Electric cars

[observer]

The problem is, at the end of the day; it isn't a "green" solution and may even increase our carbon footprint - due to all the manufacturing (production being the whole point of this exercise) of "new" vehicles and the increased consumption of electricity = increased CO2 from power stations. That's without mentioning all the continued congestion, with drivers being distracted by continually watching their battery charge levels! The new GM model has a convential engine too! Not to drive the road wheels, but to recharge the battery. So, the whole thing is a half-baked, half-hearted green fig leaf, to camouflage the salvaging of jobs in the motor manufacturing industry.

[Evil Sid]

been having a look on the web at electric cars. most have a recharge time of between 6 and 8 hours.(there was one that said between 2.5 and 8 hours)

average top speed seems to be around 50mph and distances travelled on a full charge vary between 40 and 100 miles.

 

some of the cars have regenerative braking. this turns the motor that drives the wheels into a generator when the car is free-wheeling and tops the battery up.( so if you coast down a hill you charge the battery). the downside is that it only works if the battery is not fully charged ,unless you overcharge the battery which is not recommend for most batteries. i suppose you could also fit a solar charger as well. i am sure i have seen something along those lines that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket and sits on the dashboard to give you a trickle charge.

 

it is also possible to run the car whith out using very much power. there is a method of driving that means that you havejust enough power to keep the car moving at whatever spedd where it alternates between braking and driving and so uses the least amount of power.

 

still looking at some of the cars on offer i dont think many will be sold for a while.

 

http://www.ukelectriccars.co.uk/

 

some nice looking ones and some that you would not be seen dead in unless you wanted something that looked a bit out of the ordinary. i did not see what the mileage was like when tested with a heavy load in but assume that it would be less than stated.

[Bill]

I believe that personalised methods of transport are here to stay, despite what some so called experts would have us think. Electricity will almost certainly be the main method used but how the power is generated is the sixty-four thousand-dollar question.

 

If you look back in history, the need for fuel has seen us move from chopping down trees to burn, through coal, oil natural gas etc and each time it?s been finite resources together with increasing costs that have brought about fundamental changes. If we still had gillions of trees, we?d probably now be running cars using some advanced form of wood burning technology.

 

Only when the oil prices reach such a point as to make alternatives viable will we reach the situation where economies of scale can kick in allowing a whole new power generation technology to evolve at an affordable price. We already have the likes of fuel cells and flux capacitors but as long as petrol remains relatively cheap, such technologies will remain novelties rather than serious alternatives.

 

I?ve only driven one electric car and my eyeballs have never recovered. I?d seriously consider an electric car if and when I retire, just as long as it looks normal rather than something from a children?s car design contest.

 

Bill