Which mainstream car manufacturers are currently developing fully electric cars?

Question

I've done some reading on electric cars. My reading has led me to the conclusion that electric cars are:

a) Much cheaper to run than petrol/diesel cars.

b) Emit less CO2/KM even if charged by a fossil fuel generated source.

c) In some cases able to meet or even beat the performance of £100,000 supercars.

So if they're so much better in every respect which mainstream manufacturer will make the jump first and when?

Answer 1

a. Cheaper to run, much more expensive to build.

b. True, but we would need to double the number of electric generating plants, which no true green environmentalist will allow, since they will have to be nuclear, coal-fired or hydroelectric. If they can't have zero radioactive waste, CO2 or no change in the environment  they will fight it.

c. That depends on what you mean by performance. Look up EVs that are being made at triple or more the price of standard cars.  They go fast, stop fast, have lots of low speed torque and high speed power and the 2 passenger Tesla only costs $100,000 US.  Then look at the range per charge. You can go 300 miles from home, then it takes 6 hours and a 220 volt outlet to recharge.  At home you can spend a bit more money and have a 10 minute recharger, but that means you can only go 150 miles from home before returning for a quick recharge.  Not easily adaptable for vacations or business trips. Add electric air conditioning  or electric heat, electric power steering, brakes and accessories and your range is reduced.

Mainstream automakers are invested in the inherently polluting internal combustion engine. They will build hybrids, where the electric motor assists or powers the car at low speeds, but the main motive power will be the IC engine.  A few vehicle makers, notably buses, are using a plug-in electric vehicle with a diesel engine to run a generator to recharge the batteries.  Diesel is still polluting.  A more efficient hybrid would use a clean steam engine to power the generator. A steam-electric hybrid would be the perfect answer, low emissions, low fuel use [80% of the driving would be done short-range on plug-in electric power] it would have multi-fuel capability.

No mainstream maker will touch pure EVs due to their expense and range/recharge problems.  No recharging network can operate without both demand and the new electric plants that the environmentalists won't allow to be built.  Mainstream automakers are too invested in IC engines to switch to a steam-electric hybrid.  Just as Tesla Motors had to start from scratch anyone building a steam-electric hybrid will have to start a new company.  Once the product is proven, then the mainstream companies will either buy it to eliminate it or to build it for themselves.  I would hope that some US company, since they need to do something different, would actually do it themselves, but the hope is faint considering how short-sighted they are.  Perhaps South Africa, India or Australia might have people with more imagination.

Answer 2

Both GM and Ford have advanced models being launched - mostly with hybrid back up for extended range.  Yes they are better in all the respects you mention but you dont mention the two things which are the current barriers.  Range and buy price.  Many of us could get away with 50 to 100 miles per day but most of us also want a greater range for the weekend and those days we want to make the longer trip so we need someway to "refuel" whether by a quick charge or by an on board generator which is the GM pattern cominig out.

Answer 3

GM has already marketed and sold a line of electric cars. And every major manufacturer and some upstarts that you haven't heard of yet are in R&D on electrics. And some of the upstarts have some very interesting ideas.

The theory is great, the problem is the battery storage, and that has been what has slowed the industry down.

Answer 4

If Electric cars were as good as gas powered cars they would be the norm. They , however; are not.

Answer 5

Mitsubushi http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/...

No other "mainstream" car manufacturers are currently qnouncing selling fully electric cars. although there may be some Chinese companies thinking about it

They have developed them in the past, but most like GM recalled and crushed them - despite customer demand and satisfaction.

Electric motors are much simpler to make than infernal combustion, only 7 moving parts in the Tesla drive chain. http://www.teslamotors.com, no clutch or gearbox, catalyctic exaust, coolant system, complex/insecure fuel supply chain. So electric should be much cheaper to mass produce, and recycle at end of life.

Electric is just much more pleasent to drive, smooth, quiet, smell free. 200 mile range; refuel at home or work, or in 10 minutes at a service station, (and if you don't  take a 10 minute break after 200 miles then something is wrong with you)

the reasons they are not available are inexplicable & illogicall and mired in conspiracy theory, global corp power, ignorant media reporting (when was the last time top gear asked where our high power electric cars, eg those made by Lotus in Norfolk, are?)

http://www.evuk.co.uk

http://batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/word...