Staying on the Grid

Every few days, some helpful friend tries to burst my bubble by letting me know how much coal is burned by electric cars charging off the grid. It happens at work, at play... and even on my Facebook timeline.

But these well-meaning comments miss the point entirely. What point is that, you ask? Well, since you asked... the point is this:

It doesn't matter how dirty electric car charging is TODAY. What matters is that the planet WILL run out of oil. Gasoline is a finite resource, while the power sources charging the grid change over time. 

If coal is what is powering the grid today, I'm not caught up in it. Every day more solar fields are added to grids around the country. The solar farm in Stanton, Florida, consists of 25,185 solar panels and generates 6 megawatts of electricity per day, enough to power over 1200 homes. I drove by it a few weeks ago.

This farm is only four years old and is one of the many ways our power company, Duke Energy, is trying to create energy from sustainable sources. Duke is also studying the use of small-scale wind turbines for grid-tied wind projects in Florida and North Carolina.

Today the grid may be powered by over 70% coal and oil, but the days of this ratio are numbered, even if the numbers will not run out in my lifetime. Eventually, there will be no more oil. There will be no more coal. But there will still be the grid. And electric cars run off the grid no matter what is powering it. That is what makes electric cars sustainable in the long run. I'm comforted to know that the premium I paid for my vehicle (which I'll get back in the form of a tax refund in a few months) is helping to contribute to a growing number of grid-charged cars in the long run. When the oil runs out and the gas stations close, society must be ready for what comes next.

Another common argument I hear is that there is no point moving towards an electric car when great improvements have been made in the efficiency of gasoline-powered vehicles. That's great for the short haul, but not in the long run. One of the worst problems with this is just being realized in Oregon, where preponderance of electric and hybrid vehicles, compounded by more efficient gasoline powered cars, is causing a shortfall in state tax revenue from gasoline. The solution? Implant a device in electric and hybrid vehicles that charges a per-mile tax to the driver.

This might sound like a counterargument to my point, but it isn't. Oregon has chosen to tackle the problem by charging drivers who aren't buying ANY gas, or are buying a minimal amount of gas. But what happens when those drivers have all been charged, and the revenue generated STILL isn't enough because cars are more efficient? 

We need sustainable solutions that do not depend on the amount of gasoline a person uses, because any solution that depends on gasoline is not going to be a permanent solution. Besides, a gas tax by any other name is still just that - a tax. Why not charge people for using the roads in their annual state income tax? Which we don't pay in Florida, but that's beside the point. This works no matter what the power source is, or how efficient it is. In other words, it doesn't ebb or flow with changing technologies and economies.

It's all about sustainability, folks. Get with the program or eventually, the program will get with you.