{"id":6189,"date":"2015-01-07T09:10:45","date_gmt":"2015-01-07T09:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=6189"},"modified":"2015-01-07T09:10:45","modified_gmt":"2015-01-07T09:10:45","slug":"unep-chief-uses-electric-bmw-at-cop20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2015\/01\/07\/unep-chief-uses-electric-bmw-at-cop20\/","title":{"rendered":"UNEP chief uses electric BMW at COP20"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It <a href=\"http:\/\/www.climateactionprogramme.org\/news\/unep_chief_uses_electric_bmw_around_cop20\">seems<\/a> that the UNEP chief has been\u00a0given an\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmw.co.uk\/en_GB\/new-vehicles\/bmw-i\/i3\/2013\/start.html\">i3<\/a> car by BMW, though for how long, isn't clear. \u00a0The decal on the side of the car says: \"100% electric\", but that depends what the electricity was made from. \u00a0Nobody is saying, but the key phrase in the piece is \"locally emission-free\". \u00a0Just so.<\/p>\n<p>A piece in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/science-and-technology\/21636715-why-electric-car-may-be-much-dirtier-petrol-one-cleaner-what\">Christmas Economist<\/a>\u00a0showed how the green credentials of electric cars vary, depending on the fuel mix used to generate the electricity. \u00a0It said\u00a0that electric cars can be considerably\u00a0dirtier (in CO2 terms) than petrol cars. \u00a0Although it was American data that were used, the point applies here as well. \u00a0The piece ends:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\"Overall, the research shows that electric cars are cleaner than those that rely on internal-combustion engines only if the power used to charge them is also clean. \u00a0That is hardly a surprise, but the magnitude of the difference is. \u00a0How green electric cars really are, then, will depend mainly on where they are driven. \u00a0In France, which obtains more than half its power from nuclear stations, they look like a good bet. \u00a0In China\u2014which is keen on electric cars, but produces some 80% of its electricity from coal\u2014rather less so\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Now, I'm a fan of electric cars, and have one myself: a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.volkswagen.co.uk\/new\/e-up-nf\/home\">VW e-Up!<\/a>, not the i3. \u00a0On a sunny day (rare recently), I even use my own solar power from '<em>Semington A<\/em>' to charge the battery. \u00a0Driving it\u00a0is easy and enjoyable. \u00a0Working out how far you dare go is quite another matter: an abstruse science or a complete art, depending on your facility with partial differential equations. \u00a0I wondered how it would cope with the hills round Bath, and it turns out to be fine when descending, especially using the stylish regenerative braking which increases the range significantly. \u00a0Going uphill is another matter where a 1 mile journey can knock 11 miles off the range available. \u00a0The car monitors the battery state and will shut off the heater (or air con), and de-rate the motor, if the 'miles in the battery' run too low. \u00a0It calls this, with no hint of\u00a0irony, \"eco-mode\". \u00a0It's an adventure, particularly if you (as I haven't yet) risk a long-distance\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/motoring\/motoring-news\/are-ecars-the-future-of-motoring-find-out-on-a-long-but-not-long-enough-drive-up-the-electric-highway-9955940.html\">journey<\/a>\u00a0as the charging infrastructure is not reliable.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It seems that the UNEP chief has been\u00a0given an\u00a0i3 car by BMW, though for how long, isn't clear. \u00a0The decal on the side of the car says: \"100% electric\", but that depends what the electricity was made from. \u00a0Nobody is...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}