Comments by "" (@jasonreed7522) on "Will electric cars kill gas stations?" video.

  1. As an EE i quick correction to your electricity efficiency. Overall efficiency is multiplicative so for an EV it would be generation x transmission x charging x driving. Electrical transmission is near perfect at 95% efficient (losses is resistance times current squared, higher voltage lowers current for same power, hence we use very high voltages). Generation on the other hand sucks because of the laws of thermodynamics, specifically for the closed loop power cycle, the absolute best efficiency is based on the temperature of the hot source (how hot the fire is) and the temperature of the cold sink (how cold the air/river/lake is) and for practical plants it comes to about 35% for thermal power plants (coal, nat gas, nuclear, concentrated solar, ect). The end result is the grid is basically 1/3 efficient overall in the US. Other generation sources have different efficiencies or we don't really care. Like for hydro perfect efficiency is the flow rate and head drop but its also a river so the "fuel" is basically free. Likewise for wind, we care about individual turbine efficiency but at the end of the day wind is free fuel. As we move away from thermal plants we will finally see the grid efficiency rise but for now 2/3 of the energy content of fossil fuels is lost to get to the outlet, mainly in the power plant itself because of unavoidable physics.
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  2.  @domehammer  stationary batteries can use very common materials so that really isn't a problem. A stationary battery doesn't care about weight or size, just efficiency and not catching on fire which makes lithium terrible for stationary battery storage.
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