Why cant cars be run on electricity only?

Question

this might be a dumb question, since obviously its not that easy....... but what are the reasons why?

Answer 1

If your lucky and your State allows you can buy an EV for less than 12K.  See THe Zap Zebra Link

It is technically possible to run a car on electricity today.  The battery technology argument is not entirely justifyable as a reason to not produce an electric car.   Just a few years ago several electric cars were placed on the roads, the EV-1 being the most notable.

You can use current battery technology and fill the trunk and any other available space with regular lead acid batteries.   The problem here is that this is done at the expense of cargo handling capacity.  Also Detroit is mistaken in their belief that no one will buy an EV unless it has a range like a regular gas car. Yes this is a valid argument for some drivers but  many people drive less than 30 miles in a day which is far under any range limitations of EV's on the market.

You can convert a small pickup truck to run on elctricity by yanking out the gasoline engine and installing an electric motor and 1200 to 1600 pounds of batteries. Trucks make great conversion platforms as they are designed to handle the extra weight and batteries can be placed either in or under the truck bed.

Auto manufacturers want to sell you a vehicle and have you come back for service and parts. If you sell an EV car that can take standard batteries then you won't have to go back to the dealer to replace batteries you'll go to some after market dealer. This is one reason that car makers are making these specialized batteries.  You'll have to go back to them for the battery replacement several times over the life of the vehicle and pay what ever price they demand!!!.

The biggest obstical I found to getting an EV (zebra or conversion) on the road last summer was the State of Massachusetts DMV.   They would not allow me to register a Zap Zebra.   Nor would they allow me to place a converted electric vehicle on the road either for two reasons.

1.) The conversion would have to pass a State Police Inspection. But the State police will not consider conversions for inspection.. CATCH -22

2.)The converted vehicle wouldn't pass emissions testing.  The VIN number indicates an original internal combustion engine not an electric motor so it would not pass emissions.

I could put a MeyersMotors  EV on the road but 50K+ for a single seat EV was a little out of my price range.

Thanks for letting me vent....

Answer 2

they can,they are,and ALL should be.

Answer 3

It would really blur the line between cars and golf carts. (Golf carts are currently run on electricity only.  They do not require the range of your typical vehicle.)

Answer 4

They can be and they are.  The problem is in the limitations of current battery technology.  There are a number of cars that run on electricity but they only have a range of about 50 miles, which makes them impractical for most use.  You do realize that the electricity used to charge these batteries comes from petroleum fired generators???

Answer 5

JAPAN is making cars they use water, electric still expansive.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jivb7lupD...

Answer 6

People are not "yelling" enough for such machines, and the industry doesn't really want to do this. It would hurt gasoline/diesel consumption, which would hurt their ultimate partners, the oil producers.

The hybrids, are, in my opinion, not worth having. Their motor torque is transferred through pulleys to the main crankshaft. It is a lossy way of doing things. A DC motor in the drive line, where the transmission could disconnect the engine, or regulate the engine power supplied to boost the electric motor would be a better idea. The engine could also be switched to a lower number of cylinders, to just run the alternator, to provide electricity to the motor when conditions are favorable to just using the DC motor. One thing we have not done, which is done all of the time in large earth moving machines, is to use a motor within a wheel. R.G.Letoureau developed this idea back in the late 1950's, and to the best of my knowledge is still being used to this day. A series wound DC motor produces massive amounts of torque which is needed to pull the machine, as well as to push what ever it is pushing around. It beats all of the mechanical stuff needed for these machines if it were just engine, transmission, and drive train. So, why are we not using 4 wheel drive autos with a DC motor within each wheel, it would make the cars much more efficient. I realize that the stock answer is that the motors would be to big, or difficult to control, and so forth and so on with all the other excuses the manufacturers would want to use. That is pure rubbish, bottom line, such would make cars last to long, cut into parts sales, and into fuel sales.

All of this said, there is a means to go total electric. It involves the use of fuel cells. Air, and a fuel gas, such as natural gas (methane), or propane, is burned in a special device with a platinum based chemical membrane. This is quite similar to the flameles heaters, called catalytic heaters that are often sold for camping heater use. The output of these fuel cells is heat, water vapor, and electricity. Current models have a conversion efficiency of about 80 to 85 %. Try getting that efficiency out of a car engine. If you want to get more information on the fuel cell thing, get a copy of the ARRL magazine "QST" dated June of 2003 or 2004. The front cover shows the test vehicle that was used by one of the "HAM" clubs that year to provide, for a short time, emergency power for their contest radios. The contest is what we know as "Field Day". If the people will just "revolt" and make their voice heard, we could force the changes desired, but most people will not do this.

Answer 7

They can.

However, there are problems with making them cheap without sacrificing high performance, given current technology.  Also, there is an environmental issue of how do we dispose of all these large batteries that would be required to run all our cars off of pure electric.  Among other issues.

However, to illustrate that electric cars can be powerful and very s**y:

http://www.teslamotors.com/

Answer 8

It has a lot to do with the limitations of current battery technology.  The Chevy Volt, which will be able to get 40 miles on electricity alone, uses a 6ft long, 500 pound battery.  In order for a car to go a greater distance than this using only electricity it would need a huge battery.  I'm sure technology will catch up eventually.