Originally Posted by AdamFrisch
2. Trucking fuel out to gas/fill up stations is very inefficient compared to using the infrastructure we've already got for electric - your outlet. Doesn't cost a penny to transport it.
Time is money these days.
Normal EU outlet with normal current limiters (230V, 20A), gives you 4,6 kWh in a single hour (P = U * I = 230 V * 20 A = 4600W), which equals 16,56 MJ/h. Diesel fuel has an energy density of 37,3 MJ/l. Assuming a normal fuel pump can provide a fuel flow of 3 liters/s, which is no biggie, you get an energy flow of 111,9 MJ/s. Multiply this with 3600 seconds in an hour, and you get 402840 MJ/h. This effectively means you need a little over 24000-times longer to transfer the same amount of energy via electric outlet than if you would fill your car at a gas station. Very inefficient if you ask me - even if you reduce it by a factor of 3, to count for the better efficiency of electric engine. Plus, as IO540 points out - where will you store a comparable amount of electric energy. 200 liters of Avgas is
a lot of energy, believe it or not.
Originally Posted by AdamFrisch
1. A diesel engine has at best 30-40% efficiency.
What efficiency does a nucler power plant have? Just to give it a thought...