August 6, 2007 by Rob.

I’ve started tracking my electricity use so I can figure out how much power the RAVolt is using (kwh per mile).

There is an MPG calculation debate raging on the EVDL because there several different ways to do the conversion.  Some have suggested using the prices to do the comparison (this much electricity $/mile divided by gas $/gallon = EV mile/gallon) but that varies depending on $ of gas. Joseph T’s approach sounds better to me:

To calculate efficiency, here’s what I’d do. Find out how many miles you go on 1 kwh. Multiply the number of miles by 33. And there’s your equivalency of mpg efficiency!

You see, there are 33kwh in one gallon of gasoline. So if you know how many mile per kwh you’re getting, it’s like knowing how many miles per 1/33th of a gallon of gasoline you’re getting!

Of course, cars aren’t rated in terms of miles per 1/33th of a gallon of gasoline. So you just multiply the number of miles you’re getting per kwh by 33.

To get an idea of how efficient electric cars are, look at this. The EPA rated the Rav4 EV at 112mpg! But this number isn’t adjusted for the new EPA testing. The new EPA testing reduces the mpg numbers of car by about 10-15%. So the “real” mpg of the Rav4 EV is about 100mpg.
No other car even comes close.

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August 6, 2007 by Rob.

This pathetic article claims that the CO2 produced creating the food calories you burn walking to the store exceeds the CO2 produced driving to the store. It’s not worth reading unless you like that queasy feeling of reading garbage online. The only lesson to be learned is that sensationalism about CO2 sells papers.

Posted in Green Tech | 1 Comment »