Did you see the movie who killed the electric car?

Question

If you did what did you think of it. Would you be interested in buying an electric car if they made them again?

Answer 1

I was very inspired by the movie and I think its great encouragement to shift away from the present situation of our massively polluting fossil fuel lifestyles.  I think as the technology develops more, we'll be able to charge our cars from our homes that are running on solar and wind power and then we're all set!  Until then, I'll keep searching for the biodeisel hybrid.  I look forward to buying an alternative fuel vehicle and I think the best option presently is the biodeisel hybrid, aside from my bicycle of course!  Half electric, charges itself from the recycled waste oil from restaurants, minimal emissions, sounds good to me.

Answer 2

1. Electric cars are very expensive to operate.

One of my colleagues has a small electric car that was converted from a gasoline powered car.

It requires 50 kilowatt hours of electricity to recharge the batteries. On a full charge he can travel approximately 60 miles.  Note this was a small economy car. The amount of electricity to recharge the batteries of a larger car would be substantially more.

At a cost of 13 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, that is an electric cost of $6.50 to travel 60 miles. That is a cost per mile of 10.83 cents per mile, cost of electricity..

This was a small economy car that averaged 40 miles per gallon of gasoline before it was converted. At $3.50 for a gallon of gas, that is a cost of 8.75 cents per mile cost of gasoline.

The electricity for electric cars is generated in power plants that are often fired by coal. There is a substantial amount of pollution created in the generation of the electricity to recharge the batteries.

Electric cars do not eliminate pollution, they just transfer it elsewhere.

Also the batteries have relatively short lives and must be replaced every 2 or 3 years. The cost to replace the batteries is several thousand dollars. That is a substantial additional cost.

The batteries are lead acid and create a substantial amount of pollution when mining the lead for them and in recycling the batteries when it is time to replace them.

The electric car story is a wonderful story, however it is exactly that, a story.  

Electric cars are very expensive to operate, and they do not cut down on the total pollution, they just transfer the pollution elsewhere.

Answer 3

The EV1 could drive 75-to-150 miles ( on average roughly 110 miles.) per charge with Gen 2 Avionic nickel-metal hydride batteries. Fully loaded these batteries would contain 26.4 kWh of energy. If I use the kWh price (13 cents/kWh.) mentioned by Mike in the above post I calculate that the EV1 would use: 13*26.4= 343.2 cents --->3,43$ for 110 miles. This is 3.12 cents/mile.

Based on the average fuel consumption of American cars, which is 27.5 miles per gallon, and the price per gallon, which is 2.23$/gallon, it costs 8.92$ to drive an ordinary car 110 miles making the cost of the electric car to 37% the fuel cost of ordinary cars.

The batteries lasted longer then the cars themselves.

Also, the cars were never massproduced which ould have driven down the manufacturing costs significantly.

The Tesla Roadster currently have a fuel cost of 2 cents/mile

and emits 1/10 of the of the pollution. It takes about 3.5 hours to fully charge the batteries.

Answer 4

Yep, I saw it and thought it was very interesting.  I would buy an electric car and they will be making them in the near future.  I think the Volt will be the first one in about 2010 if all goes well.  You can also find 1999 electric Ford Rangers on eBay if you are ready to buy one now.

Answer 5

"who killed the electric car?" was on of the best films i have ever seen. i was very eager to see the film and when i saw it i was very impressed on how it was very informative and who was to blame. i loved it from beginning to end. and yes i would be very interested in buying an EV series vehicle (if they made them still). great question!

Answer 6

I thought the movie was a well balanced & watchable documantary. Shame it couldn't end by telling us how to buy an ev.

I have a converted 205.

very cheap to run, electric is far cheaper to make than refined petrol, is less taxed, refuel at home or work, less maintenance, (the main problem I have is with the original gearbox which would not be required on a "pure" ev),

and just much more pleasent to drive than noisy, smelly infernal combustion engine.

Answer 7

I thought it was a great movie.  You may have heard of Tesla Motors or Zap(zero air pollution), these companies have already made electric cars that are amazing(Tesla Roadster and the ZAP-X).  I own a 2003 Tiburon, and I get great gas mileage, but the next car I buy will be electric.  In the next decade electric cars will become cheaper, so everyone can buy them.  An electric car that gets its energy from rooftop solar panels would be the ultimate solution.  It would have almost no carbon footprint, not to mention you would save thousands of dollars.