this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
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- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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Not to mention the electrical energy stored in their cells has a fairly strong possibility of having been generated by a power plant consuming coal or petroleum.
I live in Alberta where most of our power comes from natural gas. I'm also an emissions and sustainability engineer. I did the math on environmental payback for an EV where I live and the EV is WILDLY better for the environment despite the power potentially coming from fossil fuels.
If you tell me roughly where you live I can calculate emissions per kilometre/mile including the energy that goes into manufacturing the vehicle.
There's absolutely jurisdictions where EVs don't make much difference - but most places they do.
(large scale power generation is pretty effecient and most jurisdictions have some renewables in the mix. A car's gas engine is much lower efficiency most places)
No disputes from me on your assessment. In principle I'm a big fan of EVs as a maturing technology and my only hangup with Tesla is its association with the person who is its CEO and the role he's chosen to play in US politics.
I'll gladly champion a vehicle that has incredible efficiency in converting its stored energy into mechanical work, especially when that stored energy came from a source that's 40-60% thermally efficient (for combustion-based processes) or derived from solar/wind/geothermal/hydro sources and can be partially recuperated via braking. It's too bad there aren't more EV options for people who want or need a 3/4 or 1-ton pickup (of which I happen to be a big fan for hauling/towing/plowing).
The one area where I'm still dubious of electric vehicles is in cold climates, although I think I've read heat pumps are being used with success. Otherwise, I'd propose a small auxiliary tank (preferably propane, if infrastructure permits) and a "Chinese diesel heater"-type unit be installed simply for cabin heating/defogging. Few energy conversions make me cringe more than that of high-exergy electricity (derived from non-renewables) directly into thermal energy, convenient as it may be for the end user.
Of course, it'd be nice if that combustive heat could be generated from sustainably-harvested hydrogen instead of an extracted hydrocarbon, but at that point, a fuel cell running a heat pump would be even better, with resistive waste heat from the FC an added bonus. But now it all feels a bit Rube Goldbergian...
Anyway, what's your take on EV use in climates with harsh winters (such as Canada/Alaska/Montana/Wyoming/Minnesota), especially when long range might be needed?
I have a few family members with heat pumps (I'm in Canada) and they work well. They do need to be supplemented for the coldest days, but they have an electric heater integrated into the system for that. Last month was particularly cold (every day was below freezing) and resulted in some very high power bills, but still worked out to be less costly than oil or even wood.
In terms of EVs not working well in the cold... yeah and neither do Diesel engines. Need to plug in a block heater if you want your diesel engine to start on a cold morning. Seems a really easy fix to have something similar for an EV, and since you're plugging it in anyway, it shouldn't be a big problem.
EVs are kinda a no-brainer in terms of energy usage. Way cheaper than gas or diesel, only problem is there's a significant upfront cost at the moment. Once some lithium mines come online and we get some economies of scale going on making the batteries that upfront cost drops too. Other than the battery, an EV is way simpler than an ICE vehicle, and all studies have shown they will last significantly longer than an ICE vehicle. Electric motors aren't all that complicated, the batteries are getting to be mature tech now, so there's less that can go wrong with them than with complicated ICE powered vehicle.
My partner and I backcountry ski, iceclimb etc. One of the reasons we went with the Ioniq 5 was that we can sleep in the back and use the heat pump to keep us warm.
We recently did a weeklong ski trip with it. We drove from from Golden, BC back to Calgary, AB (250km/150mi) in -16C (3F) and used 70% of a charge. One day on that trip, we were backcountry skiing in similar weather and the car sat outside in that weather for 8 hours. No loss of battery.
One of the unexpected features I really enjoy is that I never pump gas in the cold any more. I programmed my work schedule and the car pre-warms for my commute. I get home, plug the car in, and it's always ready to go.
Thanks for the great beta! When it finally comes time for me to retire the ol' 14 y/o flat-4, I'll keep your advice in mind.
Even when powered by fossil fuel power plants, electric vehicles are still usually better in terms of CO2 emissions. Power plants benefit from scale, so they're a lot more efficient than the tiny combustion engines in cars. Regenerative braking also saves a ton of energy when driving in the city.
The thing is, that EVs, and Tesla/Musk in particular are trying to continue a war against public transport that the car industry has been fighting for 100+ years at this point. Using the same power sources, an electric train is orders of magnitude more efficient than an EV, and even a diesel train is emitting less CO2. Hell, a diesel bus is probably still emitting less.
Edit: per person/passenger.
Of course, public transit is far better. Unfortunately it's often easier (especially in the US) to convince people to buy a different kind of car than it is to convince them to use public transit.
Yeah definitely, but EVs are being pushed globally as a solution to climate change when they just aren't really.
Yes the fossil fuel industry loved to point this one out. "Hahaha! We're so dirty even your clean tech can't be clean!"