Not long ago WE reported on Bellingham's upcoming regulations and restrictions for electric car charging stations. Knowing that the Governor rammed legislation through Olympia (that deal is done), we knew it wouldn't be long before similar regs would appear on the county docket. Sure enough, they have. You can link to the 55-page county Planning & Development Services staff report below.
But first, understand how much of a colossal snowjob is being passed-off as a green revolution, in the name of "innovation." Electric cars are energy hogs. In some cases, they have energy appetites as big as midsize SUV's. To quote a recent expose,
"... one needs to multiply the EPA MPGe by .365 to get a number that truly compares fossil fuel use of an electric car with a traditional gasoline engine car on an apples to apples basis. In the case of the Fisker Karma, we get a true MPGe of 19. This makes it worse than even the city rating of a Ford Explorer SUV."
Fisker Karma Electric Car Gets Worse Mileage Than an SUV
November 6, 2011
Rage Against The Kakistocracy
Government should not be allowed to pick winners and losers. It can't be trusted to be honest about it. This article from Forbes illustrates the problem:
The Fisker Karma electric car, developed mainly with your tax money so that a bunch of rich VC’s wouldn’t have to risk any real money, has rolled out with an nominal EPA MPGe of 52 in all electric mode (we will ignore the gasoline engine for this analysis).
Not bad? Unfortunately, it’s a sham. This figure is calculated using the grossly flawed EPA process that substantially underestimates the amount of fossil fuels required to power the electric car, as I showed in great depth in an earlier Forbes.com article. In short, the EPA methodology leaves out, among other things, the conversion efficiency in generating the electricity from fossil fuels in the first place [by assuming perfect conversion of the potential energy in the fuel to electricity, the EPA is actually breaking the 2nd law of thermodynamics]. (Continue Reading...)
The free market works on the principle of natural selection. It has no agenda. Politicians, statists and bureaucrats always have an agenda. They cannot abide allowing citizens to make their own choices. There's always the risk that We the People might make choices that the illiberal control freaks might not agree with. (more...)
Proposed Whatcom County Electric Car Charging Station Ordinance
The complete 55-page Planning and Development staff report, with its complete "Exhibit A" can be read here. Don't expect much of this to change as it bumbles through the "public review" process. The exhibit was borrowed from the Seattle area, however misfitting. Contributors to that masterwork included self serving electric car lobbyists like “ECOtality North America,” “Avista Utilities,” and the “Seattle Electric Vehicle Association,” and it says “prepared with assistance from” Plug In America. How's that for an objective source?
WE grieve for science, practicality, and common sense. There really is no "free lunch," except of course at the public trough.
But first, understand how much of a colossal snowjob is being passed-off as a green revolution, in the name of "innovation." Electric cars are energy hogs. In some cases, they have energy appetites as big as midsize SUV's. To quote a recent expose,
"... one needs to multiply the EPA MPGe by .365 to get a number that truly compares fossil fuel use of an electric car with a traditional gasoline engine car on an apples to apples basis. In the case of the Fisker Karma, we get a true MPGe of 19. This makes it worse than even the city rating of a Ford Explorer SUV."
Fisker Karma Electric Car Gets Worse Mileage Than an SUV
November 6, 2011
Rage Against The Kakistocracy
Government should not be allowed to pick winners and losers. It can't be trusted to be honest about it. This article from Forbes illustrates the problem:
The Fisker Karma electric car, developed mainly with your tax money so that a bunch of rich VC’s wouldn’t have to risk any real money, has rolled out with an nominal EPA MPGe of 52 in all electric mode (we will ignore the gasoline engine for this analysis).
Not bad? Unfortunately, it’s a sham. This figure is calculated using the grossly flawed EPA process that substantially underestimates the amount of fossil fuels required to power the electric car, as I showed in great depth in an earlier Forbes.com article. In short, the EPA methodology leaves out, among other things, the conversion efficiency in generating the electricity from fossil fuels in the first place [by assuming perfect conversion of the potential energy in the fuel to electricity, the EPA is actually breaking the 2nd law of thermodynamics]. (Continue Reading...)
The free market works on the principle of natural selection. It has no agenda. Politicians, statists and bureaucrats always have an agenda. They cannot abide allowing citizens to make their own choices. There's always the risk that We the People might make choices that the illiberal control freaks might not agree with. (more...)
Proposed Whatcom County Electric Car Charging Station Ordinance
The complete 55-page Planning and Development staff report, with its complete "Exhibit A" can be read here. Don't expect much of this to change as it bumbles through the "public review" process. The exhibit was borrowed from the Seattle area, however misfitting. Contributors to that masterwork included self serving electric car lobbyists like “ECOtality North America,” “Avista Utilities,” and the “Seattle Electric Vehicle Association,” and it says “prepared with assistance from” Plug In America. How's that for an objective source?
WE grieve for science, practicality, and common sense. There really is no "free lunch," except of course at the public trough.
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