Know who loves electric cars? Bill Nye the Science Guy
During the Plug-in 2009 conference in Long Beach, California last week, the most passionate advocates for plugging in their cars came out in droves for the public night. Seems that once people get a taste of plugging in their car instead of sucking down fuel at the gas station, they really, really like it. The panel for the evening was made up of Chris Paine, director of Who Killed The Electric Car? and the forthcoming follow-up; Chelsea Sexton, star of the first film and well-known plug-in vehicle advocate, and a certain science guy named Bill Nye (L to R in the image above).
Just an example of who came to the public night: we saw at least three MINI Es pull into the parking garage, (there was another on the show floor and Bill Nye said he left his at home in favor of taking the train), as well as a Tesla Roadster and a converted PHEV Prius. These are the people we've been waiting for, and you can listen to the entire panel discussion after the jump.
Paine said that the Revenge of the Electric Car movie has been pushed back to a 2010 release (shooting is to be completed by September 2010) because they want the cars to be available when the film hits theaters. Tesla and GM will be two of the main stories of the movie, Paine said, and he and his crew have shot some interesting footage already.
For his part, Nye was an original EV1 driver, which Sexton helped him get. And did you know he used to work for Boeing? Today, he's still an EV driver and likes his MINI E, but not the massive batteries or the aggressive regenerative brakes. The EV1 was sexy, and could appeal to anyone, but GM abandoned the car at "exactly the wrong time in all of human history," he said. Finding the most efficient vehicles is more important today than ever, he said, because we spend so much energy driving around.
The three panelists gave brief introductions and discussed their connection to the electric car world, then spent most of the 90 minutes answering questions from the audience. Topics included Ann Coulter and what it's like to give someone a ride in your electric car and make them excited about what EVs can do. You can listen to the entire panel using the flash player below (or download the 74 MB MP3 here)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
paulwesterberg 8:51PM (8/18/2009)
Wow, I mean that's so weird, a guy who bases his advocacy based on science and efficiency rather than marketing and personal gain. He is like the antimatter version of greg blencoe.
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get2djnow 4:20PM (8/19/2009)
Electric cars are a terrific waste of energy. All of the "electic car" people refuse to recognize that line losses during transmission and electric losses in the motor will always cause the electric motor to be MUCH less efficient than efficient diesel or gas engines. But understanding the science is something that Greenies are interested in, they just want their electric cars.
paulwesterberg 6:09PM (8/19/2009)
Transmission and distribution losses in the USA were estimated at 7.2% in 1995.
http://climatetechnology.gov/library/2003/tech-options/tech-options-1-3-2.pdf
That's much better than the 80% loss you suffer when you burn diesel or gas to propel a car.
But understanding efficiency, math and science is something that you Luddites are not good at.
Tom 9:11PM (8/18/2009)
Geez, that thing has almost no volume and I have to strain to hear it. Was someone recording it with a tiny recorder hidden in a pocket?
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Sebastian 5:07AM (8/19/2009)
Actually, the recording was made using a digital recorder plugged directly into the soundboard. Sorry for the low volume, but at least the feed was clean. I'll see if I can't boost the volume and repost the audio.
Sebastian 1:08PM (8/19/2009)
OK, audio signal has been boosted. Let me know if it sounds better to you now. Thanks!
Tom 1:37PM (8/19/2009)
Thanks, the sound is much better.
Sebastian 1:43AM (8/20/2009)
Excellent. We're here to serve :)
Tom 9:12PM (8/18/2009)
Geez, that thing has almost no volume and I have to strain to hear
it. Was someone recording it with a tiny recorder hidden in a
pocket?
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Stark 8:20AM (8/19/2009)
LOL Bill Nye.....
http://greentechgambit.blogspot.com/
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Nick P. 4:07AM (8/19/2009)
Great panel. Too bad about the Lo-Fi recording. The Plug-in America Podcast (http://www.pluginamerica.org/feeds/pia-podcast.html) suffers from the same lack of attention to audio quality.
I think they use a laptop's built-in mike for recording, which is *never* a good thing. For 99$, they could get a simple USB mike and record with GarageBand with a little compressor plug-in to cut ambient noise and boost vocal signal. This is how all the TWIT podcasts (http://twit.tv/) are recorded and they are quite good -- even over Skype.
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kevin21 8:44AM (8/19/2009)
Here's the problem with EVs- the power needs to come from somewhere! If everyone needs a three phase converter in their garage, the power grid will collapse and we are all back to horses. I believe the EV is just a stop gap measure until the fuel cell powered car becomes a reality. Of course, to attain hydrogen, many billions of amps are required. Therefore, personal mobility will continue to be a rather large issue to contend with over the next millennia, or until cold fusion can be harnessed to unleash endless power!
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BlackbirdHighway 9:50AM (8/19/2009)
Sorry, but you are wrong on multiple levels.
Here's the problem with ICEs, the gasoline has to come from somewhere. Oil refineries use huge amounts of electricity. It takes about 7.5 KWH of electrical power to refine a gallon of gasoline. An electric car can go 25 miles on that much power. (Or a fuel cell car about 6 miles.)
So, if you replace an ICE car that gets 25 mpg with an electric car, the overall draw on the grid is the same. In actual practice, the EV is better, because it mostly charges at night when the grid has spare capacity, while the oil refinery runs all day long.
Then consider that to support our gasoline powered vehicles we'll be spending about $7 Trillion on foreign oil over the next ten years. That money is gone, it has left the country, and no longer available to help with outr needs. If we switch to EVs, we get to keep that money here.
$7 Trillion will by one heck of a lot of new, clean power generation and grid upgrades!
Chris M 4:21PM (8/19/2009)
Hydrogen needs to come from somewhere, too. The current "Hydrogen Hyway" plan calls for production from steam reformed fossil fuels, mostly natural gas and coal. Of course, that means continued production of CO2 and possible shortages of natural gas.
If you propose making H2 from water electrolysis, I must point out that the combination of electrolysis and compression for storage and H2 fuel cell vehicles is only 1/3 as efficient as BEVs in using electricity, so would put 3x greater strain on "the grid".
It isn't necessary to provide 3 phase power to everyones home, standard 240 volt is sufficient for EV charging. Also, it will take years, perhaps decades to replace a substantial portion of our automotive fleet, giving us plenty of time to upgrade the electrical infrastructure.
monica 8:58AM (8/19/2009)
power grid will collapse? wow! where have you been lately?
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nrb 10:03AM (8/19/2009)
"For his part, Nye was an original EV1 driver"
That's pretty cool. Inconsequential, but cool.
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meg 10:52AM (8/19/2009)
Now if we can just get Mr. Wizard and Slim Goodbody behind this, we'll have the trifecta.
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David Wright 1:14PM (8/19/2009)
Oh no -- not the "Grid will collapse!, grid will collapse! brigade. I guess these'll be the grandchildren of those who said our heads will explode if we travel fast on trains.
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indy500are 2:25PM (8/19/2009)
It is not so much the amount of electricity produced, but that the power grid is not set up to deliver it to where it would be needed if a large percentage of people switched to electric cars. Also most electric power plants in the US are powered by Coal. These problems can be fixed over time with enough money and a willingness to build more nuclear power plants. The biggest stumbling block is still the batteries in the cars. IE the high cost to produce them, their short life span and the cost of safely disposing of them when they do wear out.
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XYZ 6:19PM (8/19/2009)
"most electric power plants in the US are powered by Coal."
Source of this?