Impacts of the use of electric cars were projected for the St. Louis and Philadelphia regions in the years 1980, 1990, and 2000. As in a companion study for the Los Angeles region, the electric cars were four-passenger subcompacts using lead-acid and advanced batteries, permitting urban driving ranges of about 55 and 140 miles, respectively. Los Angeles data indicate such cars could replace some 15 to 75% of future urban autos with little sacrifice of urban driving. Adequate raw materials and nighttime recharge power should be available for such use in any single urban region. The electric cars would not save energy overall relative to future internal-combustion subcompact cars, but they could bring about major reductions in petroleum consumption where recharge power is derived from other energy sources, as it is in St. Louis and, to a lesser extent, in Philadelphia. Air quality improvements due to electric car use would be modest in importance, because conventional cars replaced will be cleaner in the future, and non-automotive sources of air pollution will be relatively more important. The electric subcompacts will be 20 to 90% more expensive overall than conventional subcompacts until battery development significantly reduces battery depreciation costs.
Impact of Future Use of Electric Cars in the St. Louis and Philadelphia Regions. Volume I. Executive Summary and Technical Report. Final Report
1975
109 pages
Report
No indication
English
Transportation & Traffic Planning , Electric-powered vehicles , Energy consumption , Air pollution , Comparative evaluations , Economics , Electric batteries , Energy sources , Environmental effects , Feasibility studies , Internal combustion engines , Lead-acid batteries , Petroleum , Regional analysis , Resource conservation , Urban areas , ERDA/330300 , Saint Louis(Missouri) , Missouri , Philadelphia(Pennsylvania) , Pennsylvania