admit that when we were in San Diego on vacation, I routinely drove over 35 miles per day--it's hard to avoid driving lots of miles in that sprawling city. However, for those who live in older, denser cities, like Oakland, Chicago, and eastern cities, 35 miles per day should be enough for the vast majority of trips.

Consumer Reports was not aware that our utility, PG&E, charges about 5 cents per kilowatt hour if we charge the car overnight. This brings the cost per mile down to about 2 cents per mile. This is assuming about 2.5 miles per kilowatt hour. Consumer Reports assumed 2 miles per kwh based on their need to use the heater a lot more that we do here in Oakland. Still even at 2 miles per kwh the cost would be 2.5 cents per mile if utilities adopted PG&E's overnight rate. Consumer Reports also assumed $3 per gallon for gas, a price that we probably won't see again.

So I think the Consumer Reports article is correct--if you drive over 35 miles a day, the Volt may not save enough to pay for itself compared to a Prius. I think that is also true if you drive very little--say less than 20 miles a day. But I think there are a lot of people in the 20 - 35 miles per day group who would save money by having a Volt.

And the article did not mention any of the most important benefits of getting off of gasoline--no pipelines through Alaska, no wars for oil, reduced global warming, reduced emphysema. . . The bottom line is important, and I do believe that electric cars will save people money, but all of these externalities are the real joy of driving an electric car.

Uphill--Downhill

This weekend we went up the Chabot Science Center to see Michio Kaku give a very good talk about his new book, Physics of the Future. The Science Center is about 7 miles from our house and is about 1000 feet above our house, high in the Oakland hills. The Volt started with about 30 miles showing on the battery, but only had 11 miles showing when we got up there. However, the battery soaked up energy from the brakes on the way down and by the time we got home, the battery showed 18 miles left on the battery--i.e. it went up 7 miles while we were driving (coasting, mostly) the seven miles home. I guess that's the physics of the future.

good bye to our Honda; big cars vs. electric cars?

We took our 1991 Honda Civic to San Diego last week to return it to my mother-in-law, from whom we bought it in 1998.  We made it look spiffy--fixed dents, re-painted, tuned up, new tires, used transmission installed.  The car made it just past the Grapevine on I-5 when the transmission just started spinning.  Fortunately, it was a nice warm day, and we called AAA and got towed to an honest transmission specialist who spotted the leak and got us on our way.

I told the transmission guy about our new Volt and he was quite interested.  He said that his girlfriend drives about 50 miles each way to work at 15 mpg.  At $4 per gallon that's over $500 per month for gas.  She happened to call while we were talking, and he told her about electric cars.  Her response was that she liked having a big Suburban and didn't want a small car.  That's what we have to take into account.
I did suggest that he check out calcars and consider converting her car to a plug-in hybrid.  If people are attached to their big cars, we need to find a way to make them run on electricity and biofuels.

Carbon fundamentalist?

I recently was told that my views on how to solve global warming could be characterized as "carbon fundamentalism".  I'm not familiar with the term, and need to learn more about what it is supposed to mean, but here are my thoughts on the subject:

When chloroflourocarbons were destroying the ozone layer, the solution was to ban chloroflourocarbons.

When lead in gasoline was poisoning millions of people, the solution was to ban lead in gasoline.

When nitrous oxides were causing smog, the solution was to eliminate them with catalytic converters.

When sulfur dioxide from power plants is causing acid rain, the solution is to reduce sulfur dioxide from power plants.

Now, since global warming is primarily caused by carbon dioxide building up in the atmosphere, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels, the solution is to eliminate emissions of carbon dioxide by stopping the burning of fossil fuels--e.g. with solar power and electric cars (and reforestation, conservation, windmills, and lots more).  It's a big job, but it's really quite straightforward.

Of course I understand that the oil, gas, and coal companies are very powerful, so this fight is much more difficult than the others listed above.  But the fact is that we simply have to win it, or human survival is threatened.  I'm counting on the human urge to survive being stronger than the power of the fossil fuel companies.  I hope I'm right. 

Two more lessons

Monday of this week I parked the car at San Francisco's Sutter Stockton garage and plugged it in, but this time I used an extension cord so there would be no stress on the charger cord.  Unfortunately, when I got home, the charger would not work--no green light, no confirming horn toot, just a yellow light flashing--Ouch!

I took the car to the dealer, but they said their diagnostic computer was down, so they couldn't do anything then, and I drove home.  However, then the charger started working again!  Very puzzling.

Wednesday the dealer called to say that their diagnostic equipment was now working so I could bring it in.  I explained that it was working, but there was an engine warning light on the dashboard.  They asked me to bring it in to see what was up with that.

The result is that there were two diagnostic messages.  One had to do with a poor connection and the second had to do with a weak voltage supply.  Here are the lessons:

1.  Since I leave the car outside and the charger is also outside, I have decided to put the plug in device in a plastic bag when not being used to charge the car.  That will make sure no dust or dirt gets into the unit.

2.  When I go someplace to plug in the car, I need to make sure the circuit is good.  I don't know how to do that at a public garage or even at a friends house, but will try to learn.  The Service Department did say to be sure to use a heavy-duty extension cord, and not too long, if you do need to use one.  Better to avoid an extension cord altogether.

Book review: Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, by Mark Hertsgaard

Hot:  Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, by Mark Hertsgaard, Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2011

This book should be required reading for students and teachers of science, history, geography, politics, economics and journalism (and probably more).  Mark Hertsgaard goes directly to many sources of vital information about the impacts of climate change today and in the near future—places like Bangladesh, Shanghai, the Sahel in Africa, New Orleans, Florida, California, the Midwest . . .the world is in serious danger and Hertsgaard does not mince words.  We are heading for a serious of climate catastrophes—droughts, floods, heat waves, hurricanes that ultimately threaten extinction of humanity if we don’t stop burning fossil fuels.

For example, he reports that the UK government’s Meterological office has warned that current global emissions would lead to a temperature rise of 4⁰ C (7⁰ F) by 2070.  This “would create planetary conditions all but certain to end civilization as we know it, and leave many millions of people dead. . .snowpacks would be doomed, crashing water supplies in many places, including California.  Worse, positive feedbacks could make runaway global warming all but inevitable, for 4⁰ C would cause the tundra to thaw and the Amazon to burn.”

Hertsgaard argues that we need to “avoid the unmanageable and manage the unavoidable”, i.e. we need to recognize that some changes—e.g. 3 feet of sea level rise—are already inevitable, and we need to plan for those.  At the same time we need to break the stranglehold that oil, coal, and gas industries have on our political institutions to choose renewable alternatives to fossil fuels.

One weakness is that he doesn’t mention electric cars as part of the solution, although he does frequently cite the need for solar energy.  But that flaw is minor compared to the great amount of information in this well written book.

Trip to the San Francisco Academy of Science

Ayda and I finally made it to the Academy of Science today (thanks to member, Ed Walsh).  It was great to drive the Volt--we made the round trip (about 35 miles) all on the batteries.  Plus the Academy of Science is a great place to go; we saw:

• The planetarium show about how the building blocks for life began in stars and then on earth in the early oceans 4 billion years ago, and how recent searches for planets are finding billions of candidates for life in the Milky Way alone.
• The coral reef exhibit with all the beautiful fish, now endangered by increasing acidification of the oceans.
• The living roof of the building with drought resistant local plants providing insulation and capturing rainwater.
• The climate change exhibit showing the graph of CO2 increasing along with temperatures:  The climate change exhibit also had a solar cooker that can be used to help stop deforestation in places where people use wood for cooking (about 800 million people according to the exhibit)

• The three story tall rainforest with all the diversity of life--plants, fish, butterflies, birds, . . . that is threatened by deforestation. 
• The Galapagos exhibit that shows evolution from the rudimentary life forms 800 million years ago through the human migration from Africa about 60,000 years ago.

Chevy Volt survey--How would you describe your Volt

The Chevy people sent me a survey asking, among other things, how I would describe the Volt.  Here is what I said:

Great car to drive--very quiet and smooth with a lot of zip.  Knowing that we are driving on electricity instead of gas is a very positive feeling--it feels great not to be part of oil spills, pipelines through Alaska, wars in the Middle East, air pollution, and global warming.  Also, since we use solar panels to generate most of our electricity, we can be sure that the car is running on clean, sustainable energy.  And being free from rising gas prices is also a big plus.

Sierra Club petition favoring electric cars

The Sierra Club is launching a petition campaign to support electric vehicles.  Please click on this link to add your name:  Petition to White House favoring electric cars

Drive the Electric Vehicle Message to the White House

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama set a goal of one million electric vehicles on American roads by 2015. Now you can help us turn this vision into a reality.

Electric vehicles (EVs) will be an important part of our efforts to slash emissions, end our addiction to oil, and create domestic jobs. Even on today's electricity grid, EVs will be cleaner than most other cars on the road, and as we clean up our grid, EVs will get even cleaner. But in order to transition to these cleaner vehicles, we need public programs in place -- like pilot programs, support for EV charging stations, and other incentives -- that will make electric vehicles all the more appealing, feasible, and affordable.

Sierra Club petition favoring electric cars











https://secure2.convio.net/sierra/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=5789&autologin=true&s_src=211CGTAN01

Electric Vehicles: Myths vs. Realities (from the Sierra Club Insider)

Myth 1: Switching to an electric vehicle will just mean that the same amount of pollution comes from the electricity generation rather than from the tailpipe — I'll just be switching from oil to coal.
Reality: According to a range of studies, an electric car leads to 35 to 60% less carbon dioxide pollution from electricity than the CO2 pollution from the oil of a conventional car with an internal combustion engine.[1][2][3] In some areas, like many on the West Coast that rely largely on wind or hydro power, the emissions are significantly lower for EVs. And that's today. As we retire more coal plants and bring cleaner sources of power online, the emissions from electric vehicle charging drop even further. Additionally, in some areas, night-time charging will increase the opportunity to take advantage of wind power -another way to reduce emissions.
A caveat to consider, according to some studies, is that when coal plants supply the majority of the power mix in a given area, electric vehicles may emit more CO2 and SO2 pollution than hybrid electric vehicles.[4] Learn where your electricity comes from, what plans your state or community has for shifting to renewables, and whether you have options for switching to greener power.

The new all-electric Nissan Leaf. Photo by Darrell Clarke.

Myth 2: Plug-in cars will lead to the production of more coal and nuclear plants.
Reality: Even if the majority of drivers switched to electric, the existing electrical grid's off-peak/nighttime capacity for power generation is sufficient without building a single new power plant. Studies have shown that electric vehicle owners will largely charge their vehicles at night when there is plenty of capacity on the grid. In some areas, new "smart charging" allows you and the utility to set up a system by which you and other electricity users distribute the load evenly during charging so that the system is not overwhelmed by increased demand.

Myth 3: Electric car batteries pose a recycling problem.
Reality: Internal combustion engine vehicles use lead-acid batteries, and their recycle rate is about 98% in the US. The newer batteries for electric vehicles, such as those made of lithium-ion, include even more valuable and recyclable metals and will have a life well beyond the vehicle. In fact, a Belgian company plans to use Tesla Motor's electric vehicle battery pack material to produce an alloy it can further refine into cobalt, nickel, and other valuable metals as well as special grades of concrete. Technology will soon allow for EV batteries to store energy produced by solar or wind power.

Myth 4: My electricity bill will go way up.
Reality: While you'll spend more on electricity, the savings on gas will more than cover it. If you drive a pure battery electric vehicle 12,000 miles a year at current electricity rates (assuming $.12 per kilowatt hour though rates vary throughout the country), you'll pay about $389 per year for the electricity to charge your battery, but you'll save about $1200 in gas (assuming $3 per gallon, a 30 miles per gallon vehicle, and 12,000 miles driven). So $1200 minus $389 equals $811 in savings -a 68% reduction in fueling costs. Some utilities are offering EV owners lower off-peak/nighttime rates. The more we successfully advocate for these off-peak incentives, the lower your electricity payments will go.
Myth 5: Electric vehicles will just fail again like they did before.
Reality: Manufacturers are serious this time -rolling out more than a dozen new plug-in models in the next couple of years, starting now. With higher gas prices and climate change worrying many consumers, stricter fuel economy standards for new vehicles required of auto manufacturers, and billions of public and corporate dollars being spent on an EV infrastructure and research in the US, EVs are here to stay.

Myth 6: My battery will run out of juice.
Reality: The majority of drivers in the US drive less than 35 miles each day, sufficient for a fully charged pure electric vehicle (most can go 80 to 140 miles on one charge), and an extended range electric vehicle (that drives about 35 miles on electric and then the gasoline power kicks in). Using a 220-volt outlet and charging station, a plug-in hybrid recharges in about 100 minutes, an extended range plug-in electric in about four hours, and a pure electric in six to eight hours. A regular 110-volt outlet will mean significantly longer charging times, but for plug-in hybrids and extended range electrics, this outlet may be sufficient. Most of the time, the battery will not be empty when you plug in, thus reducing charging time.
Most people will charge at home. However, some businesses and public entities are beginning to install 220-volt public chargers. Some are installing fast-charging stations along highways and in public places that can re-charge a car to 80% of battery capacity in less than 30 minutes.

Myth 7: Electric vehicles are much more expensive than traditional vehicles.
Reality: While the initial sticker price of EVs is higher than traditional vehicles, you need to do the math to account for a variety of factors. For individual consumers, there is currently a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, as well as a partial federal credit for the charging unit. Several states have additional tax credits on top of the federal ones. Additionally, the average EV driver will save more than $800 a year in fuel (the cost of electricity compared to gasoline). Due to a cleaner, more streamlined system under the hood, an EV may save the average driver about 46% in annual maintenance costs, according to one federal government study.[5]

Myth 8: Electric vehicles are only available in California.
Reality: While EVs are not yet available for purchase in every state, they are quickly becoming available in many. The fully electric Nissan Leaf is being sold to customers in California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Tennessee. The Chevy Volt, an extended range plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, is currently being sold at select dealerships in California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington, DC. Customers in nearly all states are expected to be able to purchase or lease a Leaf, Volt, or Plug-in Toyota Prius by late 2011 or early 2012. The Tesla Roadster, a fully electric luxury sportscar, is available in several locations throughout the country. By 2012, many other models will become available nationwide, including the Ford Focus EV, Tesla Model S, and the Mitsubishi iMiev.

Myth 9: Charging an EV on solar power is a futuristic dream.
Reality: The technology to power your EV with solar power is already available. The investment in solar panels pays off faster when the solar power is not only replacing grid electricity, but replacing much more expensive gasoline. According to Plug-In America, EVs typically travel three to four miles (or more) per kWh (kilowatt hour) of electricity. If you drive 12,000 miles per year, you will need 3,000-4,000 kWh. Depending on where you live, you will need a 1.5kW-3kW photovoltaic (PV) system to generate that much power using about 150-300 square feet of space on your roof. Utility credits for the daytime solar power can offset the cost of charging the car at night. If solar PV isn't feasible at your home, find out if your utility offers a green energy option.

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1. Boschert, Sherry. "The Cleanest Cars: Well to Wheels Emissions Comparions." Updated May 2008. Cited February 15, 2011.

2. MIT Energy Initiative. "The Electrification of the Transportation System." April, 2010.

3. Electric Power Research Institute and Natural Resources Defense Council. "Environmental Assessment of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles." 2007. Cited February 16, 2011.

4. Environmental Law and Policy Center. Cited February 15, 2011.

5. Touchstone Energy Business Energy Advisor. "Getting Charged Up Over Electric Vehicles." Cited February 16, 2011.