Rhein on Energy and Climate

The announcement by NISSAN to produce electric cars as of 2010, though in small numbers to start with, does not come as a surprise. In the long run, there is no better alternative to the combustion engine. The earth will run out of oil in the near future. After 2050, oil will become so scarce and expensive that humanity will have to look for a substitute for it.

The electric car will become a handy substitute. An electric engine is more energy-efficient than the combustion engine. Of course, there will be a loss of energy by transforming electricity into kinetic power. Of course, it will not be “clean” in terms of C02 emissions as long as the electricity comes from coal-fuelled power plants. But we know how to generate electricity from solar energy; and that is the only truly sustainable source of energy. We should recall this again and again to all those who still doubt it. The power sector is the easiest to transform into a completely C02-free source of energy!

Electric cars will be easy to charge. Instead of going to the conventional gas station we either charge the batteries at home or at an “electric charging station” that will succeed the gas stations that we have been so fond of during more than a century.

We shall charge the batteries when there is ample sunshine or wind and when the electricity rates will be lower than at night or during lulls.

The transition from combustion to electric cars will take at least 30 years, very slowly in the beginning and then accelerating sharply, ideally after 2030, when green electricity and the new car technology will have become commonplace.

Great cheers to NISSAN and its imaginative chief executive, Carlos Ghosn!

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