APS is the electricity supplier for us in Northern Arizona. I contacted them and asked for what percentage of their generation is from coal, nuclear, and alternative energy sources. Approximately 35% is coal, 20% for natural gas, 28% for nuclear, 10% for alternative sources, and about 7% from improvements in energy efficiency. This isn't perfect, but the majority of APS energy is from non-coal.
I also read an interesting article about electricity generation worldwide at http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/electric-car-emissions titled "Shades of Green: Electric Cars' Carbon Emissions Around the World" that shows how each country's carbon emission is reflected in electric vehicles. Here's an interesting chart:
The United States is a fossil-heavy country, not the best for electricity and EVs.
Based on the chart above, the article then produced another chart that uses the data shown above to represent petrol car emission equivalents in MPGus that could be interpreted very much like MPGe for EVs:
From this we can see that the United States produces energy equivalent to an efficient regular-petrol car that can achieve abut 40 MPG, where Paraguay has 218 MPG.
The BMW i3 is manufactured in a very energy-efficient plant. Here is a quote from http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/corporation/bmwi/sustainability.html#production :
In 2014 - for the ninth time since 2005 - the BMW Group once again tops the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as the world’s most sustainable automobile manufacturer. Rather than become complacent, we were motivated to create new standards: the energy-intensive carbon fibre manufacturing process was set up in Moses Lake, USA, because it can be operated there using clean energy from one of the world's largest hydroelectric power plants – the Grand Coulee Dam. Furthermore, 100 % of the power used by the BMW i manufacturing plant in Leipzig is obtained from renewable energy sources. In addition, the energy consumption required to produce the BMW i3 in the Leipzig plant was reduced by 50 % and water consumption by as much as 70 %.*
*BMW i3 production when compared to the industry-leading BMW Standard.
In most cases, the range extender will not be used, but it does provide relief from "range anxiety." Since it is a small motorcycle engine with a generator that puts charge into the batteries (serial-hybrid), it does produce CO2 emissions of 13 g/km when running. When the BMW i3 is stopped, the engine does not run. In 2010, the average CO2 emission for cars in the United States was 255.6 g/km, so the REx is only about 5% of that when it is running. The Toyota Prius has a CO2 emission of about 90g/km.
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