Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
I recently had the great pleasure of going back for a week to Alaska, where I’ve spent many exhilarating summers. I was reminded of the winter cold by seeing all of the electrical outlets by the parking meters in Fairbanks. Every car that is parked there in the winter plugs in their “block heater”. This is an electrical heating element that keeps the engine block of the car from getting so cold that the engine refuses to start.
Figure 1. Fairbanks monthly temperatures, averaged by decade. You can see the huge change in these sub-Arctic temperature over the last eighty years … or not …
That started me thinking about how much energy it might take to heat a car in Fairbanks, versus the energy to drive it around. Here’s how I would do a back of the envelope calculation for a place like Fairbanks, just below the Arctic Circle.
Block heaters run from about 500 watts to a high of 4,000 watts. Most seem to be in the range of one thousand watts, a kilowatt (kW).
In Fairbanks, the average temperature is below freezing for seven months out of the year. So to calculate total use, we could estimate that heater usage will average out to say four months of the year, fulltime. So the car will be drawing a kilowatt at all times except when it is being driven. Call it 23 hours a day.
So 23 hours / day times 1/3 year times 365.25 days / year times 1 kilowatt = 2,800 kilowatt-hours (kW-h) per year.
The price of residential electrical energy in Fairbanks is about 19 cents per kW-h. So that’s about $500 worth of electricity per year …
Gas (petrol) prices in Fairbanks were about US$3.80 per gallon when I was there. Assume 10,000 miles driven per year, and say 25 miles per gallon fuel efficiency for the car. That’s 400 gallons of gas, worth about $1,500.
My envelope tells me that the Fairbanks car might have a total energy cost of say $2,000 per year.
So car-owners of Fairbanks, when the EPA Police want to arrest you because you haven’t kicked your evil fossil fuel habit, tell them they’re too late — a quarter of the energy to run Fairbanks cars is already electrical, you are already so green it hurts.
(Don’t tell them that due to local conditions and US opposition to nuclear power, Fairbanks electricity all comes from fossil fuels … those kind of folks need their illusions.
w.
PS—Before anyone accuses me of being paranoid about the EPA Police, consider this:
Philip Bradley says:
October 2, 2011 at 6:04 pm
I’ve seen more traffic accidents at the one roundabout I encounter while traveling to and from work each day than everywhere along my route combined–and my trip is about 20 miles one-way. Admittedly, most of these accidents have involved semi trucks with other smaller vehicles, but those semis aren’t necessarily concentrated just at the roundabout, so I’m questioning your “increase safety” estimation.
From 1930 to 1945 I lived 12 miles north of Owls Head N.Y. In those days Owls Head was often the coldest place in the U.S. In the last 20 years or so it seems that the weather station there has been removed. In that area and at that time, it was standard practice to add a quart of kerosene to your motor oil in the fall and hook-up a battery charger when temperatures were likely to be -20F or less.
I recenlly acquired a 1978 American Motors Electric Pacer which is presently being restored. This is a research vehicle which will be used to compare the performance of modern lead-acd batteries with Lithium ion and Nickel-metal batteries. I hesitate to predict results before the data is collected (like the IPPC et al) but I expect that taxpayers aren’t and won’t be getting our moneys-worth from the billions being poured into electric vehicles and batteries.
Italy first adopted a Clean Air Act in 1966, with additional regulations added in 1983 and 1988. As for safety, EuroNCAP, the world’s leading independent car safety testing organisation, has named the Alfa Romeo Giulietta at least, the safest car in its category. Not good enough for the EPA it seems. Alessandro is obviously a very dangerous man for trusting European standards.
”
Alessandro Giordano
Together with his father, Carlo, Alessandro Giordano was arrested in California for selling about two dozen Alfa Romeo cars imported from Italy that met neither Clean Air Act nor vehicle safety standards.
Indicted in 2003, each was charged with seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements in documents required by the Clean Air Act.
Not counting penalties for fleeing to Italy, they each face up to five years in prison and a $5 million fine.
Don’t try to apprehend this man yourself!
“
Philip Bradley- you say “Very cold climates are one of the places electric cars have an advantage over petrol vehicles, precisely because they can start in very cold temperatures.”
I’d like to see some justification for this startling claim. Li-ion and NiMH rechargeable batteries do not work very well below -20 C. The cold-weather testing I found for the Leaf at -10 C gave about half the range found at +25 C. Also, Nissan says to avoid storing a vehicle in temperatures below −13 °F (−25 °C) for over 7 days. Presumably this will damage the battery pack. I have not found any test results on EV’s at -20 C or colder.
A word on block heaters: it is more effective to heat the oil in the crankcase than to heat the block. If the oil is warm and thin, the engine will turn over and start. Heating just the block will still require the battery to turn the crankshaft through molasses-like oil.
A heater and trickle charger for the battery will also help by keeping the battery up to full strength.
My father had a diesel Mercedes back in the 60s. It did not like to start in the cold, and he had to bring a truck-size battery indoors to keep warm if he wanted to be sure that the car would start in the morning. Truck batteries are heavy!!
IanM
George E Smith: In some countries, they have some quite crazy pedestrian control ideas: such as “either cars move, or pedestrians move; but never both at the same time.” Well then you can let the pedestrians all go in four directions at once (actually it is a total of 12 directions at once) so you get everyone to their destination in a single pedestrian period, and nO cars move in ANY direction at that time; and now there is only one pedestrian period instead of two or four, or even 12, depending on who pushed the button.
Pomona set up a system like this back in the 50s. Got the idea from a fellow named Barnes (traffic engineer for Denver, I think). Called it the ‘Barnes dance.’ It was a great novelty at the time, but like many other ‘improvements’ to downtown Pomona, couldn’t save the area from shopping center competition.
Don’t forget in subzero temps and snowy roads which increase rolling resistance ,mileage is about halved. Here in central British Columbia the prius owners are quite surprised with their poor mileage, equal or worse than a gasser economy car in the winter. Surprise surprise.
Roundabouts less fatalities and serious injuries, no t boning.
In extreme conditions if one runs out of gas or gets low on fuel, more fuel added good to go. With electric a plugin is needed then the wait for the charge. Maybe a generator could be carried, LOL.
I use a heating pad attached to the under side of the oil pan and transmission, heats the oil and block, works better than a block heater. A block heater does not heat the oil in the pan or transmission as heat rises. Each pad is only 100 watts so a lot cheaper in energy usage.
Cars will start fairly reliably down to about minus 20 degrees Celsius. Between minus 20 and minus 30, a car may or may not start and you won’t get much opportunity to try as the battery will die very quickly. Below minus 30 degrees Celsius a block heater is absolutely required. Below minus 40 you will require special additives to fuels and lighter engine oils and a block heater is mandatory. Most people leave a car running if it must be left outside and if it is more than minus 40.
BTW – make sure you have heavy winter gear and skidoo boots in the car at all times during extreme winter conditions. If you break down and you are more than a few hundred yards from assistance and you have no special winter clothing then you and your occupants will all die if someone does not rescue you!!!
I lived in Fairbanks for 15 years.
As we move, necessarily, from a petroleum based society (oil, after all, is a finite resource), the population of Fairbanks will plummet. You simply cannot live a modern American lifestyle at 40 to 60 below zero Fahrenheit without oil. Period. Electricity is produced with diesel generators. Houses must be kept warm with fuel oil, or water pipes freeze and break. Propane solidifies at 20 below zero.
Electric cars? Forget it. It’s just too damned cold. All of the batteries for an electric car would have to be heated by electricity or they would freeze and shatter. How do you heat the inside of an electric car at 40 below zero? How would electric motors work at 40 below?
It’s not only cold in the winter, it’s dark. This means the electric car would be using it’s headlights all the time it’s being used, limiting how far one could travel.
Nope. Alaska is a fantasy of the 20th Century petroleum economy.
Rocky Road,
Recent USA studies prove that the modern roundabout is safer and more efficient than all other forms of traffic control at most intersection locations.
http://www.urbanstreet.info/2nd_sym_proceedings/Volume%202/Russell.pdf
I recall asking this question to an engineer who works for GM’s engine design division in Pontiac MI. Wile in grad school prior to GM, the engineer won the Shell Fuel efficiency competition one year circa 1995 piloting his vehicle to 1100 Miles per gallon. (I did not get permission to use his name yet)
I asked him about electric cars in Canada and his answer I paraphrase as:
“You’d need a trailer with a battery pack the size of the propulsion battery pack just to heat the passenger compartment. In gas fueled vehicles, you get the low quality heat almost for free. In an electric car, you’d have to generate the energy then transfer it to the batteries. Effectively doubling the energy needed to run the vehicle.”
He is right and your back of the envelope calculations are proven correct.
Electric cars require 2X the energy in cold climates… unless you are willing to freeze to death while driving.
Phillip Bradley: The USA could reduce delays, save energy and increase safety by replacing most traffic lights and a large proportion of stop signs with roundabouts.
A modest demurrer here:
http://www.newelectricreader.net/rotary.html
It will be required soon that all block heaters be powered by renewable energy. But in infiltration of these into the more southern states in the lower 48 will be dismissed by the Goracle as just “weather” which we know is not climate.
Unless it was 20 below or colder, I never plugged in. So you have to look at the days when it got below 20 below.
Electric cars do not work well or at all when it is cold. The far North is one place where you have to have something else.
Anthony,
Your numbers are (I think) high for a variety of reasons like the use of timers and also the block heaters themselves (some of them) have monitoring functions so they turn themselves off and on as needed.
But the larger energy premium I would think is in regard to fuel consumption. I lived most of my life on the Canadian prairies and I can attest that even with the engine fully warmed up, fuel economy drops off dramatically in the cold. Fuel injected engines start much better in the cold than the naturally aspirated (carburator) versions I grew up with, but I don’t recall such a large difference in fuel economy with the carburators versus the fuel injection.
Regardless, at -40, fuel economy drops 30% or more. For anyone who puts on a lot of miles…that’s a big Big bill. Now add to that the cost of heating a home…. ouch.
chris y,
They are going to test electric vehicles at McMurdo station in Antarctica where winter temps reach -50F.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-antarctica-ice-electric-vehicles.html
Otherwise I was referring to the fact a niche exists for a vehicle that starts and runs off battery power in very cold temps. Whether such a vehicle is a practical proposition give the limitations of batteries in cold weather is a separate issue.
More generally my point was that electric vehicles should be developed for niches where they have advantages and not at the family vehicle market.
The US EPA has been the primary barrier to commercial after market conversions to bi-fuel or flex-fuel vehicles. The EPA’s regulations can cost up to $200,000 per engine family.
On March 21, 2011, the EPA issued slightly less onerous requirements for vehicles over two years old. See: EPA Announces Final Rulemaking for Clean Alternative Fuel Vehicle and Engine Conversions
The EPA’s bureaucracy still remains a major constraint on rapid conversion to bi/flex fuel vehicles. See: EPA Announces Final Rulemaking for Clean Alternative Fuel Vehicle and Engine Conversions
The USA already spends about $200 billion EACH year in direct higher costs because of the OPEC cartel. That is worth two trillion dollars present value ($2,000,000,000,000) that US taxpayers are being forced to pay because of the EPAs throttling conversions, and Congress’ weak kneed failure act to recognize the severe strategic disadvantage we have allowed ourselves to entrapped by. I.e. the OPEC cartel is directly imposing a tribute of $17,000 on each and every US household (~118 million households in 2010).
Germany lost WWII when the Allies finally bombed their Fischer Tropsch coal to fuel plants.
South Africa survived the UN embargo because of Sasol’s manufacturing Fischer Tropsch plants to convert coal to fuel.
It is time the Non-OPEC world focused on the economic effort OPEC is waging against us and act to free ourselves of this onerous tribute.
Your estimate of 25 mpg for driving in Fairbanks is too high. Many vehicles are pickup trucks and SUVs. Throw in the winter-time idling of the engines and I’ll wager you 12.5 mpg would be more accurate.
There will never be wind turbines in Fairbanks — seldom is there a significant breeze. I have seen a few solar panels, but they would be totally worthless for 4 months of the year.
Air inversions are the rule. The valleys are much colder than the surrounding hills and small mountains. My son lived in a valley outside Fairbanks and had a sophisticated weather system. Last winter the coldest night at his home was -43F. He recently moved from Fairbanks to Texas.
In what sense is “two years shown for clarity” in the decadal graph? The left and right halves are identical! Looks falsely suggestive of being more than it is. “Clarity” would be a single 1 year cycle.
“A word on block heaters: it is more effective to heat the oil in the crankcase than to heat the block.”
Combine this with an electric oil pump you can turn on every so often to keep the oil circulating, and you have a really good solution. Even at warmer temperatures, I’ve often thought it would be helpful to have the normal starting mode for a car engage the oil pump for a short time before the starter kicks in, to make sure of maximum lubrication during starting, which is normally when an engine gets its worst wear precisely due to the fact that the oil has mostly drained into the bottom of the crankcase. Add a small electric heating element that can be plugged in when the car isn’t in operation, and you have a winner.
I wonder if any of the car companies have thought about building this into the vehicles as factory standard.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned 0W-30 oil. When I lived up north I discovered that 0W-30 in small engines made a huge difference in cold weather. My riding mover/snowplow started much, much easier with it and you can even feel the difference with a pull-start lawn-mower.
This would be just an incremental improvement in a place like Alaska, but every little bit helps.
I’m not sure what the issue is here. I come from Iowa where we have had -35 C nights and I’ve never had any problem with starting a 2001 vintage small truck. But I suppose the Alaska folks have an issue with the long duration of hard conditions and need to leave things running… I can especially see it for diesels.
But the question that strikes me first and foremost is: Is this idling forever to keep a car going just a hold-over from previous generations of vehicles? I
Michael A. Lewis says: “As we move, necessarily, from a petroleum based society (oil, after all, is a finite resource), the population of Fairbanks will plummet. ”
Don’t be silly, Fairbanks will be overrun with all climate refugees as it becomes much warmer due to AGW.
/sarc
Philip Bradley says:
October 2, 2011 at 5:27 pm
Very cold climates are one of the places electric cars have an advantage over petrol vehicles, precisely because they can start in very cold temperatures.
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Philip, you forgot “sarc on”.
I would go on to suggest that someone develop an electric milk truck for Fairbanks but I have a feeling someone would apply for a grant.
I’ve had vehicles start, without block heater assistance, in temps as low as -40C and maybe slightly colder. One trick is a battery with more CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) than came stock in the vehicle. Most vehicles come with a very modest battery, maybe 550-650 CCA but, get one that fits the battery tray with 800-1000 CCA and you’re much better off. The more the better. An engine in good tune with a starter in good shape is a must, as well. Living on the Canadian Prairies, you learn what works and what doesn’t. While I’ve had vehicles start at those temps, I don’t recommend making a habit of it. It’s not a nice feeling when your engine has been running for a few seconds and you can hear the oil pump start to suck up the oil from the pan! I normally plug in when the temps drop to -20C and I use a timer, coming on 2 hours before I leave for work. Any longer is a waste. Where I live, an electric vehicle would be like having a motorcycle, only useful for half the year.