I got curious and did the math: US gas pumps do 10 gallons per minute, which give us 0.61 L/s. Density is about 0.7kg/L, energy content is about 46.7 MJ/kg. Multiplying the three we get juuust under 20MJ/s or 20MW or about 80 times more energy than this kind of electric charger
Whoa. That is a lot of efficiency with EVs. But then, that electricity, when coming from a coal powered plant means that the overall "earth to wheels" energy efficiency is somewhere around 30%.
True. But also, this decouples cars from fossil fuel dependency. So switching to something cleaner, like nuclear or wind/solar wouldn't require uprooting cars as a whole.
In the USA, outside of West Virginia, the grid tends to be much more low-carbon — at least biased towards natural gas in most places, but with a fair amount of nuclear even in states that claim not to believe in clean energy.
I need a reminder because I never pay attention to how long it takes. It’s just full every morning. A total paradigm shift from the old way of having to go somewhere to refill your car.
I thought about that right after I posted, and you're right. It's probably that gasoline is more of a familiar experience than 1000 amps flowing into lithium batteries.