Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of the light-vehicle
% of vehicle
miles traveled (VMT) would use no gasoline, while if they
were PHEV
eet was PHEV
s,
% of travel would use no gasoline.
The impact of a full
s
fleet of PHEV
s on demand for
gasoline is huge.
If all
the light-vehicle
eet were
PHEV
s, gasoline consumption would decrease dramat-
ically. In the United States the
million barrels (bbl) of
oil per day used by light vehicles in the transportation
sector would drop to
million bbl per day and oil
imports would drop steeply. However, don
.
t hold your
breath until the new day dawns. The PHEVs are new, and
battery development will have to proceed for a few years
until they have the capability to handle the large-car end
of the motor
'
fleet. Also, cars turn over slowly. A census of
all the vehicles on the road today will
find some as old as
more years until the newest
one on the road today is retired.
All-electric vehicles need much more battery capacity
than the plug-ins if they are to meet the needs for a large
part of the population. There have been all-electric
vehicles before, such as the General Motors EV-
years, and it will take
that
my wife had, and the Toyota RAV-
that were very popu-
lar with their users. The evolution of battery technology is
worth noting. The
rst EV-
was introduced in
with
a lead-acid battery and had a range of only about
miles.
The second version was introduced in
and had an
improved nickel-metal-hydride battery and a range of
about
miles. The newest Tesla car uses lithium-ion
batteries and has a range of
miles (it costs over about
$
). Battery technology will continue to improve.
The US long-term goal for general-purpose all-electric
drive is a range of
miles, and achieving that will
