Why is so hard to make a fully electric car?

Question

Why is so hard to make a fully electric car?

We have the technology to make rockets that launch people into space, submarines miles into the ocean,bionic prosthetic arms and legs that move but we can't make a car an electric car?

We used to have appliances and baby swings that you would turn a k**b and would run without batteries. Why can't we use something like that but on a grand scale? Or batteries that self charge with the friction or traction created?

Answer 1

electricity storage is the major issue- another is lack of infrastructure for charging- battery technology is far better than we are led to believe, it is supressed by the petroleum industry. big surprise, huh ?  go rent the movie "who killed the electric car" netflix has it- youll be amazed  at what our government hides from us

Answer 2

First part, it would take to long to 'crank up' the battery.

Second part, entropy.

Answer 3

It isn't hard, but why would we when gasoline is cheap and plentiful.

Answer 4

Electric cars are improving very quickly.  

Battery technology has made a lot of progress.

Tesla Motors is building luxury sport roadsters that are comparable to a $90,000 dollar Lotus or Porche for the same price.  And they are just a little start up company with no economy of scale like a big car manufacturer.   Their roadster will do 0-60 in under 4 seconds and 130 mph top speed.

They have a torque to weight ratio even with the Lotus.  They have full torque at 0% mph.   So there doesn't have to be a problem with performance with electrics.

The Tesla can go over 200 miles on a charge.

Phoenix Motor care is making electric utility pickups for use as job trucks for farms and industry.  They have a range of 130 miles.  The can be charged in 10 minutes using a 440 volt charger or 6 hours using the onboard plub in charger.  Vehicles like these could be charged at charging stations just like we now use filling stations.  

I think Plug in Hybrids (PHEVs) are the best bet for now.  They can get 100mpg overall, for the Average American driver.   That's because most people would rarely use the gasoline engine for their daily commute to work.  The 100mpg above is based on a battery only range of 40 miles.  You plug it in at night during off peak hours and charge the battery for $1.00 worth of electricity.  And the grid is already cleaner in general than burning gasoline.  And you don't have the range limitation of an all electric.

Power Industry experts have said that the grid can handle PHEVs since they will mostly be charged at night.

http://www.pluginpartners.org/

Plug in Partners has a lot of info on the benefits of PHEVs.

  http://www.setamericafree.org/blueprint....

A Blueprint for U.S. Energy Security

"Since fifty-percent of cars on the road in the United States are driven 20 miles

a day or less, a plug-in with a 20-mile range battery would reduce fuel consumption by, on

average, 85%. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can reach fuel economy levels of 100 miles

per gallon of gasoline consumed"

"Flexible fuel/plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: If the two technologies are combined, such

vehicles can be powered by blends of alcohol fuels, gasoline, and electricity. If a plug-in vehicle

is also a FFV fueled with 80% alcohol and 20% gasoline, fuel economy could reach 500 miles

per gallon of gasoline."

"If by 2025, all cars on the road are hybrids and half are plug-in hybrid vehicles, U.S. oil

imports would drop by 8 million barrels per day (mbd). Today, the United States imports

10 mbd and it is projected to import almost 20 mbd by 2025. If all of these cars were also

flexible fuel vehicles, U.S. oil imports would drop by as much as 12 mbd."

Answer 5

One simple answer:  Energy density.

Gasoline has a relatively high energy density and is relatively safe to transport on a small vehicle.

Batteries have a much lower energy density, but that is improving with continued research.

The basic question is:  How far can you travel with 100kg of fuel?

A fully charged, 100kg battery will take your 2000lb car a specific distance.

A tank of gasoline, with a combined weight of 100kg (gas and the tank, you have to count them both) will, on average, take that same 2000lb car about 4 times further.

Since a gasoline engine is not a very efficient way to use the energy in gasoline, there is still much room for improvement.  I am hoping that current research in ceramic fuel cells will boost the output of a "gasoline" engine to near 65% eefficiency.  If successful, it would double or even triple the mileage of the average car.

Answer 6

We can't seem to find a cheap, light, powerful battery. That's the only thing holding us up.

Those baby swings ran on clockwork springs. And Conservation of matter and energy prevents your other ideas from being practical.

Answer 7

Fully electric cars have already been produced in the 1990s in California when they passed a short-lived zero emissions law. However GM and other automakers stopped producing them due to "not enough demand from consumers" and apparent safety concerns. Sounds more like the oil companies got involved. Nonetheless, obstacles for the electric car include: increasing range of the battery and developing infrastructure to charge the batteries.

Answer 8

It's not hard, there are plenty of fully electric cars running around almost any golf course you want to visit.  What it is difficult, in fact at the present time, impossible to do is to make an electric car that can compete with gasoline and diesel powered cars for on road use.

Answer 9

Check out the movie, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" - it's pretty eye-opening.

Answer 10

There is a lot of waste, whenever energy is converted from one form to another. a vehicle that burns the fuel directly has the advantage of fewer conversions, so it actually uses less fuel. If we were to power a lot of cars with batteries, we'd need a lot more generators, and the cost would go up. The link below discusses the waste at each stage of the conversion to battery (& hydrogen) power.

Answer 11

the oil & car companys block it at every level.think about it.they have got the biggest cash cow ever,we can fix the problem but thiers no real money in it like oil.