• Virginia: The state Department of Transportation has partnered with Dominion Virginia Power to install an electric car charging station at the New Kent rest area on Interstate 64 that will be capable of charging four vehicles, says Jeff Caldwell, VDOT's chief of communication.
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $2.4 billion in stimulus money in August to build electric vehicles and support them with charging stations. The goal is to promote clean energy and reduce U.S. dependence on oil, says David Sandalow, assistant secretary of Energy for policy and international affairs.
How much coal must be burned to produce enough electricity to run a car?
How much environmental damage is done by producing lithium-ion or nickel metal hydride batteries, as compared to oil refining?
That means water that runs off the piles of waste rock can be so acidic that nothing can live in the streams or wetlands where the water flows. The acid water can also pull heavy metals such as arsenic and manganese out of the ground it flows over, further contaminating the water.
The U.S. EPA calls acid rock drainage an "enormous environmental problem," and said the industry has only developed "rudimentary" techniques to control it.
I love the idea of pollution free vehicles.
Electric cars are not that vehicle yet.
Present electric cars just produce less pollution where they are driven. They cause pollution where the energy is produced. They cause environmental problems where the batteries are produced.
Mt. Storm, Chesterfield,Chesapeake, Clover, Yorktown ,Bremo, Mecklenburg,Altavista,
Southampton,Hopewell,Virginia City are the Virginialocations for Dominion Virginia Power coal burning plants. They will need to burn more coal for these electric cars. The pollution there will increase, but New Kent will be cleaner. I guess it is OK because it is Not In My Back Yard....
Nuclear power could help but look at the NIMBY factor there.
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