Gasoline Energy Comparisons

I've been wondering how Maryland will achieve it's goal of an average mileage of 47mpg. How do electric cars figure into the average? They don't use any gasoline at all, and are "zero emissions." Of course, zero isn't really zero at all, but that's another topic.

I looked into how many kWh of grid power are in a gallon of gas. Here's a good link:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html

From Hyperphysics, one of my favorite enginnerding destinations!

Time for some more fun energy conversions. I get really into these.

Thirty thousand calories = one gallon of gasoline = 36kWh = 166 Tastykake Kandy Kakes = 86 slices of papa johns sausage pizza = 64 starbucks frappucinos (yum, I wish I could drive my car on those! and can you tell that i'm dieting this week?)

If the cost of grid power is $.12 per kilowatt hour, which is what mine was last month, then purchasing the equivalent of a gallon of gasoline is $4.32. I'm thinking that the "mpg" of an electric car would be the "miles per 36kWh." How far can you drive after you used 36kWh to charge your car?

Probably farther than 47 miles. Because if you aren't dragging that stinky old ball-and-chain, the ICE and its meathead mechanical posse, around with you. Just the weight savings alone will up your mileage significantly. And given the higher gas prices we've been seeing lately, the energy costs of driving an electric car compares rather nicely with a gluttonous gas guzzler.