High Voltage: Fuel Efficiency and the Auto Market
Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 12:24PM 
I read an interesting article last week which suggested that high voltage charging stations could make the future of electric cars much more viable. The premise is that long charging times have been one of the many hurdles to the mass production of electric cars. The idea of 480 volt charging stations certainly raises some safety concerns, and there is always a question of how much energy goes into creating the electricity in the first place; but the idea seems to have merit.
I have always been skeptical of hybrid vehicles that average 40 miles to the gallon or less; so I am optimistic of the high voltage charging stations. But, this also got me thinking about fuel efficiency on the whole. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that new vehicles sold in the US averaged 23.1 miles per gallon in 1980 and 24.7 in 2004. A 1984 Ford Escort is listed as 35mpg city and 47 highway where a 2010 Prius is listed as 51mpg city and 48 highway. I’d like to think that over a 26 year period we would have seen a much better improvement than this! It’s hard to look at just the numbers, though; certainly the features, comfort level, power, safety and amenities have all vastly improved in that time span... So, what does the average consumer want? More comfort features or better fuel efficiency? I wonder why we can’t have both?
Reader Comments (1)
The "progress" made over the past 30 years in regards to fuel-efficiency are an embarrassment at best. The 90's were all about the SUV craze and cheap gas. In the past 10 years, the rising cost of gas and Sept. 11 oepned a lot of eyes regarding the need for better fuel efficiency.
I'm a big fan of electric cars assuming that the production and (later) disposal of the batteries does not off-set the environmental benefits of such a vehicle. I've heard concerns that mass amounts of electric vehicles would drain our power and that additional, polluting power plants would be needed to fuel all of the electric cars on our roads. However, that does not have to be the case. AVs can be charged at home at night when the demand from the grid is less. As for polluting power plants, it's easier to control the emissions from one big power plant vs. 500 gas-guzzling cars.
OK, my rant is done.