Could there be an electric car in your future ?

Yeah, but can it hual 200 bft of lumber? It will a cold day I give up my gas guzzling 8cylinder truck for electric.:) They are nice, but for what I do they would never last, plus all the hills out here kill 4 bangers let alone electric.
 
I have some serious doubts about a decent sized car that can get 300 miles on a single charge and can sell for $30,000 - and go, say, 70 MPH on the highway.

Batteries for cars have a number of issues. One is capacity. Let's assume 0.25 kWh per mile. A 300 mile range car will require a 75 kWh battery. By comparison, the Chevrolet Volt car is expected to have a battery of approximately 8.8 kWh (usable), with an estimated cost of $6K (expected to fall over time). A Prius has a less than 2 kWh battery.

Another problem is recharge time. Let's say you have a 75 kWh battery and you ran it almost all the way down. If you try to use 120 volt service at 15 amps, it will take you over 41 hours to recharge the battery (assuming 100% efficiency in the recharge). If you use 220 volt service at 20 amps, it will take you over 17 hours (again at 100% efficiency). So you wouldn't be able to recharge those batteries overnight, or you'd only be able to discharge them partially - but then you won't get 300 miles from them.

Regarding weight of the battery - the Chevrolet Volt battery (Li ion) is reported to be 375 pounds for 8.8 kWh. Scaling that up to 75 kWh gives a battery weight of about 3,100 pounds. Some cars don't weigh that much. And the Volt battery is supposed to be "state-of-the-art".

The much better approach is the plug in hybrid. Using the Volt's 8.8 kWh battery as an example, you can recharge it fully in less than 5 hours at 120 volts, 15 amps. You may only get 35 (to 40) miles on a charge, but you have a generator on board that allows you to go any distance at the penalty of using gasoline. But for most city driving, you'll use very little gasoline.

There's a lot of hype on all electric cars right now.

Mike

[You can go further on a smaller battery if you make the car smaller. But there's probably a limit to how small of a car people will accept. And the weight of the battery will limit the efficiency. Every time the car starts off, it has to accelerate the total weight of the car, and no matter what kind of regenerative braking you use, you only get a portion of the energy back. But if you want to do some calculations, assume smaller amounts of energy per mile and see what you get. Try 0.2 kWh per mile, then 0.15 kWh. You still wind up with a big battery for 300 miles, and long charging times.]
 
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Yeah, but can it hual 200 bft of lumber? It will a cold day I give up my gas guzzling 8cylinder truck for electric.:) They are nice, but for what I do they would never last, plus all the hills out here kill 4 bangers let alone electric.
Not for me but LOML could use it. When I buy my next "gas guzzling ..... Truck i'll probubly go for the Chevrolet Silverado Hybred.
 
I love my gas guzzlers.
I love driving big trucks.
When they can make an electric car with the acceleration and horsepower that feels like an V8, then Ill think about it.
I have nothing against anyone who feels the need to drive an smart car, more power to them. I respect them for their decision.
My wife drives a little tiny car, I have to spray WD40all over myself so I can slide into it.(I also drive a small sports car, but its like a go cart for me, its just fun)
My son also drives a small foreign car, but its funny how many times he needs to borrow my truck.

Bart, for 55 years I worried about everyone else on the road.
Now they will have to worry about me.(its just an angry attitude, I know.)
I now have a four door F150 that is the length of 2 cars, and wider than most vehicles except a hummer.
 
Even if it was a seeing eye car?

btw, Im not going blind.

My body produces too much of an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, the little chemical that helps nerve endings make muscles work.
When my body heats up, or I exert a bit too much, the muscles start to weaken, my eyes are the first attacked. They dont lose the vision, but start to close and blur the vision. I can still read a computer screen without glasses, but if I use my muscles too much, the double vision and blurriness is a result of muscles not functioning, not really the functions of the eye.
Its made this hobby quite challenging, but I like a challenge.
25 out of a million people get Myasthenia each year. I never won more than 10 dollars on a lottery ticket, go figure.
 
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An Electric Car in West Texas?????? :eek::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Heck, it's 300 miles or more to almost anywhere you would want to go from here. I can just imagine how much the "True" operational costs would be over the life of the car, and when......(not "IF"....) the batteries die, I can only imagine what the replacement cost would be.:rolleyes: Shorter life on the tires and suspension due to the heavy weight of the batteries, etc. They may work for City/Metro commuters, but I think the technology is a Loooooooong way off for any vehicle that can be a practical choice for the average car/truck user.

An Electric car:huh:........ "NOT FOR ME"!!!!!

I just wish that we had low sulfur Diesel available to us here in the U.S. like they have in Europe. We could then have some really good mileage Turbo Diesel vehicles that wouldn't have to have all the extra Garbage hung on the engines (to satisfy the Current Regs), but create operational problems, inefficient power production and additional maintenance costs.
 
300 mile range.

So what? How long to re-charge it? THAT is the key to electric vehicles. That, and energy density. Right now, with current battery technology, the available energy density ratio is approximately 80 to 1. Meaning it takes 80 pounds of batteries to store the energy in one pound of gasoline - or nearly 500 pounds of batteries :eek: to hold the energy in ONE GALLON of dino-juice.

You get me an electric I can re-charge to 90% of capacity in 5 minutes, and then we'll talk.

-Kevin in Indy
 
Now, I think that the electric cars/trucks will see limited use, but there is a market for them, in large congested cities, like the one I live in, Tokyo, there certainly is a market for them, for fleet vehicles, delivery vans and such, but that is fairly limited. For a personal vehicle, I too will stick with the standard gasoline powered vehicle, but, in ten years, that might change.

http://www.physorg.com/news116591313.html
That is a link to a new Toshiba quick charge battery, still for industrial use only, but this stuff is coming.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/03/12/mit_scientists_charged_up/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7938001.stm
some links to the really, REALLY quick charge batteries that may make it to the market in 5 to 10 years.

Still there are other things to consider, like battery life. For those of you who now own Hybrid vehicles, what is the "Expected" life of the batteries in said vehicles? I read they have a 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty, but as the vehicle approaches that mark, the used value must plummet?

I don't know, still too many questions for my blood.

Funny video about the Prius and gas mileage..........

>> Top Gear Test Prius VS BMW M3 <<

Remember, this show is about entertainment :D
 
No way,
It would probably use more $ recharging than filling it with gas. The best car I ever had was my H3. Now I couldn't live without my Silverado.
Someone in town has one of those smart cars. You gotta be kidding me. Maybe OK for the big cities, but its a death sentence up here in the sticks.
 
No way,
It would probably use more $ recharging than filling it with gas. The best car I ever had was my H3. Now I couldn't live without my Silverado.
Someone in town has one of those smart cars. You gotta be kidding me. Maybe OK for the big cities, but its a death sentence up here in the sticks.

Yep, and your H3 would not drive around Tokyo, except for the main roadways, very well either :D
 
electric cars = Hype

Mike has a very good handle on electric cars.

All that he says is right on the money.

Kw per pound and charging rates just kill these projects.

This line really sums it up "There's a lot of hype on all electric cars right now."
 
There is a lot of hype, both pros and cons. I had an electric golf cart for the girls for years, I equate an electric car to that. Right or wrong, that is what my brain refers to when thinking electric. Those batteries are heavy and need replacing from time to time. If the charge gets low, you can't stop and get gas and go. Not for me. I drive my 1/2 Ram four door, am a defensive driver (from riding motorcycles for years), just prefer the safety and visibility. It gets 19 on the average without a trailer. That is the great thing about the USA, what you prefer, if you can afford it, drive it. :thumb:
 
There is a lot of hype, both pros and cons. I had an electric golf cart for the girls for years, I equate an electric car to that. Right or wrong, that is what my brain refers to when thinking electric. Those batteries are heavy and need replacing from time to time. If the charge gets low, you can't stop and get gas and go. Not for me. I drive my 1/2 Ram four door, am a defensive driver (from riding motorcycles for years), just prefer the safety and visibility. It gets 19 on the average without a trailer. That is the great thing about the USA, what you prefer, if you can afford it, drive it. :thumb:

Jonathan
But that is the problem, there are a ton of people that think they need to decide what you drive. And then there is the issue that we run out of electricity most every summer. Remember brown outs, and the warning that grid that is near collapse.
Garry
 
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