Conservatives estimates suggest that it takes 6kwh to reform one gallon of fuel (a gallon is roughly 4.54 litres). One gallon carries an average fossil fuel car roughly 24 miles.
How far will 6kwh carry an electric car? If you drive a porsche taycan you get around 3.6 miles per kwh, giving you a range of 21 miles, with a tesla 3 this range would increase to over 25 miles.
This shows the simple fact, that fossil fuel cars use roughly as much electricity as electric cars, but they also produce large amounts of carbon dioxide.
When we include the carbon footprint of transporting, refining and storing the fossil fuels, even the most efficient fossil fuel car starts having emitted more pollution than the least efficient electric car AND powered from the most polluting source of electricity (given that the electric cost of fossil fuel cars is almost the same as electric cars.
Why does this not come up? Most attempts to suggest that fossil fuel cars are no dirtier than electric cars start with the fuel ready to use – as though it was found ready to be pumped. When you include exploration extraction refining and transportation of the fuel, the gap between fossil fuel cars and electric cars just becomes insane. It also suggests that to get a true estimate of the carbon footprint of fossil fuel cars, you need to almost double current numbers quoted. It also suggests that the carbon payback point – the point at which the extra carbon footprint from manufacturing the electric car is offset by lower emissions is that much sooner..
