Skip to main content

Toyota Powering Plug-In Vehicles With French Nuclear Energy


From the IHT:
Would you feel better about the environment by filling up on electricity generated by a nuclear plant than plain, old gasoline?

That’s one of the questions Toyota may face as part of a partnership with Electricite de France announced Wednesday at a glitzy Toyota showroom on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

The companies are setting up a “smart network” of plug-in points and household sockets that would charge users for filling up on French electricity, most of which comes from the country’s dozens of nuclear plants. Unlike coal, gas and oil plants, nuclear emits virtually zero carbon dioxide, although it does leave radioactive waste that troubles many citizens and environmentalists.

By charging cars at night, drivers would emit virtually no CO2 because that’s when nuclear plants are providing almost all the country’s base load of electricity, said Pierre Gadonneix, EDF’s chief executive.
I'd be willing to plug my car in at night? How about you?

Comments

Anonymous said…
If costs were comparable to gasoline-fueled vehicles, I'd have no problem going with a plug-in. My understanding is that range is limited, so as a family vehicle used for vacations and such, I don't think it's a good choice. But for commuting, it might be viable.
Anonymous said…
When I worked at Priarie Island I saw that they had several outlets in one of the parking lots for plug-in electric engine block heaters. I never did check to see if they were metered (too cheap to meter?). When I lived in Alaska for a year, my apartment building had similar parking lot outlets that were controlled by a timer switch inside each apartment. Owners of nuclear power plants could aid this wise conversion to electric vehicles by installing metered plug-ins in plant parking lots. Of course, plant vehicles like fork lifts, man lifts and utility carts could also be replaced with electric vehicles as the old vehicles wear out.
GRLCowan said…
These plug-in vehicles are gasoline-fueled. They have enough battery for 10 to 20 km -- this takes a battery about as heavy as an extra passenger-- so you can make short trips like that without starting the gasoline engine.

--- G.R.L. Cowan, boron car fan
How shall the car gain nuclear cachet?
Anonymous said…
The concept could be extended to the parking lots at utility offices or other locations in communities that are close to nuclear plants.

I think it's a good promotional opportunity.

What the utilities could do is to work with small businesses that retrofit hybrid vehicles to plug-in status. As this invalidates the warranty on the vehicle, it's often best to do it with an older hybrid that is out-of-warranty.

This is analogous to something that is happening with CNG. There is a new business in my area run by a fellow who retrofits vehicles to run on CNG. He also owns a station where drivers can buy the CNG.

Popular posts from this blog

An Ohio School Board Is Working to Save Nuclear Plants

Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu

Why Ex-Im Bank Board Nominations Will Turn the Page on a Dysfunctional Chapter in Washington

In our present era of political discord, could Washington agree to support an agency that creates thousands of American jobs by enabling U.S. companies of all sizes to compete in foreign markets? What if that agency generated nearly billions of dollars more in revenue than the cost of its operations and returned that money – $7 billion over the past two decades – to U.S. taxpayers? In fact, that agency, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), was reauthorized by a large majority of Congress in 2015. To be sure, the matter was not without controversy. A bipartisan House coalition resorted to a rarely-used parliamentary maneuver in order to force a vote. But when Congress voted, Ex-Im Bank won a supermajority in the House and a large majority in the Senate. For almost two years, however, Ex-Im Bank has been unable to function fully because a single Senate committee chairman prevented the confirmation of nominees to its Board of Directors. Without a quorum

NEI Praises Connecticut Action in Support of Nuclear Energy

Earlier this week, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed SB-1501 into law, legislation that puts nuclear energy on an equal footing with other non-emitting sources of energy in the state’s electricity marketplace. “Gov. Malloy and the state legislature deserve praise for their decision to support Dominion’s Millstone Power Station and the 1,500 Connecticut residents who work there," said NEI President and CEO Maria Korsnick. "By opening the door to Millstone having equal access to auctions open to other non-emitting sources of electricity, the state will help preserve $1.5 billion in economic activity, grid resiliency and reliability, and clean air that all residents of the state can enjoy," Korsnick said. Millstone Power Station Korsnick continued, "Connecticut is the third state to re-balance its electricity marketplace, joining New York and Illinois, which took their own legislative paths to preserving nuclear power plants in 2016. Now attention should