It seams like everyone has an opinion on this. I know a few of you have already done this research.
Can anyone point me to a peer reviewed scientific investigation on the pollution from a purely coal powered ev vs a gasoline car?
apeweek
Favorite Answer
The question has very little meaning - here's why.
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Huge amounts of electricity are required to process and refine gasoline - nearly the same amount of electricity electric cars use. So no matter how much coal electric cars burn, just as much coal is burned to make gasoline.
Breath on the Wind
"coal powered electric car" is a pejorative not a scientific category. You might as equally ask if someone has done a peer review study on low down dirty rats vs fathers. Because you start with a false assumption you might then conclude (falsely) that because there are no peer review studies rats don't (or do) make good fathers.
A "coal powered electric car" is also a hypothetical. There are no places powered 100% by coal fired electricity. If there were the situation would be so isolated as to be extremely rare and therefore unworthy of study. Instead what we have is an electric grid. It is further a false assumption to compare the charging of an electric vehicle and some percentage of a coal fired power plant to the EV pollution. The hypothetical EV must be a specific vehicle. Efficiency will change from vehicle to vehicle. The power plant output is also based upon assumptions and averages and not real world data. We should only compare all grid output to all EV's on the road to make more accurate assumptions: http://cleantechnica.com/2012/01/16/a-short-tale-%E2%80%9Cthe-long-tailpipe%E2%80%9D/
There was a recent study lead by Chris Cherry of the University of Tennessee that discussed EV use in China which is heavily dependent upon Coal use. The study has been widely misquoted. A gentle refutation appears here: http://evworld.com/currents.cfm?jid=229
My stronger comments appear here: http://cleantechnica.com/2012/02/16/new-study-ev-more-polluting-than-petrol-not-so-fast/
Sam Davis
It really doesn't matter. Because people don't care about where the fuel comes from or how clean it is. They want realibility and ease. Electric cars have the same problem today that they had over 100 years ago. Batteries. Batteries take a long time to charge. Now if you can build and electric car that has the same range as a gas car (300-500 miles) on fill and can be recharged is the same time it takes to fill a gas tank with gas and be as cheap as a gas car then people might consider weither electric is cleaner. But the environment is at the bottom of peoples list when buying a car.
Bob
Why would you want a peer reviewed anything. That is just a label for propaganda these days.
The trouble with your question is there is no such thing as a purely coal powered EV. Besides the real problem between electric and gas is the range vs refueling time. Not the source of the power.
holom
counting on the place you're, an electric powered motor vehicle ought to be powered by way of nuclear, wind, hydro (water), or organic gas -- yet coal is a different possibility. performance is with regard to a similar the two way, being desperate by way of Carnot's regulation, and approximately 30%. Weight of batteries will decrease performance for an electric powered, yet regenerative braking will make some up. Greenhouse emissions rely some on the form you count variety water vapor. gas could have greater water vapor, by way of fact it has greater hydrogen. Coal fee decrease than gas, so if performance is seen in funds (or different forex) consistent with mile, electric powered expenditures much less -- a minimum of after the motor vehicle itself is paid for.