Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA)

Wed Dec 15 2010

Mississauga -- Gwyn Morgan (It's A Long, Hard Road Ahead For Electric Cars - Dec. 13) is unnecessarily pessimistic. Electric motors are about four times as efficient as the best gasoline engines so that even in the U.S., you would still be slightly ahead of the game with respect to GHG emissions. In a jurisdiction like Ontario, where electricity generation is cleaner, reductions in GHG emissions would be much more substantial.

Most electric cars would be charged at night, when Ontario has surplus generation capacity. A 50-kilometre commute, for a vehicle such as the Nissan Leaf, would require about 12 kWh of electricity, or about as much as a space heater uses in eight hours. Currently, 12 kWh of electricity would cost about $1.20, the cost of a litre of gasoline. You will not travel 50 km on a litre of gasoline.