Who killed the Electric Car?

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moementum7

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I'm not even going to click on any of those links because the answer is fairly obvious.

The more people in the world driving electric cars that don't use petrol (or gas for you yanks) the less the dollar becomes worth.
 
I haven't seen the movie yet, but it sounds interesting. One of the first cars ever made was electric (and 4wd).
 
I seem to remember that the problem with electric cars from the mass-producers is that they cost so much more that unless you drive them for over a decade it isn't worth the difference, and also that they have crossed the point of advantage from the batteries (AKA, the additional 3 levels of batteries in the newer model is not worth its weight in the car for the power it gives).

Also, the batteries aren't the friendliest for the environment and many such cars still depend on gasoline.

Should we reach a point where we can accept independance from gasoline as a car fuel, then we would be stuck in our cities (electric cars at the optimum number of batteries can only go something like 40 miles before they run out), which could mean mass-transportation between cities...more favorable than the current situation but many people wouldn't be willing to accept it.

Also, the power plants at the moment still depend on fossil fuels predominantly. We aren't saving much environmentally (although power plants are slightly more efficiant, I believe).

I think it would be better, however, for the general health of a city if all transportation was run on electricity. It would make air a lot more breathable!

-Ajain
 
The electric car will always be dead until we have batteries/capacitors which meet four criteria:

1. Long range.
2. Quick re-charging...in minutes.
3. Low cost.
4. Low weight.
 
The hybrids have been known from way back to conserve fuel and provide good performance. They also do not have to be hugely expensive. In 1980 a guy was retrofitting them for around $2000.

The carmakers have deliberately worked against fuel conservation.
 
If the car was charged from renewable sources, groovy.

But burning coal or producing plutonium just to transport my sorry behind is not my preference.
 
I would like to live in a world where walking to work was the norm. It just doesn't happen anymore in most cases.

Even if we use "non-renewable" resources, we should work to extend them. Thinking that it might take just a few years longer than we comfortably have on the non-renewable sources to reach the place where we have long-term energy success, if we extend the resources we have we will make it to that time and place.
 
(a quick BTW... my comments above were about electric cars, not hybrids, which I most enthusiastically support)

An excellent presentation on how to get ourselves out of our current mess is from MIT. Here is a video of that February 06 event: Winning The Oil Endgame.

http://mitworld.mit.edu/play/344/

The broadband version supports double or full-screen rather well.

yale
 
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I saw the interview on the Daily Show. I thought it was interesting that you never could actually buy an electric car. Instead, you just leased them. And even if you wanted to keep your car, you couldn't. The manufacturers took them back. The guy's story was something like he sent his car back for some kind of repair and they told him they were just going to keep it.

It's probably somewhere in a dusty storeroom next to the car that runs on water and Starlite paint.
 
I don't know how anyone can discount "conspiracy" theories when they do things like that that absolutely force people to believe that something really wrong is going on.
 
Exhumed said:
Tesla motors has an electric sports car on the market. One cent per mile, 0-60 in 4s, 250 mile per charge... about 100,000$ cost. They are planning to make a regular family four door vehicle in the affordable range, in like 4 years I think.

http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1
Thats spectacular, considering that most electric cars do only 3 cents per mile.

Electric cars will never sell in large numbers until they can recharge in minutes instead of hours...for long trips. City vehicles like scooters however should be flying out of the showrooms.
 
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