Why don't we use electric cars they don't burn fuel?

Question

Why don't we use electric cars they don't burn fuel?

Answer 1

They cannot go as fast, and not able to travel as far between "fillups" (charges).  and they would be very expensive, so most of us wouldn't be able to afford them

Answer 2

If every one could afford them we would all have them.Some people don't have that choice.

Answer 3

somebody already said it, but i will simplify:

Electricity takes fuel.  you have to burn fuel to create the electricity to power the batteries in the electric cars. think about it for a second. all you are doing is putting more of a workload on big electric power plants. most power in the US is generated by burning coal...

Answer 4

This is a very good question. Americans like big, roomy, fast cars. Electric cars can be very fast but they are not too big or roomy. The other problem is range. Typically, an electric car can travel 100 miles on an 8 hour charge. A good many Americans only drive 60 miles or less per day, however, that is a psychological component that only the greenest can overlook. Americans love the idea of unlimited range on short fill ups(charges). Chevrolet has introduced, at the most recent auto show, an electric car with a 1.0 litre engine called the Volt. It is the size of a standard sedan. It uses a standard charge for the batteries that will go 60 miles. Once this mileage has been exceeded, the engine provides the electricity to continue your travels estimated at just over a 600 mile range. It is similar to a hybrid in that it has an engine. The difference is that the engine provides juice for the electric motors rather than the actual motivation for the automobile. The reported ranges are 175 mpg while in charge mode and 50mpg while utilizing the engine for electricity. This technology has been used in trains for many years now and appears to be a really thoughtful way to approach the transition from hybrid technology which is a hardware/software nightmare waiting to happen.  It appears to be a car that could go into production very soon. The estimated price is between $25,000-$35,000. It is also reported that it has the same performance of a Chevy Impala.

Answer 5

People do use electric cars. They are known as hybrid cars. And they do use fuel. And even if you could create a car that used no gas at all, whatever it did use would be fuel. Electricity does not grow on trees. You would need some kind of fuel to create electricity.

Answer 6

They use  electricity and to produce electricity you have to burn fuel.

Answer 7

This was an idea that was popular during the oil crisis in the 1970's when cars made a lot more particle pollution.  Since then, oil dropped in price in the 1980's and catalytic convertors became common which cleaned up car emmissions a lot.  Electric cars don't have many advantages over gasoline powered cars anymore.

Answer 8

cuz you need to charge them, which is rediculously inefficient

also it takes a lot of fuel to make the batteries.

and there would be taxes on other environment factors

its all proportional

Answer 9

I am telling you why, I am sure the Government has slowed this process down so that they do not lose out to the oil industry.  Not that I do not like the oil or government , I'm just saying.  Plus they are not as fast yet and to keep speed, and to be fast at all I am sure they are not safe for higher speed collisions (not that anything else is).

Answer 10

Because any battery that can store enough power costs too much and any battery that is cheap enough cannot store enough power. If a cheap and powerful enough battery is ever invented, you will see electric cars everywhere. And believe me, big money is being spent on inventing better batteries. Not just for cars, but for cell phones and laptops. The new Tesla electric car basically uses a bunch of laptop batteries. But they are expensive, as you know if you ever had to buy a new battery for your laptop. So the Tesla can go 245 miles on a charge, can go 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds and only takes 3.5 hours to charge up. But it costs $100,000. Probably most of that cost is for the batteries.

Answer 11

Don't burn fuel?!  Wow...how can you say that?!  

Any idea how much fuel, and mining was done to make them, ESCPECIALLY their batteries?  Those batteries are NOT environmentally friendly in the slightest.

Also of course, they are electric, and being re-charged.  That electric recharge is coming from somewhere.  Electricity is generated with SOME sort of "fuel."  

Now if you get all of your household power from solar, wind, or hydro then yes, they are pretty environmentally friendly.

However most people in the U.S. are getting their power from coal fired plants.  So fuel IS in fact being burned to recharge those cars.

Most electric cars have about a 200 mile driving range.  Many of them have really poor exceleration rates (but that is improving).  

A 200 mile driving range simply is not enough for some people.  

Then you have the problems of they are simply not practicle for many people.  What do you do if you have more than two children, or just one big dog?

What do you do, if your power goes out for a week, because of an ice storm?

For farm folks like me, they are silly.  I cannot toss a sick, or muddy animal in the backseat.  They cannot pull a trailer.  They cannot haul home one ton of animal feed.

Heck...they couldn't even haul home my groceries!  I only shop once or twice a year....when I shop, I buy a LOT of groceries.  (Any idea how much fuel is saved by only shopping once or twice a year?)

Electric cars do burn fuel, but because people do not smell it, nor see it, it's like electric does not count.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 12

battery technology is one part of the equation, the auto industry's reluctance to admit that their gas burners are a poluting nightmare is another and lets not forget our government which is bought and paid for by big business.

aside from that, electric is not neccessarily green. If the electricity you use to charge your batteries comes from nuclear, coal or oil powered energy producers you are not driving a green vehicle, you are just polluting the environment at the powerplant and not on the freeway.