Electric Cars

[Smack]

Have you seen the new "all electric" cars on sale nowadays? Nissan has one, and I think Chevy does too. Would you consider buying/leasing one?

As for me, I don't think they'd be a good option. I go on too many road trips, and their range is very short. I guess they'd be good for someone who just goes a few miles to work and back every day, but for most of us, I just don't think they would work.

 

[Grandpa]

Do they list how many watts it takes to recharge? I know the electric fork lifts where I used to work took a lot of energy to recharge.

 

[oldsarge]

Can you imagine a whole community or city having these things. There is enough drain on the power grid now with A/C units running all summer, now plug in the cars. How can the power company keep up when they already have planned power outages due to over use. I agree, it might not be good for road trips, but it might be good for a city commuter and help clean up the air in those areas like LA.

 

[CozInCowtown]

Only if it comes with a PowerStroke...LoL

 

[Kepper]

The range is too short for my commute, and the price is outrageous. I love the idea but they are not economically viable at there current price tag. When they become cheaper or more convenient, then I'll consider it.

I think the Chevy Volt costs 35-40k, while you can buy a Chevy Cruze for under 20k. Even at $4.00 per gallon, that is a lot of gas. For the savings in sticker you could put 150,000+ miles worth of gas in the tank of your Cruze. And that doesn't even take into account the cost of electricity or the cost of new batteries for your electric car if they wear out.

 

[GROUNDpounder]

Do they list how many watts it takes to recharge? I know the electric fork lifts where I used to work took a lot of energy to recharge.

They're advertised as costing 1.50$ to charge, as apposed to the 8$ a day used to commute.

 

[Grizzly]

Personally i will stick with my VW Jetta TDI. 50 miles per gallon baby and you can fit 4 adults comfortably with gear in the trunk.

 

[campfire]

I don't think it would work for me either. I drive a work truck everyday, but it might work if I wanted one as my "around town" car. I never even considered getting one.

 

[dinosaur]

What I don't understand about electric cars is that the operation of the vehicle requires turning tires and air flow over the body. This is incidental energy that could be used to generate more electricity. In addition, solar panels could be incorporated into the body of the vehicle. If the car sits in the sun all day, it could recharge in a parking lot.

 

[Camoguy]

I agree with you there, dinosaur. I think it's ridiculous to have to plug the things in when they could make them an "off the grid" vehicle. It's not a good thing to add more drain to the grid we have now. Electric vehicles are not advanced enough to suit me at the moment. I'm sure they'll be better in the years to come. I'm not ruling out my getting one, I'm just waiting until they get better designed.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

If you try to use the drag of the air over the vehicle to charge it you just use the power faster. You want the vehicle to be as areodynamic as possible to reduce drage and rhge power required to move the car Regenerative braking DOES help recharge the battery, but even covering the vehicle in solar panels simply won't generate suffiecient wattage to significantly charge the battery.

People have lots about just how much electricity it takes to charge one of these babies.

Think along the lines of a heavy-duty electric dryer running full out for several hours.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

Lots of MISCONCEPTIONS... preview is my friend...preview is my friend...

 

[dinosaur]

If you try to use the drag of the air over the vehicle to charge it you just use the power faster. You want the vehicle to be as areodynamic as possible to reduce drage and rhge power required to move the car Regenerative braking DOES help recharge the battery, but even covering the vehicle in solar panels simply won't generate suffiecient wattage to significantly charge the battery.

Nothing is impossible and the models of electric cars available are hardly aerodynamically perfect. They're not even close.. There exists a technology from a company called Sauer Energy that creates energy from wind power. It is a dimpled turbine that, under certain applications generates more power than it consumes.

Also, you apparently haven't kept up with solar panel technology. The average vehicle surface covered completely with the newest (that I know of) flexible sheet solar panel that will conform to the shape of the vehicle, will generate approximately 400 Watts of power in direct sunlight. Used in conjunction with charge regulators and cell charge sensing devices these could easily be used to charge the auto's batteries.

No offense but your type of thinking is what made it impossible for man to fly.

 

[Valdaree]

I like the Lexus and, if I had the money, I'd buy one. It has both electric and regular engines so if you run out of charge you can use petrol to get you to a charging station.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

Well, no offense taken, but you can't beat the laws of thermodynamics. If you try to utilize the drag over the vehicle, you will simply require more power to make it move.

What you're suggesting is just a version of the "Why not put a windmill on the top of the car to charge the battery while it's moving? " idea. It won't work- you can't get something for nothing, and you can't even break even.

Regarding the solar panel idea- this is at least feasible as a range extender, although 400 watts is not a lot of power. 400 watts= about 0.54 horsepower and I'm guessing that the electric motor on the vehicle is at least 50 horsepower so it's about 1/100 of the load. Even at 400 watts for 10 hours you're looking at enough power stored to run the car for a few minutes at best.

I hate to be a wet blanket, but there is a lot of wishful thinking involved in electric cars as a practical matter. That's the big reason whjy they have to have a huge tax credit to attract people to them.

With current battery technology, you just can't store enough power in a small enough package to get a decent range for anything but commuting, and the charge rate is so much slower than just filling a tank with gasoline, that it makes the vehicle rather impractical for anything but a round trip to work, or running around town.

If people want to buy them, then they should do so, but they need to be aware of the drawbacks.

My $0.02. YMMV

 

[dinosaur]

Bream, I only disagree with you to a degree. Physical laws are a bitch and air friction is a tough nut to crack but we're working on it.

Personally I like the idea of solar since the vehicle doesn't have to be in motion to get a charge. Obviously the best situation would be a vehicle that could be run directly from sunlight with a battery backup. How's that for pie in the sky?

Right now none of this is feasible but it might be someday.

 

[3ofusnow]

I think the auto makers might find a lot more sucess with a solar vehicle. However, no kind of alternative cars are going to be mainstream if they can't find a way to reduce the cost.

 

[dinosaur]

Popularity is what reduces price. Mass buying allows the manufacturer to cut the margin of profit. In other words if you sell ten widgets with a thousand dollar margin, you make ten thousand. But if you sell a hundred widgets with a two hundred dollar margin, you make twenty thousand.