Why can't the U.S. make electric cars? the technology is already here?

Question

I am an electronics buff and have a interest in alternative fuels. I have been studying the I.M.A. motor on the Handa Insight which puts out 114 volts. Now, my question is, why can't someone take that motor redesign it and make it the main power source to power an electric motor for the car? 114 volts is more than enough to power an electric car.

Answer 1

...and what source would you use to generate the electricity that would charge the batteries for that electric car?  Coal?  Natural Gas?  Hydroelectric?  Nuclear?  

Because wind and solar don't generate enough to cover the increased electrical generation that would be necessary to charge the millions of batteries in the millions of electric cars...

EDIT:

I'm not an engineer, but what you're suggesting sounds a bit impossible to achieve.  

You're suggesting that an IMA motor will power the car, and will ALSO power the generator.  The generator will, in return, power the IMA motor - and the only outside energy source you've indicated will be available is a small battery that will only be used to initially start the generator.  

The "conservation of energy" in your setup doesn't seem feasible at all.  You're not allowing for the introduction of energy which will power the car/motor/generator.  You're just saying that the IMA motor will power the generator and the generator will pwer the IMA motor.  

You're suggesting that a "perpetual motion machine" is in fact possible - even though the vehicle would have to overcome the forces of gravity, friction, and other resistance - WITHOUT any influx of energy.

Answer 2

No free rides with electric cars, calculate the BTU's required to power U.S. private transportation vehicles,  base it on about 30 mpg/vehicle x annual miles driven.... It will take just about that many BTU's of electrical power anually to replace petroleum fuel (duh).  ( I AM an engineer)

Answer 3

If you are an electronics buff, then you would know that the statement "puts out 114 volts" says NOTHING.  My dogs shock collar puts out 20,000 volts.  I don't think you could run a car on it though.

Your Additional Statement totally convinces us that you are wallowing in your ignorance.

Answer 4

We are.  There are several electric car makers in the US.  Right now the best is the ZAP Xebra:

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/za...

And in July Green Vehicles is going to start delivering the first affordable highway speed EV - the Triac:

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/gr...

And in October the Aptera typ-1e will follow suit:

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/ap...

And in 2009 so will the Miles Javlon, ZAP Alias, Phonenix SUT, and CityZENN (although ZENN is Canadian):

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/mi...

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/za...

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/ph...

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/ze...

And of course if you've got a spare $98k lying around, there's the Tesla Roadster:

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/20...

On top of that you've got GM and Toyota working on plug-in hybrids for 2010, and Mitsubishi working on an EV of their own for 2010:

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/mi...

And Nissan is shooting for an electric vehicle in 2012, and Ford is working on plug-in hybrids, etc.  I could go on, but you get the picture - essentially everyone is working towards electric cars, because that's the transportation technology of the future.  GM blew it (and has admitted as much) by scrapping their electric program after the EV1.  They could have had plug-in hybrids available 5 years ago, but at least they're making progress now, along with all these other companies.

Answer 5

s***w the car makers, just convert a gas car to electric yourself or pay someone to do it.

The electric grid can handle the juice just fine, don't buy into the doomsday fear-mongering. Doing something, anything is better than just bitching about it.

Answer 6

Why would U want to do that. The generator to electric power will be 40% less than if u just used the gasoline motor.

Answer 7

Storage of energy is the biggest part of the problem.  GM made an electric car in the late 90s that was state of the art for it's time, but it had a limited range of about 40 miles on a charge.  If you have a 15 mile commute and get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on your way home, what are you going to do when you run out of charge?  Batteries are extremely heavy.  If you want to double the range, you may be talking about over 1,000 pounds of battery, which will take bigger motors, which in turn will take an ever bigger battery to run it.

The answer is in plug-in hybrids.  A 30-40 mile range on batteries, but if you need to go further, they have a small gas engine to provide power or charge the battery.  That gives you unlimited range (so long as you can stop for gas), so it would fit more seemlessly into our car-crazed society.