And if you follow the EIA instructions, go to that Excel spreadsheet, tab over to Table 10, and you'll see estimated losses of around 4million out of about 108million MWh for 2016. That's 3.75% in T&D losses by my calculation. NOT 67%, as you all are suggesting. Indeed, EIA estimates approx 5% of total electricity generation lost in T&D losses per year (https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=105&t=3).
So, transmission losses are important, but nowhere near a dominant factor in the overall energy performance of electric vehicles vs ICE.
A little bit of actual information goes a long way.
Only if the information is understood and used in the proper context!
I never suggested transmission losses to be 67%. It's the entire process you need to look at starting from calculations of how much energy is contained in the fuel that is released when burnt at the power plant and compared to work the car actually does on the road.
To charge your car there is a long list of inefficiencies to calculate, first the turbine that burns the fuel and creates the electricity, it's far more efficient vs an ICE engine in a car but it's in the 40-60% range and 60% is a recent achievement afaik, steam might even be under 40%. This is the thermal efficiency. Then there's going to be far more minor losses (vs the loss in thermal eff) in the generator, transmission, charging the battery, etc.
Then, discharging the battery and running the motors in the car has some inefficiency in it too, though nowhere even close to how inefficient an ICE motor is.
An ICE car is around 30% for comparison, it can vary but this is reasonable average. This isn't hard to figure out, just take the energy in the gas burnt and compare it to the work done by the car.
A coal plant running 40% thermal efficiency is probably going to be worse vs the ICE car as all the other inefficiencies will add up to more than the ICE car in the end. A very efficient natural gas power plant might actually squeak out a small advantage but it's definitely not worth it when you consider the other issues. Charge with renewable sources of energy and after some years on the road the savings will eclipse the extra energy required to build and recycle the car and you'll have a net reduction in CO2 emissions, which is great. At this point it's probably worth it, but like the cigarettes to heroin example, we will be paying the price in other ways that aren't sustainable either.
If you compare an extremely efficient ICE car to electric power via fossil fuels there is no contest... a car like the Honda Fit cost very little to manufacture, it's easy to recycle, it gets around double the average fuel economy and is likely the best answer to the problem right now. But it'll never be trendy and wealthy folks will never drive a Fit. I get it, neither do I... I don't drive much though.
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On another topic, heating the passenger space... it's free with ICE as it's just waste heat but can reduce the efficiency of an EV drastically, this is rarely taken into account!
