Trust Your EV to DONG Energy?

In writing about a switch to fuel-less energy, Joseph Romm notes that the economic cost of a switch to 100% zero-carbon electricity for the whole planet, is feasible, especially with the introduction of considerably more energy efficiency.

That is what the McKinsey analysis has shown. That is what the IPCC has concluded. That is what the Stern Review found. Clean electricity is the linchpin, because we will almost certainly be switching from oil to electricity for most vehicular transportation this century.

Such a switch may be occurring in MENA (Middle East North Africa) and some parts of Europe. For instance, writing for Technology Review, Kevin Bullis1 suggests that a new infrastructure is underway in Denmark. Denmark is renown for its development of wind power; windmills make up around 20 percent of Denmark’s electricity production. Now Israel-based Project Better Place has chosen Denmark as the second place to launch widespread use of electric cars.

Project Better Place Denmark


Project Better Place — Denmark

ABG commentator Carsten, who lives in Denmark, think this is a very exciting. [Edited for better reading]

I probably will buy one of these cars when they become available, but it will depend on the total cost of ownership. Neither DONG nor PBP have stated how much it will cost to run the car on a daily, monthly or yearly basis, but the compare owning and driving a PBP car to owning and using a cell phone; in other words, it depends on how much you drive. The more kilometres (miles) you buy for your car, the cheaper and cheaper it becomes to drive, similar to when you buy minutes of talking time for your cell phone

It is true that cars are heavily taxed in Denmark, it is a little more complex, but basically: when we bye one car, we pay for three, we have a car tax of 180% (that is to get a license plate, so you can drive on the streets), and on top of that we also have 25% sales tax. Electric cars are at the moment exempt from the 180% tax, I think until 2012 and then it might be extended.

DONG hopes to have 100 cars ready for the climate conference in Copenhagen 2009, so that the participants can have the opportunity to be transported in a non polluting electric car.

Anders Eldrup plugs in


DONG’s director Anders Eldrup estimates half a million EVs in Denmark by 2020

I know that the energy company is owned by the Danish federal government, nevertheless, I am skeptical of a natural gas and oil company promoting electric cars. If of my generation, you may have lodged in your brain, “You can trust Your Car to the Man that wears the Star”, which may have been true if your car ran on petroleum. On the other hand, if you wanted traction batteries for your electric car, well, then, it was a different matter altogether.

Yet, there may be some possibility for optimism. As Gothenburg, Sweden Treehugger April Streeter reported2:

DONG (Dansk Olie og NaturGas) has over 600 MW of installed onshore and offshore wind around Europe, and CEO Anders Eldrup emphasized that excess wind capacity (produced largely at night) is a natural fit with a network of electric cars charging up at owners’ homes and offices. DONG promised 100 EVs would zip around Copenhagen’s thoroughfares by 2009, and estimated that by 2020 20 percent of the market (half a million cars) would be EVs.

Sure sounds good!

Continue reading here: Alternative Fuel Analysis

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