How many millions of dollars would it take to develop this electric car???

Question

1) can be charged at home overnight

2) can be drive for 200 miles without a charge

3) can be purchased by consumers for under $15,000.

4) At least 150,000 must be available and ready for public purchase by consumers no later than 1/1/2010.

Ok...if the above was a goal, how many millions of dollars would it take to develop this car??

Answer 1

http://cbs4.com/topstories/smart.car.mer...

I think the Europeans are way ahead of us on this.  The Smart car is being sold here now.  Its cost is $21,800 and it only seats 2 people but we'll be seeing more cars like this and get a tax credit for buying them sooner or later.  It is manufactured by Mercedes Benz.

There are also cars soon to hit the market that run on compressed air.  Buses and taxis are already running on compressed air in India.

Answer 2

The vehicle you describe already exists. Current versions of electric vehicles can travel in excess of 200 miles without recharge and most have solar panels to aid in battery longevity. The only problem is that for years the major oil companies have been buying up the technology involved, and doling it out in a slow trickle. This is so that it's (the technology) emergence on the open market does not interrupt the cash flow of the oil companies.

Answer 3

That vehicle would be useless.

200 miles on a charge and it has to charge overnight?

What good would it do on long trips.  My family lives 900 miles away from me (they live in Vermont I live in Ohio), it would take a week for me to make a day and a half trip to visit them.

I sincerely hope the government doesn't use any of my money to develop it.

Answer 4

Slowhand is correct, Tesla Motors sells cars today that fit your description other than the price. With so few models being produced it's understandable that the price is still high. Ideally they would add a feature that would allow you to quickly swap-out the battery deck, allowing you to put in fresh batteries in place of depleted batteries. If that could be done at a charging station, like a gas station or even as part of a current gas station, the added convenience would make the transition painless and quick. Then again, 200 miles is much more than the average commute, most people drive well under 80 miles round-trip per day.

Hit the other links for cars made by other companies that may soon be widely available that better fit your criteria.

***edit There is no car that can run on water, it's physically impossible to get more energy out of water (thru electrolysis or other means) than you put in to separate it into usable gases. That will remain true until we can use the hydrogen in a fusion reactor but that's many decades in the future. The water car is a myth and any middle school science student should be able to explain why.

Answer 5

if you have no option to quickly/instantly recharge during the day than thats just not practical.

Answer 6

Well you apparently have never heard of the guy who invented a way for cars that run completely on water.  One was invented over 20 years ago and you can find it on you-tube. I'm not sure if its the same one as 20 years ago but there is one that is just a simple attachment that can be attached to any vehicle.  There are several that have been bought from the inventors by oil companies that have been black shelved  and there is one i found on you tube that is pretty recent but the guy is having trouble getting his idea patented.  So why waste how many millions on that when vehicles can run on water?

Answer 7

If the Govt applied the same amount of Federal subsidies that for example the nuclear industry received over the last 50 years or used to buy surplus corn, which was then dumped on overseas markets in developing countries destroying their agriculture and making them dependent on imports, I'm sure they could develop something quickly, although not by 1st Jan 2010.

Battery technology is getting there, but you would really need something renewable to generate the power.

This is pie in the sky thinking though...as the oil lobby wouldn't allow it.....electric cars!?!?!?!

Answer 8

More like billions,

There are problems with electric cars.

1. To work, they must be very light, which means they are generally unsafe. Canada bans almost all elec cars, even though companies there make 11 different kinds for export.

2. Elec cars need batteries. Batteries that can safely store enough energy, is the largest problem to developing elec cars.

Large batteries, tend to overheat and catch on fire.

There is not a single hazardious waste facility in the US authorized to dispose of elec car batteries. Right now, they are all shipped to the single facility in Canada, that can dispose of them, But Canada wants to close that facility down.

Since there is no safe way to dispose of elec car batteries, They always leak and the heavy metals enter the water tables.

Elec car batteries, are more hazardious to the enviroment, than nuclear waste.

3. Elec car batteries, need elec to work.

We already have a deficit in elec production in the US, widespread use of elec cars, would result in brownouts all over the US.

And since most of the elec in the US, is produced by fossil fuel powered  elec power plants, ( the leading cause of green house gas's in the world ), using more elec cars, would result in more pollution.

As to selling less than $15,000, that will never happen, you cannot buy a car for less than 15k today, why would you think you could ever buy a elec car that cheap ?