Buckner: A new era in energy: electric cars on nuclear power

We’re likely heading into an age of electric vehicles that outperform even the most advanced gasoline-powered cars, which could lead to a fundamentally new era in energy, enabling the United States to reduce its dependence on imported oil and involvement in the Middle East. On top of that, the vehicles represent an environmental boon, since renewables and nuclear power could finally begin to substitute for oil as sources of power for automobiles.

Emerging technologies, particularly more efficient lithium-ion batteries, are surprising even the most skeptical auto analysts. For example, the Tesla Motors Model X sport utility vehicle can accelerate from 0 to 60 in just 3.8 seconds and run 240 miles on a single battery charge. The Nissan LEAF, the Fiat 500e, Chevrolet’s Bolt and the Ford Focus Electric are among the cheapest new cars on the road when their five-year fuel costs are taken into account.

Despite low gas prices, the electric-vehicle industry grew by 23 percent last year, and by 128 percent since 2012, and the vehicles now account for nearly 2 percent of U.S. auto sales.

Continued growth at such a fast pace could help the nation — and the world — lower its emissions of the gases that cause global warming, especially if the electricity needed to recharge the vehicle batteries comes from zero-carbon, base-load nuclear plants.

Batteries account for a third of an electric vehicle’s cost, and steady technological progress is reducing that cost. Tesla is racing ahead to build battery manufacturing capacity, with construction of a $5 billion plant near Reno that is intended to double the world’s supply of lithium batteries by 2020.

Largely because of the magnitude of the energy-storage-cost reduction that already has been achieved and stricter carbon-emission regulations, auto manufacturers are converting many of their models to all-electric vehicles or hybrids. Greater manufacturing efficiency in turn will drive much of the price decline and lead to the new era in energy.

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 3:15 AM.