Is there an electric car that can match the performance and cost of my current vehicle.?

Question

My current vehicle can do the following:

Travel for 250 miles at highway speeds (70 mph) on a single tank of gasoline.

Accelerate from 0-60 in 10 seconds as long as their is gasoline in the car.

When the fuel tank is empty, it can be completely refilled in less than 10 minutes.

A full tank of fuel cost $45.00

I can refill at thousands of convienient locations all across the country.

It can comfortably carry two adults and their luggage on long trips (and still do 250 miles on a tank of gas and accelerate from 0-60 in ten seconds).

It can maintain their comfort even when the outside temperature is as high as 100 deg F or as low as 0 degrees F, and still do 250 miles at highway speed and 0-60 in 10 seconds.

It went 170,000 miles before needing any major repairs. These repairs, when done, cost $4,000.

It cost $40,000 when new.

If there is an electric car that can do all this, I might just buy it.

Answer 1

well there are but u just have to wait a while because although these cars can now go at a range of 200-200 miles per charge it wont be available in the market til next year or so so heres the links.

Answer 2

While you are right in pointing out that electric cars don't yet compete with gas cars on the level, they should not yet be entirely discounted.

Electric cars make great 2nd cars in 2  car households.  I wish they were available in Pennsylvania so I could go get one tomorrow.  Since we plan to have solar panels installed on our roof next year, "fuel" will be cheap and I will feel better about doing my part for clean air, water, etc.

Answer 3

It's not really fair to ask a fairly new technology to meet the standards of another technology which several massive companies have been developing for many decades.  However, there are a few electric cars soon to be in production which meet most of your requirements.  My personal favorite is the ZAP-X Crossover, scheduled to come out in 2008.

http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicle...

It will have 2 models, one costing about $60,000 and the other about $30,000.

Range: 350 and 100 miles per charge.

Top speed: 155 mph and 100+ mph.

Acceleration: 0 to 60 in 4.8 seconds.

Recharge: has the option of a 10 minute recharge, but you need a special station.  A 220 Volt outlet recharge will take somewhere around 6 hours.

While a car gets about 10 cents per mile (assuming $3/gallon and 30 mpg), an electric car such as this gets 2 cents per mile, or about one-fifth the fuel cost.

As you can see, the ZAP-X is quite large (almost SUV sized, I'd say) and thus will meet your luggage needs.

I'm not aware of any issues with comfort.

Electric engines have fewer moving parts than internal combustion engines, and thus should require less maintenance.  Additionally, they claim the lithium-ion battery will last 9,000 charge cycles (at 350 miles per charge that's an insanely long lifetime).

Cost as mentioned is $30-60,000.

What do you say?

*edit* I was not trying to make it sound like the answer was 'yes'.  I was showing you that the ZAP cars meet most of your crieteria.  As I immediately stated, it's not fair for you to expect a new technology to match the performance of a very long-lived technology.  It seems like you're purposefully looking for a reason to dismiss electric vehicles.

Answer 4

Not yet, but there will be something close in the not too distant future.  Range/refueling considerations may make it hydrogen powered, which is actually just a form of electric car.

When they get reasonably close expect a hefty subsidy or a hefty tax on gasoline powered cars, to persuade people to switch.  That will be part of the battle against global warming.

Answer 5

The only thing stopping us from having something like that is that we have yet to invent a battery that is capable of doing what we need.

Answer 6

The only thing I can think of would be the Volt. And that wont be out for another 2.5 years.

8 Second 0-60. 40 miles per charge. 600 Miles when using gas generator (50 MPG with generator on). Seats 5. Going to be cost competitive with the Prius.

Because the drive system itself is 100% electric, it should have far better reliability than a regular car. It still has a gas engine, however the load put on it is light, it operates at only 1,800 RPMs, and doesn't have to deal with the constant RPM changes from a transmission. So even the gas engine should be far more reliable than one in a normal gas car.

Electric drive is extremely robust, and a lot of other parts prone to breaking (i.e transmission) are completely gone.

Answer 7

why would you want one anyway?

electric cars were phased out 100 years ago by the marketplace.

what we need is more big american V8/RWD platforms for occupant safety.

Answer 8

NO. if there were electric cars that would do half of that they would be everywhere.

Many electrics have come and gone because they were lousy, but the "Environmentalists" keep believing GM killed them. I don't know why.

I worked for an electric company for many years. We had them. We wanted them to work because we could make more money. We tested them. Gave them to employees to drive for marketing. We got rid of them.