Electric Cars – Iffy, Alcohol Cars – A Sure Thing

November 24, 2022

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by Dave Stoltz (Biofuels Digest) Electric cars for our entire light duty vehicle fleet as Governor Newsom and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) want are iffy. The key word to not getting ourselves into the same predicament that we’re in right now with finite energy resources is RENEWABLE! Electric cars are powered by batteries made of cobalt, and lithium. The motors use rare earth elements. All of these are finite, and none are renewable. These elements come from the earth, just like oil. Add to that the fact that most of them come from third world countries. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-24/cobalt-mining-in-the-congo-green-energy/100802588

Then there’s the electricity to charge up those batteries. Next time you’re in a traffic jam in a big city, imagine all those cars plugged in, getting charged up for the next day’s drive to work. We’re already having rolling black outs nationwide with our current energy consumption and grid! To power 280,000,000 light duty vehicles, we would need 1.5 trillion KWHrs of electricity or almost doubling generating capacity in the US.

If you are thinking, “Oh my solar panels will fix that”, you’re wrong. Unless you have an expensive bank of batteries at your home that can store all that solar electricity, inevitably you’re going to be charging your car from the grid. A Tesla Powerwall will set you back $14,485 for 13.3 KWHrs which will take you about 30 miles. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, most of the US’s electricity was generated by petroleum, natural gas, nuclear power, and coal in 2020. 72% of China’s electricity comes from coal. 84% of Europe’s electricity comes from petroleum, natural gas, nuclear power, and coal. This is what you are charging your electric car with!

Finally, there’s the question of what we are going to do with all those dead batteries. Go back to being in that traffic jam, now think of all those cars at the end of their lives needing the batteries or the whole car replaced. A Tesla car has between 2976 and 7920 battery cells that weigh between 1000 to 1200 lbs, depending on the model. They say that they can be recycled. But can they? https://www.science.org/content/article/millions-electric-cars-are-coming-what-happens-all-dead-batteries. There are many issues that need to be addressed with lithium-ion battery recycling. I really think it’s a mistake to depend on that to ever happen on a large, cost-effective scale.

Now, EVs are certainly going to have a place powering local delivery vehicles since they go back to a central depot at night for charging and stop and start all the time so they get the efficiency of regenerative braking. Garbage trucks and buses should go to hydrogen fuel cells since the batteries to power them would weigh more than the garbage or the passengers. But if we try to replace the majority of our light duty vehicles with EVs we are going to be at the mercy of third world countries to supply us with the materials necessary to run our cars. Does that sound familiar?

https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/02/01/south-america-s-lithium-fields-reveal-the-dark-side-of-our-electric-future
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56574779
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/electric-car-makers-seek-substitutes-for-rare-earth-metals/5975400.html

Alcohol powered cars are a sure thing. You better believe it.

Alcohol is RENEWABLE. To clarify, when I speak of alcohol, I’m talking about bio-ethanol made from biomass. In the US, the highest percentage of ethanol you can get in fuel is 85%, the other 15% is gasoline. It’s called E-85.

Here’s the fantastic, renewable part: alcohol can be made from any biomass. In many cases it’s a byproduct of another valuable resource.

Let’s take corn for an example. Over 80% of all corn in the US is grown for animal feed, and almost all of it for cattle. Have you been to the market and seen beef labeled “grass fed”? That’s because grass is what a cow is supposed to eat. But as you can see by the price on the beef package, it’s more expensive. That’s why most cattle are fed corn.

Corn makes them sick, that’s why the cow needs to be filled with antibodies and other drugs to keep them healthy until they get to market. The element in corn that makes them sick is the starch. Now here’s the kicker, when you make alcohol from corn, all it uses is the starch. What’s left is something called distillers grain. Turns out that distillers grain makes great feed for cattle! So, when people say, “You shouldn’t be using food for fuel”, I say “We’re making fuel and making better food”. Another great natural producer of alcohol are cattails, one of nature’s best water purifiers. They can be grown in gray water ponds to clean the water and can be harvested to make alcohol. Another natural win-win.

Here is one of the best things about alcohol: nobody can control it, and anybody can make it. The moonshiners have proved that throughout history. I think the fact that anybody can make it is why the governments and the big corporations are so afraid of it. They won’t have control. It would be a true free market.

So what should we do? Simply ban the sale of all new light duty vehicles that burn gasoline and let consumers, not the CARB or Governor Newsom, decide what they want to buy – EVs, H2Vs, or bio-ethanol vehicles.

Now let’s look at some of the long-lasting misconceptions about alcohol powered vehicles. One of the big ones is that alcohol damage your car. Does it? NO! I’ve been running it in my 1987 Toyota pickup for 15 years. Other than tuning the carburetor to have the correct mixture of fuel to air, I did nothing else to the truck. I didn’t change the hoses; I didn’t change any of the metal components that come in contact with the alcohol, and everything is fine. I’ve also put at least a 1/4 of a tank of alcohol in just about every vehicle I’ve owned; they’ve all loved it. They’ve been running alcohol in race cars since the 1930s.

Most car manufacturers have offered Flex Fuel vehicles in the past. Flex Fuel vehicles can run on E-85 or gasoline or any mixture of the two. There are no differences in the materials used in a Flex Fuel vehicle or a gasoline only vehicle. The difference is in the computer that determines the air to fuel ratio. In most gasoline only cars after 1985, you can run up to 50% E-85. Just remember that alcohol will not damage your car! Even if you put more then 50% E-85 in your gas only car, the worst thing that could happen is your check engine light might come on, and it could also make the engine idle a little rough. But as soon as you add more gasoline, it will all go away.

I encourage everybody to find a station near you that sells E-85 and put at least a few gallons in your car to support the cause. This is a good link to find the stations near you. https://eflexfuel.com/us/e85-stations#/find/nearest?fuel=E85 . This link is from a company that sells Flex Fuel conversion kits. I’m buying one for my wife’s 2012 Honda Pilot so we can run any amount of alcohol.

One of the drawbacks of running your Flex Fuel vehicle on E-85 is that you do get less MPG. The price of E-85 is usually between 20% and 30% cheaper than gasoline, so you end up with about the same miles per dollar. The reason that your mileage goes down when running E-85 in a Flex Fuel vehicle is because the car must be able to run on gasoline too. That doesn’t allow you to take advantage of the unique benefits of the alcohol.

After I ran my Toyota pickup on E-85 for a few years, I decided to prove that if an engine was built to run on only E-85, you could get your MPG back. I won’t go through the technical stuff I did to the engine, but I will tell you it worked. I’m now getting a little bit better mileage on E-85, then I did on gasoline. I can no longer run the truck on gasoline, so about once a month I go the closest station that sells E-85 and fill up my tank and my five 5-gallon jugs. I can usually include it in a trip to that area for something else. If we had stations everywhere that sold ethanol, like they do by law in Brazil, we could build ethanol only cars and get the mileage back. Every gallon of E-85 you put in your car will get us closer to that goal.

A few years ago, the E-100 Group https://e100ethanolgroup.com/home, took a brand-new Ford Focus and modified the engine to optimize it for ethanol. After they were done with the modifications, they took it to an EPA certified test lab in Fullerton, CA and had the results documented. The test showed again that an engine set up to run on ethanol could get as good mileage as it did on gasoline.

Back in 2005 I spent two weeks in Brazil; it was very educational. I became friends with a guy I worked with who was from Brazil named Joal. He was in the states while his wife was going to school in San Francisco. When Joal left to go back home, he invited me to visit him, and of course I took him up on the offer. One day we went on a drive out into the Brazilian countryside where there was nothing around.

We came upon a car with its hood up alongside the road. We pulled over and Joal asked what was wrong. The guy said he was out of fuel, so he got into our car, and we went to find him some. As I said before, we were out in the middle of nowhere. So finally, we come into this small village with no gas stations. We stop at a market and my friend goes in and comes out with two bottles of cheap whiskey. We go back to the guy’s car and dump the two bottles in the tank. He gets in, starts it up, thanks us, and drives off. Now try that in a gasoline or electric car!

In Brazil they don’t mess around with 85% ethanol like we do, they run 100%. Because of these policies, Brazil has totally become energy independent, a goal that the US has been trying to do for decades.

Did you know that you won’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning in a closed garage with a car running on 100% alcohol? Alcohol burns clean. When I was a kid, my dad used to heat our garage with a coffee can filled with alcohol burning on the floor. All the doors were closed. Not too fire safe, but we were nice and warm.

There are many additional ethanol myths and misconceptions. Here is a link to find out more:
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/edg/media/Myths_and_Facts.pdf

One last story. In 1972 at Newport Beach CA. I met my future wife. I was sitting on the beach, and I saw this cute girl sitting by herself. After getting up the nerve, I walked over to talk to her.During our conversation, I told her I raced cars. She said she didn’t like racing. When I asked her why, she said because of the pollution. I instantly told her that we run alcohol in these kinds of cars, and it doesn’t pollute. The following weekend she went to her first race and has been going ever since. We’ve been married for 48 years. Another benefit of alcohol powered cars!

Please take what you’ve learned here today and commit yourself to finding a better way forward. Let’s not repeat the energy dependent, polluting, non-renewable cycle. Go out and embrace a better future by supporting all biofuels as much as you can, especially natural, renewable, non-polluting bio-ethanol! READ MORE

Switzerland could ban electric vehicle use during energy crisis: reports (Fox Business)

Automakers like Ford and GM are scrambling to make EVs cheaper as battery prices rise for the first time in years (Business Insider)

Report Identifies Three Challenges to Large-Scale BEV Adoption (ACT News)

Lithium-ion Battery Pack Prices Rise for First Time to an Average of $151/kWh (Bloomberg)

In a Future Filled With Electric Cars, AM Radio May Be Left Behind -- Carmakers say electromagnetic interference causes static and noise on AM transmissions, annoying customers. Broadcasters say they could lose a connection to their core listeners, who rely on the radio for emergencies. (New York Times)

Toyota Chief Says ‘Silent Majority’ Has Doubts About Pursuing Only EVs -- Akio Toyoda says electric vehicles are one option alongside hybrids and hydrogen-powered cars (Wall Street Journal; includes VIDEO)

Here's how much range electric vehicles lose in the cold -- Battery shrinkage is an issue for winter driving (Fox News)

'Fire! Fire! Fire!’ The Perplexing, Deadly Electric Bike Problem. -- Malfunctioning lithium-ion batteries in the increasingly popular form of transportation have been linked to numerous explosions, blazes, and deaths—and little is being done to reduce the danger (Consumer Reports)

Auto execs are losing faith in electric cars (Business Insider)

‘We’re Not There Yet’: The Booming Electric Car Market Still Has A Long Road Ahead Of It (Forbes)

Electric Vehicles Are Bringing Out the Worst in Us -- The downside of heavy, overpowered trucks and SUVs (The Atlantic)

Canada: Electric cars mandate has minimum of $99 billion price tag (Western Standard)

Excerpt from ACT News: A recent report from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) that looks at the charging infrastructure needs around the country has concluded that there are three challenges that need to be overcome before we can meet the demand for increased battery-electric vehicle (BEV) adoption.

Building from a May 2022 report that analyzed the environmental impacts of Class 8 zero-emission trucks, ATRI assessed the country’s current vehicle electrification ecosystem to find the issues the industry must address before BEV adoption can move forward on a large scale. The report team found three main challenges that related to electricity generation and consumption, vehicle charging requirements and charging infrastructure, and raw materials sourcing.

Challenge #1: Electricity Supply and Demand

According to ATRI, the required electricity demand for transitioning to BEVs is “enormous,” with full electrification of the U.S. vehicle fleet resulting in an increase that is “beyond the country’s present electricity generation.” Overall, there would be an approximate 40% spike in energy demands for all types of BEVs, with 14% needed for all freight trucks (10.6% of this chunk would be needed for long-haul trucks). As a result, the report points out the need for a large-scale investment in charging infrastructure before there can be a mass adoption of BEVs.

Challenge #2: BEV Production

Before fleets can start meeting their zero-emission goals, they need the vehicles to get them there, something that the ATRI report labeled as its second challenge. Aside from finding enough of the raw materials needed to manufacture BEVs — including tens of millions of tons of cobalt, graphite, lithium, and nickel — the production of these vehicles has both environmental and social impacts. For example, the mining/processing for these materials can produce significant pollution issues, and in some source countries, there is an exploitation of the labor force that gathers and refines these materials.

There is also another “conundrum” according to ATRI: While the weight of the batteries needed to power BEVs can help increase range, it also increases the purchase price and reduces the available cargo weight. To solve this, the report highlights the need for “major advances in battery technology.”

Challenge #3: Where/When to Charge the Truck

The trucking industry has already seen a major issue develop over the years in terms of drivers finding available spots to park, whether for a few hours or overnight. Labeling this “Truck Parking Crisis 2.0,” the ATRI report explains that the needed chargers will outnumber the parking spaces currently available. As a result, charging will be inadequate due to house-of-service regulations and parking availability. The ATRI team tallied the cost to increase national charger availability at more than $35 billion.

BEVs in the Near Term

The report, like many sources before it, point to local and regional truck fleets as the current best use cases for BEVs. READ MORE

Excerpt from Business Insider: -Auto execs are nervous about transitioning to EVs, consulting firm KPMG found in a new survey. -That's amid supply chain crises and inflation problems. -Auto executive confidence in high EV sales in the US by 2030 dropped from last year.

...

In a survey of more than 900 auto industry execs, KPMG found that respondents think only 37% of new vehicle sales in the US will be electric by 2030.

That's a dramatic drop from this time in 2021, when surveyed executives expected 62% of car sales in the US would be EVs by 2030.

The Biden administration has said that it's targeting EVs to make up half of all vehicles sold in the US by that year.

Since KPMG's last survey's optimistic results, the industry has grappled with a variety of roadblocks. Requirements set forth in this summer's climate bill make it harder to qualify for EV incentives. Battery prices have risen and electric vehicle prices continue to climb, hitting an average cost of $65,041 in November, according to Kelley Blue Book.

For comparison, a new gas-powered car cost about $48,681 that same month.

KPMG said the results of its 23rd annual executive survey indicate that EV expectations are becoming more realistic, which could be driven by production issues and affordability challenges. READ MORE