Electromobility – the future (part 2)

Electromobility – the future (part 2)

  • Posted by Gerhard Pramhas
  • On 23. February 2020

The issue of this blog post will be electromobility again. A short information beforehand: We always like to transfer economic dates from Germany to Austria with a factor of 1/10 and that is why I do not think about it in a good way.

In the last blog post I wrote about the question, how the development of electromobility is going to continue regarding the lead from the newspaper ReadING.

Factor 1/10 – how much do we need?

The author DI Dr. Gagstädter calculates that the required charging current is needed for the construction of 23 coalfired power plants or 35,000 wind turbines. Keeping the factor 1/10 in mind 3,500 wind turbines have to be available to cover the requirements. Additionally to that, it is not windy enough in all the areas not even during the night, when there is a huge demand. That is why, more wind turbines are needed, but there is not enough existing place because the energy has to be transported to the cars. If you keep in mind who difficult it is to build a high voltage line in Austria, you sure can imagine how tricky it is in this case. Please do not get me wrong: I do not want to live under a 380 kV line, either. I can understand the rebellion against that. Apart from that, it is not guaranteed if our current power grids are able to stand an extremely high peak demand. That is the aim of current studies.

Error of thinking in politics

In my opinion the predominant error of thinking in politics refers to the extremely favourable mechanical efficiency of electric motors from the battery to the road. From the moment on, when electric energy is saved chemically in the battery, the e-car is undefeatable. But what about the total energy balance? What about the infrastructure, key word: electricity line from the power plants to the cars? Not everyone of us has a photovoltaic system on their roof. Moreover, the car usually stands not in front of the house during sunshine.

Hydrogen – an alternative?

The author of ReadING also writes about some alternatives – hydrogen is one of them. Maybe it would be better for the politicians to promote hydrogen, instead of electromobility. Above all, we should not forget about the people, who are working in the automotive industry from the producer to the small workshop. Surely, the development of alternative jobs is going to be slower than the decrease of jobs in the automotive industry. Are we still willing to drive e-cars while a hundred of thousands of jobs will diminish? Are you and I going to be affected, too?

What do you think about the current situation? Do you have e-cars? Have you already had a blackout in the area where you live because too many e-cars were charged at the very same time? If you want to you can either write me at gerhard@pramhas.eu or use the contact form.