I still dont understand why arnt we using electric cars?

Question

I was looking around and found that the technology of electric and solar cars has been around for a long time, ever since the 70's. Well now in 2000's i think its time for out future we been waiting for. We today have way way way better technology than we did in the 70's why arent we driving in electric cars yet? I saw a video on youtube of a SMART car that was electric and it was terific O emission, O gas and the electric engine is a whole lot easier to make and cost less to make, if you cut all the parts that go into a regular gas car we are not only saving lots of money but resourses as well. We all need to wake up and realize that gas companies and car companies are taking advantage of us becouse many of us dont even know theres such a technology out there. Those guys are making millions off of and destroying our earth with all the pollution, many inocent people have died over this liquid that does more bad than good.

Answer 1

if you take a look at EV Canada's site, you will see some awesome vehicles. we need to get in the faces of our politicians and demand these zero emission cars and trucks. ultimately, it will be up to consumers to demand changes. as you recall, California was on the right track with the electric vehicle mandate. that however was shot down. its amazing what oil money can buy. while in EV Canada's site, be sure to look thru the links.

Answer 2

Fear of change,ignorance,oil lobbying and high price of alternative energy source vehicles...

As long as the politicians are receiving high contributions from the rich oil companies they will refuse to invest more money in clean vehicles and accompanied infrastructure for charging those vehicles.

It is not the technology that is the problem or high demand for electricity.

The main cause is greed.A disease.

The oil companies will not stop until all of reachable oil is drained and earth crippled beyond repair or until someone gathers the courage to invest more money in clean technology and education campaigns for the potential buyers.

Answer 3

Electric cars can be recharged in 10 minutes. http://www.phonixmotorcars.com If you really need to drive more than 250 miles without a 10 minute break you can tow a generator http://www.acpropulsion.com/vehicles/pag...

electric cars are much more efficient than infernal combustion even if the electric comes form fossil fuel generators that are constantly monitored and maintained running at optimum load and temperature.

electric cars will make the grid more efficient because they can be charged off peak & sell bak at peak demand http://www.acpropulsion.com/Press%20rele...

- a car with 250mile range that only does a typical 40mile commute has a lot of spare capacity.

plus electric cars are much nicer to drive - quiet, smooth, smell free, max torque from 0rpm from cold, refuel at while parked.

also lower maintenance, easier recycling, make your own fuel from wind or solar or combined heat & power, back-up systems for work or home power supply, £0 UK road tax, £0 london congestion charge, even free parking in some cities like Westminster

I don't understand either - it's very frustrating

Answer 4

You are right in saying the technology has been around for a long time and electric motors are very clean.

The problem is the electric power itself. Around a hundred years ago when electric machinery first became really useful, most electric power was supplied by coal fired power stationss. As the use of electrical power spread, oil and gas were used as fuel and technologists began to look for cleaner and cheaper ways to generate electricity. Hydo-electric power could be generated wherever there where massive water supplies, and nuclear power could be generated from a controlled 'atomic pile'. But the increasing demands for electric power, for TV sets, washing machines, air conditioners, and all the electrical goods in common use today means that we have to keep building more and more power stations, and creating more and more polution.

The 'clean' energy supplies available to us to-day, such as Solar Cells and Wind Turbines, are only capable of supplying a tiny fraction of the electricity we consume. So, unfortunately, it's not the gas companies and car companies who are at fault - It's mankinds ever increasing demand for electricity.  

Answer 5

It's called energy density. If it takes 100 pounds of gasoline (17 gallons) to fuel your vehicle, then to get the same amount of energy from batteries would take:

FUEL                                  POUNDS

-------------                             ---------------------

Gasoline                             100

Lead Acid Battery                62,500

NiCd Battery                       33,500

NiMH Battery                      21,300

Lithium Ion Battery              6,510

Regenerative Fuel Cell          2,900

Lithium Ion w/nanowires       1,950 (not commercially available)

A standard automobile weighs about 3000 lbs. So, to get the equivalent energy of a tank of gas the lithium ion battery powered vehicle would add the equivalvent weight of two more vehicles.

Answer 6

It's basically an issue of battery technology.  Yes we've had EVs around for a long time (actually the first one was invented about a century ago!), but they've had a limited range due to the batteries.  The EV1 for example could only go about 60 miles per charge with the first generation (lead acid) battery.  Then it upgraded to NiMh for the second generation and could go around 100 miles per charge, but for various reasons it got scrapped.

We're just now starting to develop lithium ion and some other types of batteries which will make EVs more appealing to more people.  Plus now that gas is finally expensive and people are understanding the threat of global warming, there's much more demand for EVs than there used to be.  So a lot of companies are now developing them (see link below).

Answer 7

Because electric cars lack range and take forever to recharge (and solar cars are just plain useless, the only thing they are good for are stunts).

Electric cars have been around for a lot longer than many people realise (in fact the first car to do more than 100 km/h was electric) but lost out in the marketplace because electric cars weren't as good as petrol powered cars (steam cars also lost as well).

Answer 8

Its probably because it costs too much since its new and all but everyone wants a healthy environment or maybe because people are having trouble making it, Because i never see them building them or no one driving them

Answer 9

Becuse electric cars are dumb becuse they go 20 mph

Answer 10

Way back in the 70's we had a president that vowed to get the US off imported oil by the year 2000! He installed a bank of solar cells on the White House roof. Then came Reagan! The very fist act as president was to remove the solar panels from the White House!  Now look where we're at!

Answer 11

For starters, recharging them. Now not to mention the inconvenience, when we can just fill up a petrol car in a minute if we're running low, you have to wait a few hours to use your electric car again. Not to mention of course that recharging them uses electricity, and we're still burning fossil fuels to get electricity, so if anything there is a loss of efficiency.

The technology is expensive, for example the batteries. They need to be durable, long lasting and safe. But unfortunately, it's detrimental to the environment to obtain these materials. Did you know that a Toyota Prius is more environmentally damaging than a large V8 SUV? This is because of the materials needed for the batteries and the electrical systems which make it work.

I hardly think our power suppliers will be able to handle the demand if everyone switched to electric cars, massive amounts of electricity would be needed, and prices for it would soar.

I don't think we should be using them until we have exhausted every other option.

Answer 12

1..high battery cost/poor batterys...2 limited range..some clame 60/80 miles but most say 30/40...gerat if u own 2 cars...one for work other for trips.3  gas is cheap even noe at 4 dollars a gallon..and easy to use..

Answer 13

You won’t want to drive a solar powered car, they are basically a covered bicycle with no heat, no air, no radio, no airbags, no real safety features at all.

As for electric cars, 0 emission at the tailpipe but a lot of electricity is from coal fired plants, and not counting the batteries when they reach end of life. Also traction motors aren’t cheap they run from $1,300 to $3,000+ not counting batteries, about the same as a gasoline engine of similar HP, not counting transmission. As far as recourses an engine is generally made of iron or steel, both of which is cheap and abundant, an traction motor uses copper, also abundant but not as cheap.

You also have a range problem with electric cars that you don’t have with gas or diesel powered cars. Take your average electric car with a max range of 125, but even if we take the best which claim 250 mile and then add in -40F (-40C the temp at -40 is the same for F and C) and see what happens to that range, 1/3 or maybe 1/2 then add a heater, lights (it get dark sooner and light later) and suddenly your 250 mile range is down to 100 or less. A gas or diesel powered car has basically unlimited range, given that the average fill up only take 5 minutes or less, compared to the hours it takes to fully charge an electric car, (yes I know you can get a 80% charge in 15 minutes if you have the right equipment but that’s not a full charge)

Car companies don’t give a rat butt about what powers a car they will put in a car whatever sells, right now there are about 50,000 cars on the road including Low-Speed Vehicles (cars of this type are used in town but not on the highway)

And does more bad than good? Do you have any idea how dirty the streets were before oil and gas powered cars? In 1908 it was written that horses were an economic burden, an affront to cleanliness, and a terrible tax upon human life.  The city of Milwaukee in 1907 had to deal with 133 TON of manure every DAY. If you lived in a city back then your life was about 10 shorter then people living in the country, in part from the filth from all the horses. In an article by Harold Bolce “The horse Vs. Health”, he estimated that twenty thousand New Yorkers died each year from “maladies that fly in the dust” created mainly by horse manure.

So cars made the cities a cleaner better place to live with less pollution, oil is what has given you, in part, the freedom to complain about how bad oil is, because it got rid of much of the pollution that was in the cities and states.