Shame on you, ‘math teachers’

This letter is addressed to any proponent of EV’s, and anyone on the fence. If you are driving them because you enjoy fast acceleration, I am all for that. I have had many a fast car in my lifetime and have enjoyed every one of them. BUT...if you truly believe the Earth is in peril and you are saving the planet by driving an EV, I can only come to the conclusion: you were never taught 6th grade math.

This is not calculus, or even algebra, just simple arithmetic. In fact, if one looks at the math, you are doing more damage to the planet than someone that drives a Hummer. I will not go into the destruction that the manufacture and disposal of the lithium-ion batteries cause, as that would take another long boring letter, and I am assuming you will find these simple equations boring enough.

Myth 1: EV’s are efficient. They would be, if there was such a thing as magical free electricity which sadly, there is not. Here are your given facts straight from Wikipedia: (A) The coal burning (JCP&L) electrical power is 33% efficient. (B) Another 12% electrical power is lost in transmission. ( C) The EV we will use is 70% efficient. 12 lbs of coal has same BTU rating as a gallon of gasoline so we will convert coal to gasoline for comparison. NOW PLUG IN THE NUMBERS: Burn 1 gal gasoline (12 lbs coal)--→ (A) lose 66% ==>.33 gal. ===> (B) lose 12%===> .29 gal===>( C) lose 30%===> .20 gal gasoline to the wheels on the road for every gallon burned. This is assuming everything else being 100% (which in reality is unlikely). EV’s at best are 20% efficient.

BOTTOM LINE: YOU ARE NOT SAVING ANYTHING, ESPECIALLY THE PLANET. Myth 2: Everyone should drive EV’s. This one is simple, but because of the large numbers I will use expanded notation. Here are the facts, again right from Wikipedia.: 3.5 billion gallons of gasoline are burned in cars each year. One gallon of gasoline has the equivalent energy of 33.7 kWh (kilowatt-hours). NOW PLUG IN THE NUMBERS: (3.5x10E9) x (3.37x10E4)= 1.18x10E14 watts! That’s 1 followed by 14 zeros! That is the amount of power need just to replace the gasoline.

That Doesn’t include Diesels, trucks and whatnot. HA HA good luck with that, I hope you like blackouts. As for me, I had a good 6th grade math teacher, Mrs.Keane from Immaculate. This is simple math and shame on the teachers who are not teaching it. You are allowing people to be duped and scammed left and right.

Alex Wronka

Franklin