The Charge of the Electric Brigade

With prices starting in the low 30s -- a steal!



--d!

Somehow, I think that big oil will mount a stiff resistance (lower fuel prices) to destroy these cars. I hope I'm wrong, but there is so little positive info in the MSM that people's perception is still of practical electric cars in the distant future (I'm talking cars that can be driven many hundreds of miles on a single charge as can be done on a tank of gas).

Bad analogy here.

They only leased 500 of them and they're already pulling the cars back in.

They should replace it with the Ford Focus EV.

Are electric cars worth getting excited about yet?

Don't get me wrong, I'm as militant a tree-hugging greenie as you could hope to meet and am enthusiastically supportive of anything and everything that will reduce automobile emissions and reduce our wasteful consumption of fossil fuels. But I'm struck by a few points that would seem to call into question the relative impact of electric cars.

One, we do not yet have a cost effective battery that will allow an electric car to have the range of a gas-fueled vehicle. Coupled with the fact that we lack the infrastructure of electric filling stations, electric cars cannot yet replace a gas vehicle as an all around vehicle that will meet all of a consumer's transportation needs, which, for most people, will include needing to make occasional road trips. So the people who will buy electric cars will be those people who can afford to buy, maintain, and pay insurance for an extra vehicle in addition to their gas-powered vehicle.

Secondly, the electric car itself may consume no gas and produce no emissions, but it does still need power, and the electricity it needs is being generated by private energy companies interested more in maximizing profits than in producing clean energy. So our energy companies use cheapie gas turbines that operate at very low very efficiency, generating far less electricity and produce substantially more emissions per unit of fuel than the more modern - but more expensive - turbines employed in Europe. So although the electric car is clean, the energy it's using isn't really all that clean.

These observations lead me to wonder whether our efforts wouldn't perhaps be better directed to increasing the market share of hybrid vehicles. No, they aren't quite as low emission as an electric car, but they are generally ULEV vehicles, which is a very great deal more than can be said for most of the vehicles on the road today. Yes, they consume some fossil fuel, but vehicles like the Prius and the Insight use about a third as much fuel as the average American vehicle. And the main thing: they're capable of handling everyone's transportation needs and are commercially viable right now. Americans can even buy their precious SUVs in hybrid versions now.

No argument, they are not as great as electric cars, but, from a macro point of view, if every American traded in their SUV or their luxury sedan for a hybrid equivalent today, we would have cut fuel consumption by at least half and emissions by god only knows how much. And it wouldn't involve American consumers having to make any of the compromises that they are so loath to make. And they could buy those vehicles immediately. Hopefully, one of these days, we will have electric filling stations and it will be cost effective to equip electric cars with batteries that go hundreds of miles on a charge, but, since we aren't there yet, nor, at least as far as I can tell, are we anywhere close to being there, how much impact can electric cars have right now? The planet is dying beneath us, friends. We can't wait another decade, not another year, not another day for cleaner energy. Do electric cars offer the kind of potential reduction in emissions and fuel consumption right now that hybrid vehicles can offer immediately? Any thoughts?

And there's a lot of people just like us

I, for one, rarely drove more than 15 miles a day the last few years I had my car before it got stolen. Most Americans have no need for a car that can go hundreds of miles a day, every day. Especially if they have a second vehicle.

Hell, I go weeks without driving a car at all, but I live in town and my commute is five minutes by foot, which probably isn't typical for most Americans. I guess most of my concerns go away if it's a second vehicle and I daresay a lot of Americans have more than one car.

A rock-bottom cost is around $30,000. The range is pretty good. The big problem is the lack of recharging stations, and a practical fast-recharge method.

When the price can be dropped to $10,000 and the charging difficulties are addressed, they will "explode" on the market. My prediction is that this will happen around 2014-2018.

Of course, the problem remains that "car culture", using any kind of technology, remains extremely wasteful. We have to address that, too.

--d!

I don't need a recharging station other than what I could install here at home and I would not need a fast recharge method and I'm in with the majority of Americans I would think. I want an EV that can go at least 40 miles on a charge and that would cover most all our driving. We'll always have a truck (f150) for when we need, (and we from time to time do,) a larger vehicle or an extended, (which we seldom need,) range. I personally don't think I'll ever see a new EV with a $10,000 price. Not saying it can't be done just saying the auto companies CEO's greed won't allow it.

"One, we do not yet have a cost effective battery that will allow an electric car to have the range of a gas-fueled vehicle. Coupled with the fact that we lack the infrastructure of electric filling stations, electric cars cannot yet replace a gas vehicle as an all around vehicle that will meet all of a consumer's transportation needs, which, for most people, will include needing to make occasional road trips. So the people who will buy electric cars will be those people who can afford to buy, maintain, and pay insurance for an extra vehicle in addition to their gas-powered vehicle."

"One, we do not yet have a cost effective battery that will allow an electric car to have the range of a gas-fueled vehicle. Coupled with the fact that we lack the infrastructure of electric filling stations, electric cars cannot yet replace a gas vehicle as an all around vehicle that will meet all of a consumer's transportation needs, which, for most people, will include needing to make occasional road trips. So the people who will buy electric cars will be those people who can afford to buy, maintain, and pay insurance for an extra vehicle in addition to their gas-powered vehicle."

"A rock-bottom cost is around $30,000. The range is pretty good. The big problem is the lack of recharging stations, and a practical fast-recharge method.

When the price can be dropped to $10,000 and the charging difficulties are addressed, they will "explode" on the market. My prediction is that this will happen around 2014-2018.

Of course, the problem remains that "car culture", using any kind of technology, remains extremely wasteful. We have to address that, too."

"In 1898, the 23-year-old Ferdinand Porsche built his first car, the Lohner Electric Chaise—the world’s first front-wheel-drive vehicle. Porsche’s second car design was a series hybrid (like the Chevrolet Volt, due out in 2010) in which a combustion engine ran a generator that powered electric motors in the wheel hubs. Its battery could take Porsche’s hybrid car nearly 40 miles—the same as promised by the Volt."

It's pretty much the opinion range from skeptical to optimistic. It's been a one hundred plus year wait, at least they're coming to market.

It turns a conventional gas or diesel car into a plug-in hybrid at much less than the cost of a new vehicle,
as well as saving the energy cost of building that new vehicle:

http://www.poulsenhybrid.com/


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NvIv-oZcQfE/SIZNZ6rX8sI/AAAAAAAAA4w/Wsqs8HiRACE/s320-R/poulsen+hybrid.jpg

Not quite sure if I trust the torque bar mounting - looks like a lot of
reliance on a single mounting point - but it's an interesting idea.
:hi:

"I'd like to see this concept gain more traction"



In 1898, the 23-year-old Ferdinand Porsche built his first car, the Lohner Electric Chaise—the world’s first front-wheel-drive vehicle. Porsche’s second car design was a series hybrid (like the Chevrolet Volt, due out in 2010) in which a combustion engine ran a generator that powered electric motors in the wheel hubs. Its battery could take Porsche’s hybrid car nearly 40 miles—the same as promised by the Volt. Plus ça change…

http://www.causecast.org/news_items/8030-happy-birthday-the-gasoline-electric-hybrid-car-is-100-years-old