Anti-EV Investment Article

Another in a long line of anti-EV articles from Mr. Petersen.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/245145-plug-in-vehicles-and-their-dirty-little-secret?v=1294338792&source=tracking_notify

Focusing solely on the carbon aspect, EV's are not that interesting using the current makeup of power generation. What they potentially enable though is extremely interesting. Very little electric power comes from oil, where carbon may be the least of our concerns. If we need to produce power with lower carbon emissions, or lower anything for that matter, the decision making is more centralized, and the array of options is wider.

LTLFTcomposite said:

Focusing solely on the carbon aspect, EV's are not that interesting using the current makeup of power generation.

Click to expand...

That seems like an odd comment, especially for someone in Florida. Peterson's own analysis suggests that nighttime power is largely provided by coal and nuclear. The chart I found shows that overall, FPL uses 21% nuclear and 6% coal, far different from the national average. (Northern California, where I am, is similar, with 22% nuclear and 2% coal.) So in our areas the nighttime load must be heavily nuclear, which is virtually carbon free.

My primary interest in EVs is the carbon aspect, and I believe it is quite significant.

I was thinking overall. Clearly if your power comes from carbon-free sources the benefit is there (assuming you think the whole carbon thing is real). Fungibility of power over wide area distribution confuses the matter but your point that nuclear plants are the last to get throttled is well taken.

I meant that electrification (trains as well as cars) opens up options, even if they aren't immediately exploited by today's power generation mix.

Petersen is a known anti-Lithium battery guy. He has interests in lead acid battery (was a director in one).