I have to roll my eyes at the claim that coal powered EVs are better for the environment and/or fighting climate change than oil powered internal combustion engines. For example, gasoline yields about 75% more energy per unit of CO2 produced than anthracite coal power (combination of gasoline being ~85% carbon by weight versus virtually 100% carbon and a higher energy content per unit mass, ~44 MJ/kg versus ~30 MJ/kg). Even with better efficiency of coal power versus ICE, it’s not much of an improvement.
There is an argument, which I sometimes find slightly plausible, that transitioning to electric vehicles (and stoves, and furnaces) will make it more attractive/feasible to change power generation to nuclear (or, if you’re in the unicorn league, wind and solar) — as long as you have to drill for oil to make transportation work, you might as well use it for everything.
Reuters is of course just shilling for the “China can do no wrong” crowd, though to their credit they at least say, “This is not as big a disaster as you might think”.
I have to roll my eyes at the claim that coal powered EVs are better for the environment and/or fighting climate change than oil powered internal combustion engines. For example, gasoline yields about 75% more energy per unit of CO2 produced than anthracite coal power (combination of gasoline being ~85% carbon by weight versus virtually 100% carbon and a higher energy content per unit mass, ~44 MJ/kg versus ~30 MJ/kg). Even with better efficiency of coal power versus ICE, it’s not much of an improvement.
There is an argument, which I sometimes find slightly plausible, that transitioning to electric vehicles (and stoves, and furnaces) will make it more attractive/feasible to change power generation to nuclear (or, if you’re in the unicorn league, wind and solar) — as long as you have to drill for oil to make transportation work, you might as well use it for everything.
Reuters is of course just shilling for the “China can do no wrong” crowd, though to their credit they at least say, “This is not as big a disaster as you might think”.