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Small Business Management Article Archive
Is the Electric Automobile the Answer?
By
Raymond D. Matkowsky
Last month I expressed my belief that electric-battery based cars are an environmental mistake such as those that have been made in the past in the name of environment improvements. If you would like to read the article, it can be found
here
. After that article, I was introduced to the opposed piston engine, also known as the “Boxer Engine.” I was also surprised to find out that over the last 100 years there have been 115 different engine designs come out. Most of these have fallen by the wayside. The “Boxer” is one of these although close examination finds it’s from reputation of the class, not its performance and it is being resurrected.
The “Boxer” is a two cycle engine. Two cycle engines suffer from a poor reputation. People have long assumed that you cannot have a two stroke engine that can meet present day environmental needs. This was true before modern day computers and new fluid dynamics understandings. Now after the application of these technologies, the opposed piston engine is more efficient than four cycle engines in every way.
Fuel Efficiency, Range and Pollution
The boxer type engine is being used in piston driven airplanes, trains, tanks, and submarines. It is a smoother running engine making it ideal for many applications. It comes in both gasoline and diesel varieties. Peterbilt is running a diesel test engine in their model 579 truck. Cummins is beginning production of 1000 horsepower engines to be fitted into combat vehicles by the U.S. Army in 2024. The engine is appreciated any time you need to go further on the fuel that you carry. It is estimated that fuel consumption can be cut by 25 to 30%. CO
2
is reduced by 7% and NO
2
emissions are reduced by 96%. The engine meets California Air Resources Board standards for 2027.
100Years of Knowledge
In the long run, I would bet on the internal combustion engine car over that of an electric driven automobile. There are over a hundred years of knowledge behind the gasoline and diesel engines. There are only a few years of knowledge behind electric cars. There are many questions about electric cars. There are safety issues we don’t have answers for. There maybe things that “we don’t know that we don’t know.” That lack of knowledge and the rush to judgment has caused mistakes to be made in the past.
Last month I mentioned that California has passed a law banning the sale of gas powered cars by 2035. Auto makers have followed the strictest standards because it didn’t make any business sense to have more than one standard. You could expect the California standards to become the unofficial U.S standards.
Typically it takes about 30 years to bring something out of research into wide spread consumer use. 2035 is fourteen years away. The date to stop production of gas powered vehicles is going to be put off or a series of inferior products will be placed on the market. We cannot afford either to happen. You develop a better product quicker by improving on past innovations not by being forced to put out inferior new products by a certain date. Research and knowledge is not to be constrained within a certain time frame.
It’s Not the Engine; It’s the Process
I do not write this to advocate one engine over another. The electric car motor may very well be the future, but not now. It is a not well thought out, “shoot from the hip” solution to a complex problem.
The Electric Motor Does Not Use Clean Energy
The motor does not use green energy. Electricity has to be generated. Generation is presently utilizes petroleum products, by-products and other combustion materials. This is not clean energy!
The Number of Cars Produced Will Overwhelm The Electrical Grid
In 2020, only76 million cars were manufactured because of the pandemic. In 2019, there was 92 million manufactured. All the new generating plants that will be needed to meet demand will add not subtract to pollution. Not only does the electric car industry need to solve serious safety and battery pollution concerns, but also all of the auxiliary problems associated with electric cars and electricity generation. Sometimes short term solutions create long term problems. Plastic shopping bags were a solution to one problem that created future problems.
I am concerned about climate change. However, until all of the known and unknown problems are solved, the electric vehicle is not the answer. Let’s do it right this time around!
If you have any further suggestions, do not keep it to yourself. Help your fellow readers!
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions drop me a line at
rdm@datastats.com
.
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