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Comment 1 for State Alternative Fuels Plan (ab100707) - Non-Reg.

First NameSteve
Last NameHeckeroth
Email Addresssteve@renewables.com
Affiliation
SubjectBEVs ignored
Comment
Battery electric vehicles offer by far the best way to limit
emissions yet they are almost ignored in the state alternative
transportarion fuels plan.

The overall efficiency of PVs charging EVs is 60 to 2,000 times
more efficient than internal combustion vehicles burning biofuels
- when efficiency is measured from Sun to Wheel. 

Hydrogen (H2) is much lighter than air and it must be contained in
order to keep it from escaping the Earth’s atmosphere, unless it is
bound up in water or hydrocarbon molecules. The strong bonds that
hold these molecules together take a significant amount of energy
to break apart to extract H2. Once the hydrogen is extracted more
energy is need to compress it into a container that is small
enough to store on a vehicle. In order for a fuel cell vehicle to
go 200 or 300 miles on a tank, the H2 must be stored in metal
hydrates or at 10,000 psi in very heavy containers. Even after
more than 20 years of development, fuel cell vehicles still cost
close to a million dollars each and don’t last very long or go
very far. Finally, it takes about 4 times more renewable energy to
drive a fuel cell vehicle than it does to charge the batteries in
an electric vehicle to go the same distance. This is like the
difference in fuel economy between a Hummer and a Prius. How can
the state is still suport fuel cell vehicles when 96% of all H2 is
extracted from fossil fuel and they cost an order of magnitude more
then EVs? 

The numbers for battery cost in the plan are to high and the
numbers for the price of fuel are way to low.

Go back to the drawing board and make EVs the center piece of the
plan.


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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted 2007-11-13 21:51:51

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