All about electric cars!

diehardbiker said:
Electric Vehicles: Fantasy or Reality? - MSN Autos

Feel free enjoy reading.
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That's an old article before Nissan Leaf came out. People alway bias about things before they come out. They change their mind when they actually touch a product. In fact, 100 miles is sufficient for city commuting because most people commute less than 100 miles a day.

I have read so many people are happy with the Nissan Leafs and they love it so much.

ICE cars spew out more hydrocarbons in the air while driving in the city than on the highways for long distances.
 
diehardbiker said:
Electric Vehicles: Fantasy or Reality? - MSN Autos

Feel free enjoy reading.
Click to expand...

If the Nat Gas Act passes, it would be cheaper to convert existing engines to run on natural gas than to buy a whole new car or truck that runs on solar/battery/gas with a $2,000 charger added to the cost.

There's a new technology that has been developed so windows can power your home via spray-on film made up of solar cells. Wouldn't be surprised if they try out this technology on car windows.

There are all kinds of exciting innovative developments out there - it's really hard to predict what the future holds as far as energy goes.
 
Yup, there are problems with conversion to CNG, reason? It gets hotter than regular gasoline and does pose problems. It is not perfected.

I still believe that Fuel cell is way to go. Why, just fill it up like gasoline does, rather than plug in and wait too long. I think 10 minutes wait still too long because no one wants to be in line for too long. Also, it has better chances of success than fully electric vehicle holds.



DeafCaroline said:
If the Nat Gas Act passes, it would be cheaper to convert existing engines to run on natural gas than to buy a whole new car or truck that runs on solar/battery/gas with a $2,000 charger added to the cost.

There's a new technology that has been developed so windows can power your home via spray-on film made up of solar cells. Wouldn't be surprised if they try out this technology on car windows.

There are all kinds of exciting innovative developments out there - it's really hard to predict what the future holds as far as energy goes.
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diehardbiker said:
Yup, there are problems with conversion to CNG, reason? It gets hotter than regular gasoline and does pose problems. It is not perfected.

I still believe that Fuel cell is way to go. Why, just fill it up like gasoline does, rather than plug in and wait too long. I think 10 minutes wait still too long because no one wants to be in line for too long. Also, it has better chances of success than fully electric vehicle holds.
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I didn't read anywhere about CNG being hotter... actually the opposite happens. When you release the gas from the tank, the tank becomes very cold (will heat up when filling and chills when emptying). CNG is considered much safer than regular fuel, but CNG per volume has less energy than gasoline so, you need more of it. NG is lighter than air so in an accident it dissipates.

One of the challenges with fuel cells is the efficiency of hydrogen. There is energy loss when converting from electricity to hydrogen and again a loss when converting from Hydrogen to electricity. If you are using surplus electricity, this makes sense. But most of the time this is not the case or cannot produce enough (using solar cells). You can extract hydrogen from oil wells (that's normally what they are burning at the top of their wells). Again, if you are getting it from fossil fuels, then it's no better for the environment than gasoline.

An electric 10 minute charge would most likely be acceptable to most people but we are not there yet. More acceptable than say a battery swap. how do you know your swapped batteries will take you as far as you need to go to get to the next swap?

If I can get to a place to sleep and charge overnight, I would be be very happy. This means on long trips I would need about 600 ~ 700 miles and batteries are no where near the capacity to handle that.
 
Wirelessly posted (sent from a smartphone. )

The main issue is the battery capacity in electric cars ars limited compared to the gas tank in cars. For example, if you want your cell phone to last longer between charges you would need a bigger battery in mAH rating. So, if they figure out how to make the battery size smaller with more mAH capacity so that would make the same electric car run farther between charges.

Dhb, if you think natural gas and fuel cell cars will have bigger success, why aren't there mass produced fuel cell cars for consumers? They only have success in commerical sector like transit buses, delivery services, government, etc.
 
Los Angeles Auto Show

I went to Los Angeles Auto Show last Sunday, saw some electric vehicles like Audi and BMW, just I walked around and looked at them but I feel like I am going to vomit, quit the electric car show. I feel better with the gasoline powered vehicles on the show. BTW I was there for first time in about 10 years ago. The show is too small not like in 25 years ago. Very sad.
 
Yeah, that is what Im talking about and it is smaller than it was 25 years ago? This supports my theory that electric cars aren't feasible at this time, not even during my lifetime.

deafsmogtech said:
I went to Los Angeles Auto Show last Sunday, saw some electric vehicles like Audi and BMW, just I walked around and looked at them but I feel like I am going to vomit, quit the electric car show. I feel better with the gasoline powered vehicles on the show. BTW I was there for first time in about 10 years ago. The show is too small not like in 25 years ago. Very sad.
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diehardbiker said:
Yeah, that is what Im talking about and it is smaller than it was 25 years ago? This supports my theory that electric cars aren't feasible at this time, not even during my lifetime.
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Why? Pontiac, Olds, Saturn or Alfa Romeo (not market in USA) gone. I used to attending the LA Auto Show for years. Big show for long day or 2 days. Today I took about 2 hours to touring the show, most spend my time on the show is the V8 OHV engines like Camaros/Vettes and Dodge Hemi powered engines. I think they are 2 lefts on the show ( I mean GM and Chrysler with V8 OHV gas powered engines). :Ohno:
 
Feds open 'formal safety defect' probe into Chevy Volt - CNN.com

BTW, we are into deep government debts. Didn't you realize that the idea of production All electric vehicle actually deeply subsidized by Uncle Sam in attempt to get more not so interesting parties into buying one. Can we really afford this? Now that DOT is opening inquiry on Chevy-Volt investigation on these expensive battery packs. It will add up the cost and these costs will go beyond what we really can afford.

I'm not trying to be negative, but I am here to be very realistic on any possibilities. This one is not going to happen in our lifetime. I have heard many times over the years since the oil crisis of '70s that "this time it is much better than it was back then" glamors. This is very old tactic to get public interesting into electric cars, and that tactic still not workable anyway.

The idea of hybrid cars seems to be dying already, we now stand a percentage point less than last year on production of hybrid vehicles. I think all electric cars is worse than Hybrid IMHO.

Yeah, V-8 is dying and it is not the first time. V-8 was supposed to phase out permanently back in mid 80's and it didn't really permanent phased out. Again it is all talking, and the talk is still cheap these days. We will see in future and my hunch is V-8 will have come backs once again. The original engine in Ford Model T was just straight 4 cylinders, so we definitely will see 4 cylinder engine for long time.
 
My sister and her husband are both retired from GM in Wentzville, Mo., and they say the Volt is selling like hotcakes. They also point out that GM has already paid back all the money they were given in the past. That is about all I know at this point, hmmmm.
 
Not that I am talking about, don't you know there is tax credit for this if one buys zero emission vehicles. It is in thousands dollars tax credit.



Beowulf said:
My sister and her husband are both retired from GM in Wentzville, Mo., and they say the Volt is selling like hotcakes. They also point out that GM has already paid back all the money they were given in the past. That is about all I know at this point, hmmmm.
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I prefer hydrogen, honestly.

highest potential energy per mass unit, no recharging, lot safer emission, renewable source of energy, etc..

For pure electric car,
Batteries are really awful for environment, typical electric car can use up to 30 pB batteries. Imagine if all cars running on petroleum were replaced with electric car, thinking about all those batteries makes me cringe.

I think I would prefer to wait till they figure out how to use super capacitors more effectively.
 
Then we need a new kind of battery. I vote for inventing a ZPM! :D (sorry, that was a reference to Stargate)
 
Eighty said:
I prefer hydrogen, honestly.

highest potential energy per mass unit, no recharging, lot safer emission, renewable source of energy, etc..

For pure electric car,
Batteries are really awful for environment, typical electric car can use up to 30 pB batteries. Imagine if all cars running on petroleum were replaced with electric car, thinking about all those batteries makes me cringe.

I think I would prefer to wait till they figure out how to use super capacitors more effectively.
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I haven't thought of batteries as I know they are bad for landfills. Thanks for pointing that out.
 
Beowulf said:
My sister and her husband are both retired from GM in Wentzville, Mo., and they say the Volt is selling like hotcakes. They also point out that GM has already paid back all the money they were given in the past. That is about all I know at this point, hmmmm.
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A) GM hasn't really paid back the bailout

Still Government Motors - Forbes.com

B) Volt sales are way off the estimates and although October was better they now have to contend with a new Prius

They have sold roughly 4,600 units this year and will have to sell 5,400 in Nov/Dec just to meet estimates

Will Toyota's new Prius unplug Chevrolet Volt sales?

C) The Volt batteries have a fire problem which probably won't help sales.

Chevy Volt Battery Fires Prompt U.S. Probe : NPR
 
Eighty said:
I prefer hydrogen, honestly.

highest potential energy per mass unit, no recharging, lot safer emission, renewable source of energy, etc..

For pure electric car,
Batteries are really awful for environment, typical electric car can use up to 30 pB batteries. Imagine if all cars running on petroleum were replaced with electric car, thinking about all those batteries makes me cringe.

I think I would prefer to wait till they figure out how to use super capacitors more effectively.
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I have said this many times.....All we do by going to batteries is replace a small crisis now with a huge crisis later.
 
Um, that's what battery recycling is for. Haven't you heard of recycling rechargeable batteries? How sad.
 
Millions of cars sold each year in America, and only measly 4,600 all Electric cars sold this year? See what I am talking about?



TXgolfer said:
B) Volt sales are way off the estimates and although October was better they now have to contend with a new Prius

They have sold roughly 4,600 units this year and will have to sell 5,400 in Nov/Dec just to meet estimates

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