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Greenhouse Gas and EVT Scooters
Greenhouse gas (GHG), especially in the form and quantity of CO2 that is being released into the atmosphere each year, is one of the main driving forces behind global warming. Global warming means a gradual warming of the atmosphere that is caused by the greenhouse effect created by certain heat trapping gases in the atmosphere. When there is too much of this type of gas, excess heat is trapped and the atmosphere warms. The consensus in the world scientific community is that global warming will lead to significant climatic changes that will have a major negative impact on weather, rainfall, and sea levels, leading to major disruptions to all areas of the planet. This process is already in progress and, according to a recent and significant British Government report, immediate action is now required to avert a major world wide climatic and economic catastrophe (see report by Sir Nicholas Stern, commissioned by the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer, published October 30th, 2006) There are many ways to reduce GHG emissions. In Australia, transport is the third highest GHG producer in the economy. Substituting a car or motorcycle with an EVT scooter goes some way to reducing your contribution to this problem. It’s not the only answer, but it’s a start. Greenhouse Gas Calculations: Petrol-based vehicles vs EVT’s The Australian Greenhouse Office produces a publication that can be used to calculate greenhouse gas emissions and the consequent Carbon Dioxide equivalent emissions from different forms of energy use. The AGO “Factors and Methods Workbook”, December 2005, has been used below to calculate the savings in CO2 production by using an EVT scooter in place of an average motor car or average motorcycle.
So if you substituted a car with an EVT scooter and travelled 10,000 kms per year, you would be reducing your greenhouse gas output by 2.49 tonnes per year, even if you charged the scooter using normal “coal power” electricity. If you used Green Power to charge your scooter, you would save 2.82 tonnes per year. Electric vehicles, even when charged with coal fired power still produce much less GHG than petrol vehicles, primarily because electric motors are far more efficient than internal combustion engines. Electric motors don’t have to drive fuel pumps, oil pumps, and water pumps just to keep turning over; they don’t use fuel when the vehicle is stopped at the lights; they have almost no metal to metal contact that creates fiction, needs lubricating and uses energy; they don’t need to drive through gear boxes and differentials (that use yet more energy); there are very few moving parts. And because maintenance on EVT’s is so low, further reductions in GHG’s are also achievable. EVT scooters also win on the fuel stakes in another area: the delivery of the fuel. With petrol based vehicles, GHG is used to get the fuel to the service station, all the way from the oil well. While a small amount of power is lost in the power lines delivering electricity to your house to charge the EVT, this is miniscule in comparison to the energy it takes (and the GHG produced) to get petrol to the service station.
EVT Scooters currently use sealed lead acid batteries (SLA’s). As better battery technology comes along, these new batteries can be installed in the scooter without any other changes being required. SLA’s are 90% recyclable, and while GHG is produced in making the batteries, this is the case for almost all components of any motor vehicle, whether it is a scooter, a car or an EVT. [Click here for printable version] * Based on
using NSW as an example of conventional coal fired power (that includes
10% hydro), and Tasmania (100% hydro) as an example of Green Power.
Some utilities claim that their Green Power is entirely GHG free.
Power consumption of EVT scooter per charge: 2.4kWh. |