Can world governments provide inexpensive electric cars to help prevent global warming ?

Question

we all want to switch to a form of transport that is clean and non polluting and yet isnt the answer to produce something that all can afford to switch to besides a bicycle I would switch my car tommorrow if I could afford to wouldnt you ?

Answer 1

Ho hum.

If we had done that a decade ago, the warmers like Dana would not only admit but be taking credit for the slowdown and reversal of the warming:

http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/200...

Answer 2

Ya I see your point, there are some really nice hybrid cars out there, but they are expensive. Because energy efficient cars are new, they are also expensive. If these cars were cheaper, I think more people would buy them. But I don't think the government would be able to make cars much cheaper. Maybe just a bit, but a car is a car.

Answer 3

Even better, electric trains that could do public transit even in rural areas where roads cannot travel.  Local transit vans or buses could transport to the station areas and then you could route out and not worry about high expenses of parking and insurance.

Answer 4

what you are asking is, " why can't we, as individuals, provide inexpensive electric cars to each other?"

I rephrased the question, because governments don't provide anything to "us"; we as individuals provide it.

So when you  provide mine to me, I will provide yours to you.

Answer 5

NO.  Global warming..... and cooling.... are natural.  Such has been going on for millenia.

No electric, nuclear or foot pedal vehicle is going to change Earth's warming or cooling cycles.

Answer 6

We are not causing global warming so there is no need for this.

The planet has cooled & warmed in the past and will continue in the future.  I think this should be quite clear by now.

The mother nature & history deniers trying to promote their global warming theory were trying to promote global cooling just a couple decades ago.  They have no credibility.  This is part of larger political agenda to control peoples lives by causing a crisis.

Answer 7

Why, sure they could... it should be a top priority, yessirree Bob ... Who cares what it costs we'll just tax all the rich people, right?

Let's see ... looks like one of the other Answerers says we can get an electric car for $27,000 each ... one for each person on the planet ... ballpark figure ... not counting kids ... say, just 5 billion people... hmmm ... carry the 3 ... need some zeroes ...

$135,000,000,000,000 .... hmmmm

That's a lot .... You wanna go and think a little bit harder? It might save a lot of time ... While you're at it you might want to do some math on what Obama and Clinton's socialized medical programs will cost.

It is real easy to think of the "government" can buy us anything ... but the "government" has to take our money to do it.

Let's repeat that. ... the "government" has to take our money to do it.

Yes, Virginia, the government's only source of funds is our pockets. Try to remember that.

Answer 8

because the government LOVES the oil companies' lobbyists big pay-offs. so they don't want to lose them with eco-friendly energys and cars.

Answer 9

No. World governments cannot just say 'alakazam' and make new technologies appear. They have to be developed first. Your best bet would be to research, design, and build your own if you want it now. Look up 'ev gray' on the Internet. It CAN be done, but gov'ts don't want them because it would mean losing power over people.

Answer 10

Yeah probably

Answer 11

This is a viable low cost plan to have a clean electric grid.  Then electric cars would make total sense.  

Solar Electric Grid Plan

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-so... Scientific American

How to have 65% solar grid by 2050 and nearly all solar by 2100. At a small fraction of what oil really cost. Then electric cars would be charged on clean energy too.

Green Wombat has several stories on the companies working on solar thermal power plants in California.

http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/

"Solar thermal power plants such as Ausra's generate electricity by driving steam turbines with sunshine. Ausra's solar concentrators boil water with focused sunlight, and produce electricity at prices directly competitive with gas- and coal-fired electric power."

"Solar thermal power plants can store energy during daylight hours and generate power when it's needed. Ausra's power plants collect the sun's energy as heat; Ausra is developing thermal energy storage systems which can store enough heat to run the power plant for up to 20 hours during dark or cloudy periods."

"Solar is one the most land-efficient sources of clean power we have, using a fraction of the area needed by hydro or wind projects of comparable output. All of America's needs for electric power – the entire US grid, night and day – can be generated with Ausra's current technology using a square parcel of land 92 miles on a side. For comparison, this is less than 1% of America's deserts, less land than currently in use in the U.S. for coal mines."

from http://www.ausra.com

Concentrating photovoltaic power plants are viable for this also. They both use parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight. One converts light to electricity, the other uses the heat of the sun.

And other clean energies can add to the grid as distributed energy, including roof top solar panels, wind, waves , geothermal,etc.

We already have about 100 nuclear plants running, so for now, at least, they are part of the mix.

Fuel cells, that run on natural gas, are commercially available for power plants. Heat from the fuel cells is also captured and used.

Much cleaner than burning the gas.

Manure and plant waste from farms is good source of power and eliminates methane that would add to greenhouse gases otherwise.

I was impressed with the following.

"Wild Rose Dairy in Webster Township, WI is home to an innovative renewable energy facility powered by cow manure and other organic waste. The farm is home to 900 dairy cows, and an on-site anaerobic digester creates methane-rich biogas from their waste, which is used to generate 750 kilowatts of electricity per hour—enough to power 600 local homes 24/7."

That's one home for every 1 1/2 cows.

and

"Environmental Power’s Huckabay Ridge is the largest renewable natural gas plant in North America, if not the world. Huckabay Ridge generates methane-rich biogas from manure

and other agricultural waste, conditions it to natural gas standards and distributes it through a commercial pipeline. The purified biogas, called RNG®, is generated by Environmental

Power’s subsidiary, Microgy, and is a branded, renewable, pipeline quality methane product."

A large dairy farm near where I live is also doing this.

Also, photovoltaic prices are coming down and efficiency is going up

Answer 12

Even if I bought the whole AGW idea. I would never expect Gov. to buy me a car... Good old socialist you gotta love their ignorance.

Answer 13

where would we get the electricity for the cars?  By burning trash and coal?

Until we switch to alternative power plants, electric cars are pointless.

Answer 14

as that one guy said, global warming is natural, its simply been warming up since the ice age, seeing this, some stupid tree hugger decided that it must be our fault

Answer 15

well it would be cool to have something like that but if you have to drive more than 160 miles in a day, then your screwed...   How is someone supposed to go on a vacation.. or a road trip if you have to stop your car and charge it overnight every 160 miles or whatever the range for a typical electric car is.

Answer 16

How is electricity produced?  Oh yea, they burn coal, which has carbon emissions.  How's that going to help?  Maybe you should invent a solar car.  That would do it.  Of course, that won't change natural climate changes, but it might make you feel better.

Answer 17

Why should the government provide cars at all?  Where would the money come from?

Answer 18

Well it's not the government's job to develop new technologies, but they can help fund it's development and provide subsidies to make them cheaper for people to buy.

Several private companies will be coming out with good electric cars soon.

Available in California in October 2008, the Aptera typ-1e will cost about $27,000 with a top speed of 95 mph and range of 120 miles per charge.

http://www.aptera.com/details.php

Soon thereafter Aptera will introduce the typ-1h, a plug-in hybrid version of the typ-1e with a 40-60 mile range on purely electrical energy, and a range of over 600 miles total when in electric/gas hybrid mode, for around $30,000.  On a 120 mile trip, the typ-1h will get 300 miles per gallon.  The shorter the trip, the higher the efficiency.

http://www.aptera.com/details.php

Available in 2009, the ZAP Alias will cost $30,000, have a top speed of 100 mph, and a range of 100 miles per charge.

http://zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/el...

Soon thereafter the ZAP-X will be available at a cost of $60,000 with a top speed of 155 mph and a range of 350 miles per charge.

http://zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/el...

Available in 2009, the Miles Javlon will cost $30,000 with a top speed of 80 mph and a range of 120 miles per charge.

http://www.milesev.com/

Phoenix Motorcars will start selling their SUT to individuals in 2009.  It will cost $45,000 and have a top speed of 100 mph with a range of 100+ miles per charge.

http://phoenixmotorcars.com/