Actually far harder to do centrally. The chap from national grid explained.
Iām not arguing that we should stop using EVs because some āfossil fuels are consumed to generate the electricity that they use.
What I am arguing is that we should have a full tally or their costs and benefits - and that it is sometimes hard to get adequate info to make the comparison.
EVs do have some advantages - they are almost completely non-polluting at the point of use, and they consume no power if stood still in traffic. It is much easier to control sulphur and NOx emissions in a power station chimney stack than it is in a carās exhaust system.
Indeed they are probably greener when running - in 2019 the CO2 emissions from electricity generation were ~ 256g/kWh, EVs use ~ 300-330Wh per mile so call it 75-80g per mile for EVs. Thatās pretty good (the lowest petrol cars are ~110) but not zero.
Iām also not arguing against improvements in low carbon generation - though personally Iād go for nuclear as solar and wind are a literal blot on the landscape and we really donāt know how theyāll impact the environment when used all over the globe for 100% of our power needs.
Hate to be negative - but I donāt really see it as long term viable. Itās a quirk of fossil fuel powered generation, which generally canāt just be turned on and off quickly, and heavy industrial users which arenāt as active overnight that there is massive generating surplus from ~12am to ~6am. The problem is that if you switch to renewables, probably with a lot of solar, a big chunk of your generating capacity disappears overnight.
I donāt see that itās āharderā to do within the network when you can have 1.45MWh sodium batteries to play with.
for that - yes, living closer to where we work and more āhuman poweredā transport modalities get a thumbs up from me.
Actually Covid might permanently change the way office work is done anyway - people are discovering life is more pleasant when they donāt have to spend three hours a day commuting.
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Going off subject did you know that new european laws are making driver monitoring mandatory on all new models in may 2022 and all cars/vans/ trucks in 2024.
It will work in conjunction with ADAS and cameras to see where you are looking so the cars can slow the car down to avoid accidents.
Got a link?
Requirements for GPS based maximum speed limit enforcement were in the pipeline from 2022 but ādriver monitoringā seems quite a step - and āall carsā from 2024 is unlikely to be possible.
EDIT: Re-checked, as far as I can see itās still ānew modelsā. I think 2022 is still the target date but it remains to be seen if the industry can apply it to all new cars (and itās bound to increase new car prices). Thereās also nothing that I can see about āall carsā rather than āall new modelsā.
All new cars built from 2024.
I predict pre-2024 models experiencing an upsurge in interest 
This link from google, other companies around too.
CO2 emissions in France for electricity generation in 2019 were 52g per KWh. I assume this is much lower than the UK because of nuclear. This makes EVs much cleaner to run than in the UK. The UKs CO2 emissions per KWh is pretty much at the EU average. the 2019 figure is 228 g per KWh.
Indeed, good investment for an EV, much less to go wrong or require replacement the ICE version and battery replacement likely to be available for many years.
Some great new cars like the VW id4, Nissan Ariya, Hyundai ionic5 plus several other PSA group offerings.
What I have trouble with is a Ā£500pm vehicle sitting idle most of the time compared to my older Ā£4-5000 ICE versions that I buy now. I want one but its a big budget. Might buy a smaller one and hire for trips to France.
Not negative to have a discussion, both sides or more to look into.
It is exactly the overnight capacity that allows the grid to rebalance the load via car batteries in the morning and evening surges. Likely that EVās could be stopped from charging during evening peak
Ray any later data? Things are moving pretty quickly in the UK, we have the largest wind renewable in the EU I believe.
You canāt compare Uk and France, nuclear has enormous clean up cost when decommissioning the stations plus imagine a accident or a attack on them.
The problem with electric at the moment is miles per charge and cost. Most people canāt afford to pay 15 k for a car never mind 30 plus.
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But the point I was making (perhaps too briefly) is that the electricity generation costs are part of a different tally.
Perhaps youāll see what I mean if I ask you where the oil for your car is extracted - what are the particular energy, environmental, transport, etc, costs of the oils that find their way to your local garage? Oh - and then to any other garage you might happen to useā¦
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At Le Clerc today, they were advertising a ZOE for I think 6ā¬/jour
Whilst that is true, one chap I follow on youtube spent an additional 20,000 something on the EV version but has calculated that he has saved more than the difference from home charging so its pay upfront for lower running costs
Upstream emissions are very variable but, yes, have to be taken into account - some studies have been done, eg this paper which gives figures from 3.2gCO2/MJ to 23.3gCO2/MJ - as gasoline has an energy density of ~34MJ/l the upstream emissions could equal or exceed engine emissions. Of course fossil fuels delivered to power stations have upstream emissions as well, though these are presumably lower per MJ of output.
But, as Iāve said before, my objections to EVs are not fundamental - they are practical. They are expensive, the range of current EVs means I canāt do UK to France on one charge, and it would be a pain to install a high current charging point at my UK domicile - plus, weāre a two car family and will probably soon be a three car family as NĀ°1 son has reached 17 so one charging point wonāt cut it.
Give me an EV which I can afford, and which has a 400 mile range and you will have a convert quicker than you can say zero emissions.
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In that example he would have to do a very large amount of miles.
For the average jo with a annual mileage of 10 to 12 thousand it would take years to pay off.
I agree you need a 400+ range and i bet once you are down to the last 100 miles you start panicking where the next charging point is, turn off the radio, air con, just to save power.
There was a article last week about Porsche trialing a new petrol for classic and sports cars, is was said to be as clean as a electric car.
that and electric as a hybrid?
On a regular run there should be less range anxiety but, yes margin is needed for detours to be possible without too much stress. Plus there is the need to factor in 20% capacity loss over the battery lifetime.
At least petrol tanks donāt shrink by 20% over the lifetime of the vehicle.