The Electric Car?

Question

If electric cars where available through major car companies would you buy one. Electric cars can be plugged into a outlet and charged up. Most have a limited range, something like 120 miles to a fully charged battery with a top speed of somewhere around 60 mph when containing a NiMH battery. They need almost no periodical maintenence. Electric cars would no doubt be very expensive though. Have Fun!!!

Answer 1

my situation is this:

I want to do things that are good for the environment, but i think we should find a way to apply technology such that we don't have to sacrifice utility or desirability to do so.  that is why the whole electric car/hybrid/alternative fuels thing hasn't taken off yet.  because with all of those alternatives, there is a sacrifice being made by the user to do so, with no tangible benefit (as of now the increased cost of the vehicle has not been met by the offset in fuel costs)

I would have to be able to get the car i want, equipped the way i want it -- i would be willing to pay a reasonable premium for the advantage of having it electric, but it has to perform similarly to the conventional.

Answer 2

Check out "Tessla Motors"--a start up that is planning to market electric cars in the US starting in 2009 or 2010.

Your description is accurate--but with a couple of qualifiers.  Basically--for the kind of driving most people do most of the time (commuting, going to the grocery, etc) an electric is entirely adequate.

And you are correct in that electric cars will be expensive--but only to start with.  The technology is actually simpler--and potentially cheaper to build.  But  to begin with, volume will be small--and that increases cost.  If electrics start to sell reasonably well, the price will start dropping as volume grows.

Finally, keep in mind that electrics are only a part of what needs to be a wider system.  The electricity still has to be generated in the first place--and we need alternative energy production to replace coal and oil fired powerplants.  Otherwise, electric cars wion't help the environment  all that much.

Answer 3

No one has come up with a good electric car... period.  

Don't believe those liars who claim that the government killed these cars.  All the major car manufacturers have tried and failed.  To get 120 per charge you have to use batteries that are too costly..  Most attempts at electric cars using conventional batteries only get 60 miles.  Did I mention that they look ridiculous? Tiny little boxes, good fit for a small girl.

I would like an electric car that can get at least 200 miles per charge, look like a regular car, and not use a battery that will create an environmental disposal problem.

http://www.peswiki.com/index.php/Directo...

Answer 4

i would buy one, check out the dvd called "What ever happened to the electric car" they were getting big in CA until the feds killed it...but we need to find better ways of making the electricity other than coal fired generating stations and nobody wants a nuke plant near them because of the health risks.

Answer 5

Only if they offer the same or lower price for the same performance.

The problem is that many electric cars are designed and build like gasoline or diesel cars, it just wouldn't work that way. Electric cars need to be designed and build like electric cars.

It would be fun though charging your car by pedalling the electricity into your car.

Personally, for the time being I prefer a serial hybrid, kind of like diesel-electric locomotive. Plus multiple motors for each axle or even each wheel, kind of like diesel-electric locomotive.

The power is generated by a small combustion engine (think motorcycle engine size), then channeled to the battery and the motors. Regenerative braking is also use for normal high speed braking, to recharge the battery.

The battery only provide for extra acceleration and start-stop cruising mode (like in traffic or city block cruising), while the engine is use to charge the battery and for normal cruising mode (like in highway or climbing hill).

Anyway.

High speed isn't exactly really that important, what is more important is fast acceleration. Most people regulary overtake other cars, but most people don't usually regulary drive over 60 MPH.

As for range, it varies for each people. But many don't like to always refill each day, let alone being stuck without fuel.

If each electric car have an onboard human powered electric charger, you can always recharge anywhere.

Answer 6

In a heartbeat.  I just saw Who Killed the Electric Car.

Answer 7

no bcuz they're too expensive and i want to run the world dry of its natural resources

Answer 8

Do like the nickname by the way - as to your question - I'd buy one as long as it was easy to recharge them anywhere - I don't think I've seen a facility advertised at any fuel station I've visited since I've been driving over the past nearly 30 years that says "PLUG YOUR CAR IN HERE"!

If I did - I would it would be a serious contender over say the normal fuel or even LPG outlets you see at some larger fuel stations on the road!

On balance - it might be worth - but it must obey the first law of life thought:-

Thou shalt have CONVENIENCE!!!

If you're in the US Airforce - come on tell me the truth!

Is Stargate SG1 pure fantasy from Hollywood - well its filmed in Canada I think aswell actually - or do you lot have anything underground that can 'fold space' - I promise I won't tell anyone - well maybe my wife and my cats - but no one else - honest!!!!

Answer 9

What killed the electric car was the high cost of electricity. If we could get electricity at reasonable rates many people would buy electric cars to cut their fuel costs, especially people who commute 50 to 100 miles each way, so long as you have batteries that will handle that range.

Unfortunately sources of electricity such as solar energy are even 10 times more expensive than current electricity rates.

I remember back in the 1960's there was an inventor named Ovshinsky who claimed to have a way of making solar cells so cheap that the cost of electricity would be less than the cost of the electricity provided by the utilities.

Ovshinsky managed to get people to invest millions of dollars into his scheme only to have all of that money lost.

I am still waiting over 40 years later for electricity produced by solar electric cells to be anywhere close to the cost of the electricity from the utilities, and that is still too expensive to operate an electric car.

I am not going to hold my breath.

I remember our first oil crisis back in the 1970's. The Carter administration had plans for a project similar to the TVA implemented by Franklin Delano Roosevet back in the 1930's.

The main part of the project was to build 2,000 nuclear power plants by the year 2000. That would make us energy independent.

The electricity rates would be so cheap that people would voluntarily switch to the heating of their homes with electricity instead of oil and gas.

The electricity would also have been so cheap that it would have been cheaper to run an electric car rather than a car powered by gas or diesel.

The 2,000 nuclear power plants would result in a reduction of our carbon dioxide emissions to less than half of what they are today.

Also the electricity would be so much cheaper that it would make economic sense for people to switch over and get most of their energy from electricity generated by a nuclear power plant.

Let's get a commitment from the candidates for President in 2008 to build those 2,000 nuclear power plants and provide the American people with electricity at rates that they can afford rather than the jacked up electric rates that we have now.

Answer 10

Yeah dude. www.teslamotors.com

Their all electric with lithium ion batteries runs up to 140mph and 0-60 in under 4 seconds. Also has a range of 250 miles. Too bad it's $100K.

Answer 11

There are not any existing electric cars that can go 120 miles at 60 MPH on a single charge. But I believe the Tesla electric car to be on sale next year can do that. It has a base price of $98,000.

Answer 12

Yes, I wouldn't even need the electric vehicle to be available through a major car company (but that would make me feel a little better about reliability).  If I hadn't recently bought a Prius, I would consider buying a ZAP-X Crossover EV when they come out in 2008:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070622/aqf03...

http://www.zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id...

But I would like to see how well it performs and see the price come down a bit first.  Still, the $30,000 and $60,000 price tags will be far improved from Tesla's $92,000.