Questions for Drivers of Teslas

[jsn2918]

Hi all!

I'd like to ask the community some questions related to Electric Cars and your lifestyle, as part of my Extended Essay, which is part of the IB DP Curriculum. My question for my essay asks if Electric Cars have had any effects on carbon footprints on your lifestyles. Before I get started, thank you very much for helping me out on my research.

The questions that I'd like to ask are below:

• What made you buy an electric car?
• Have you become more aware of environmental issues since owning an electric car? In what ways?
• Have you become more aware about your fuel consumption on your car, and as a result do you think you save more energy now? Can you give an example?
• Have you taken action as to improving your lifestyle in an environmentally friendly way?
• Do you think that the use of electric cars benefit the environment in any way?
• What ways are you aware of the electricity you are consuming for your cars in terms of their source?

If you have anything you'd like to add about your experiences with an Electric Car feel free to do so too!

Thanks for all the help

 

[Chopr147]

Tesla Model S for 3 weeks


1) Great performing S with bonus of zero emissions
2)Yes, somewhat more aware and I research the validity of CC more now.
3) Fuel consumption? LOL All electric and I have solar panels on my house so a very small carbon footprint in this regard.
4) The car does this for me
5)Of course! Each and every EV sold benefits the environment regarding pollution and CC whether one believes in it or not.
6)See above--solar panels.

Good luck

 

[markwj]

• What made you buy an electric car?

For my first electric car: Primarily the technology, but also the reduction in environmental impact.
For my second electric car: Primarily the reduction in environmental impact, but also that it is just a better car (drives smoother, less noise, more comfort, more fun).

• Have you become more aware of environmental issues since owning an electric car? In what ways?

Yes. Very aware of noise pollution and air quality.

• Have you become more aware about your fuel consumption on your car, and as a result do you think you save more energy now? Can you give an example?

I drove a hybrid (Prius) before my first EV, so was very aware of fuel consumption and techniques to optimise it.

I certainly drive my EV using brakes as little as possible, to gain as much from regen braking.

• Have you taken action as to improving your lifestyle in an environmentally friendly way?

Yes. Reducing other forms of pollution (such as home electricity consumption, plastic bags, etc).

• Do you think that the use of electric cars benefit the environment in any way?

Yes. They certainly eliminate roadside pollution, as well as overall carbon and other harmful emissions.

• What ways are you aware of the electricity you are consuming for your cars in terms of their source?

Very aware of the pollution from our electricity generation, but glad to see how that has improved (for example; 10% reduction in CO2 emissions in just the last year, and 90% reduction in emissions harmful to air quality over the past 20 years). Very supportive of the Paris agreement to climate change, and our governments attempts to push for improvements in the fuel mix for electricity generation.

But sad to see that lack of progress on renewable energy in Hong Kong. Almost zero solar and wind power. There is a lot of possibility for this, but little action.

 

[MrJones390]

Here you go!

• What made you buy an electric car? Word of mouth, hearing people talk about it
• Have you become more aware of environmental issues since owning an electric car? In what ways? Yes, keeping up with Tesla news online inevitably brings up environmental issues
• Have you become more aware about your fuel consumption on your car, and as a result do you think you save more energy now? Can you give an example? No, not more aware, about the same. I would try and conserve gas as much as possible with my last car but now i try to go on as many road trips as possible.
• Have you taken action as to improving your lifestyle in an environmentally friendly way? Yes, installed solar panels
• Do you think that the use of electric cars benefit the environment in any way? Yes, zero emissions
• What ways are you aware of the electricity you are consuming for your cars in terms of their source? My source is the sun. My car is powered by solar panels on the roof of my house.

 

[Captain_Kong]

For what it's worth, here you go and hope it helps!

•What made you buy an electric car?
Performance and tax (exemption) in HK, plus supporting the company as a shareholder! I placed an ordered for Model S, before the production version of the vehicle was released, and after I saw the prototype and the specs, which were too good to be true (and turned out to be mostly true)! Subsequent YouTube videos showing Model S outgunning traditional ICE performance vehicles further reinforced the purchase decision.

•Have you become more aware of environmental issues since owning an electric car? In what ways?
No I have not, apart from that I’m very pleased I no longer have to pay for fossil fuel for my Tesla.

•Have you become more aware about your fuel consumption on your car, and as a result do you think you save more energy now? Can you give an example?
No I have not, my other car which is a Volvo returns around 15-20lt fuel consumption per 100km for only a 2lt engine (similar figures from the previous cars I owned in HK, which were not oil guzzlers); hence from my experience, fuel consumption (or savings) is pretty much academic given the topographical features of HK.

•Have you taken action as to improving your lifestyle in an environmentally friendly way?
No I have not, as a I don't consider myself to be a tree hugger, errrr…

•Do you think that the use of electric cars benefit the environment in any way?
Yes I do, and significantly so for HK. Imagine what the air quality in Central, CWB, MK etc. will be liked, assuming the best selling passenger vehicles last year in HK were VW diesel vehicles instead of Model S...

•What ways are you aware of the electricity you are consuming for your cars in terms of their source?
I don’t really think about this actively, as debating the pros and cons of owning an EV or an ICE and its environmental impact goes beyond just considering mere source of electricity. In any event, most of the main stream media only reports what they advertisers want them to report. If one is really serious about this topic, one can examine from ground up by starting from what it takes to build a car from scratch.

 

[gubes]

Hi all!

I'd like to ask the community some questions related to Electric Cars and your lifestyle, as part of my Extended Essay, which is part of the IB DP Curriculum. My question for my essay asks if Electric Cars have had any effects on carbon footprints on your lifestyles. Before I get started, thank you very much for helping me out on my research.

The questions that I'd like to ask are below:

• What made you buy an electric car?
• Have you become more aware of environmental issues since owning an electric car? In what ways?
• Have you become more aware about your fuel consumption on your car, and as a result do you think you save more energy now? Can you give an example?
• Have you taken action as to improving your lifestyle in an environmentally friendly way?
• Do you think that the use of electric cars benefit the environment in any way?
• What ways are you aware of the electricity you are consuming for your cars in terms of their source?

If you have anything you'd like to add about your experiences with an Electric Car feel free to do so too!

Thanks for all the help

1) Tesla car reviews. Performance, cost of ownership in HK given high gas prices, zero FRT, resale guarantee program.
2) Yes. Although was becoming more aware at the time of researching the purchase. Always looking at ways to clean up the environment so that my kids live in a better world.
3) I became more aware because when calculating the savings I needed to take into account the mileage I was doing in my old car. Given the efficiency of the electric drive-train, I am acutely aware of how much energy is being saved.
4) Yes. Ever since owning an EV, I have looked at ways to save electricity (as my electricity bill has gone up) but also looked at ways to mitigate impact on the local environment through better garbage disposal etc. Although I am much more aware of the environment as I get older in any case.
5) Yes. I think it does although I think buying an EV centralizes the emissions problem to utilities who through government incentives, should look at ways at reducing their carbon footprint through a combination of better grid utilization & efficiency, emission reductions on incumbent electricity generation as well as adopting more use of zero emission electricity generation such as renewables. EVs have a lower carbon footprint at the margin even if 100% of the electricity is coal fired - but obviously this should transition to lower carbon emission technologies.
6) I am fully aware about how much it costs as I charge my car 60-70% of the time at home and pay for it myself. I know that close to 100% of that electricity is coming from sub-optimal sources (coal).

---

The last comment here is in order to reduce carbon emissions, the best way is for vehicles to become electric and focus on utilities. There are 3 ways utilities can improve:

1) Better utilize existing infrastructure through smart grids and introducing peak rates during different times of the day. Very little electricity is used between the hours of 1am to 7am yet the cost is the same. In order to more efficiently use electricity, you have to smooth out the usage throughout the day. EVs could do home charging between these hours at lower rates and it would lead to better efficiency.

2) Incentivize power utilities to lower their carbon emissions. For every g/kwh they save in emissions, they should have a sliding scale as to the return they are allowed on their regulated return formulas.

3) Phase through adoption in renewable energy. Even if 100% of vehicles in Hong Kong converted to Electric, the total demand for electricity would only increase by 15%. If it takes 10 to 15 years to get to that target, you would need an additional 1-2% per year of extra electricity which should be catered for by better efficiencies in existing generation (burning less coal for the same kwh of electricity) and through the adoption of renewable energy.

Remember that Hong Kong coal fired power plants procure their coal from Indonesia. This coal is cheaper, has low sulphur content but has low calorific value. Meaning you need to burn more coal for the same kw of electricity. They should look at switching the source to say, high quality Australian Newcastle benchmark coal which has a higher calorific content.

 

[jsn2918]

Remember that Hong Kong coal fired power plants procure their coal from Indonesia. This coal is cheaper, has low sulphur content but has low calorific value. Meaning you need to burn more coal for the same kw of electricity. They should look at switching the source to say, high quality Australian Newcastle benchmark coal which has a higher calorific content.

Can you direct me to a possible website source for this?

Thanks!

 

[jsn2918]

Remember that Hong Kong coal fired power plants procure their coal from Indonesia. This coal is cheaper, has low sulphur content but has low calorific value. Meaning you need to burn more coal for the same kw of electricity. They should look at switching the source to say, high quality Australian Newcastle benchmark coal which has a higher calorific content.

Alternatively, where did you find this out?

 

[Xenius]

Hi all!

• What made you buy an electric car?
• Have you become more aware of environmental issues since owning an electric car? In what ways?
• Have you become more aware about your fuel consumption on your car, and as a result do you think you save more energy now? Can you give an example?
• Have you taken action as to improving your lifestyle in an environmentally friendly way?
• Do you think that the use of electric cars benefit the environment in any way?
• What ways are you aware of the electricity you are consuming for your cars in terms of their source?

1) I kind of like this planet and want to prevent it from turning into a wasteland.
2) Not really, was already acutely aware of issues, hence why I bought an EV.
3) My fuel is electricity, and I plan to install solar panels after a house expansion to feed it.
4) I've always been fairly conscious and my Model S has only made me more so.
5) Absolutely, any scientific data will show that EVs are themselves more effecient than conventional gasoline/diesel engines. So even if your car is powered with dirty electricity (coal) you're still putting out less greenhouse gases and particulates into the air.
6) I know that where I live in PA my electricity is rougly 70% nuclear. I also pay extra to source the electricity we get from green sources such as wind and solar.

Good luck with your essay!