Nissan Leaf will go 47-138 miles per charge

[Pulsar]

Global warming?

Maybe. This is one of those fun things to think about because proving it one way or the other is pretty near impossible.

 

[kornphlake]

Ok, what do you want to do drill for oil and destroy lots of natural habitat for animals or build windmills in the middle of already unused areas? That's what they did in my area. They paid a bunch of farmer's for some land (not really a huge chunk) and put up about two dozen windmills.

I believe social changes are going to make a larger impact on the environment than converting to electric cars. I could do my job from my home at least 3 days a week, but my employer asks that myself and my co-workers work on site. If it were more broadly accepted to work from home I'd more than cut my driving in half.

At the present time I do feel that burning fossil fuels for power generation is the best option (since nuclear energy is so 20th century.) At least we know what the effects of burning fossil fuels are. Over the last several years technology has been developed to reduce emissions, if we continue improving efficiency it's feasible that in the future burning fossil fuels will produce very little harmful emissions. I'm not sure what putting wind turbines or solar panels all across the desert might do to the environment, there's only one way to find out and by the time the impact is clear it may be too late.

I also believe there are other forms of energy besides electricity that have not yet been discovered. I don't know what those forms of energy might be, obviously or they would be discovered.

 

[sdifox]

Yep. And make sure you don't detour to any shops. God forbid you get stuck in a line because of an accident then get detoured back down road......

Electric vehicles are a great idea. However, there are some very serious implications that people are not considering - implications that suddenly make a lot of sense when considering hybrids.

For instance:
1. You get home from work at the end of the day, break your leg, and your wife realizes you don't have power in the car to get to the hospital.
2. You come home exhausted and forget to plug in.
3. You have to shopping only to realize you don't have the power to get home.

People are used to having their car RUN when they need it. 70 miles is nice, but if most people look at their driving habits they'll realize there are many days even in a given week where it's simply not going to get it done. Especially if you have a family.

I'm not denegrating the leaf: I think it will be an absolutely excellent vehicle for what it is. However, you need to look at it twice to realize that it also has some very real limitations that people aren't considering.

It will be very entertaining to see people being towed around in their leafs to places where they can plug in. For overnight. It's not like you just fill up with gas.

The Volt has a very real niche. It's an electric vehicle that addresses the issue of "what happens when I need to go further, forget, or have an emergency?" The Leaf has a very real niche. It's a less expensive all-electric for people who want to lower their reliance on gasoline (notice I did not say fossil fuels).

This Leaf = Win and Volt = Fail bullshit is just a bunch of juvenile crap. Both vehicles have their "fails" and their "wins".

Dude, where did you see me say this will be my only car.

For what it's worth, I am driving a 4000lb sedan... I figure the leaf will be a good milk run car.


For argument say let's address your scenarios.

1. Ever heard of ambulance, taxi or neighbours?

2. if you are the exhusted, you should not have been driving in the first place.

3. People should pay attention to what they are doing. How is checking battery reserve any different than checking fuel reserve?

 

[Howard]

Maybe. This is one of those fun things to think about because proving it one way or the other is pretty near impossible.

Uh, increasing the energy absorption of a body whose specific heat doesn't change pretty much makes it warm up.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

This is a go to work car. It's supposed to sell for about $25,000. If they lost a zero, it would truly change the face of America. Until then, it's a interesting concept that few will buy.

 

[LTC8K6]

2. if you are the exhusted, you should not have been driving in the first place.

3. People should pay attention to what they are doing. How is checking battery reserve any different than checking fuel reserve?

2-stay at work then?

3-fuel is quick, charge is slow. If the battery is dead, you are looking at a long delay.

 

[Pulsar]

Dude, where did you see me say this will be my only car.

For what it's worth, I am driving a 4000lb sedan... I figure the leaf will be a good milk run car.


For argument say let's address your scenarios.

1. Ever heard of ambulance, taxi or neighbours?

2. if you are the exhusted, you should not have been driving in the first place.

3. People should pay attention to what they are doing. How is checking battery reserve any different than checking fuel reserve?

None of that was aimed specifically at your situation. It's just a general commentary on what folks have been saying.

With regards to #3 - the difference is that if you're low on gas you pull over and fill up. If you're low on electricity..... that's a bit of a problem right now, and it isn't instant-fill.

 

[aphex]

"Sorry Mr. Boss, I can't make it in to work today. I forgot to charge my car"

 

[StageLeft]

100 miles true, city range with AC or heat in the winter I could make this car work for our family without much issue. My wife does get up to 70 miles/day just puttering around shuttling kids, though, and I'm sure the first time I get a call with "The car says I have only 5 miles left and it's 8 miles to the house, come pick this piece of sh*t up" would be the last.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

100 miles true, city range with AC or heat in the winter I could make this car work for our family without much issue. My wife does get up to 70 miles/day just puttering around shuttling kids, though, and I'm sure the first time I get a call with "The car says I have only 5 miles left and it's 8 miles to the house, come pick this piece of sh*t up" would be the last.

I agree, time to find a new wife.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

I've been curious about this for quite a while. I HAVE to believe that the colors of the surface of our planet affect heating and cooling. We already know that they drastically affect localized weather (that's one of the reasons given that you very very rarely see tornados in major cities). Just look at the weather maps and notice how the cities are usually considerably warmer than the rural locations winter time.

So what happens when, much like the coversion from cement to asphault, we start covering our nice shiny reflective deserts with black solar panels that absorb an incredible amount of heat rather than reflecting it out into space?

Just a thought on my part.

One reason large cities are so much warmer than surrounding areas is the "urban heat island effect". Rays of sunlight are reflected by office buildings and trapped in downtown cores (instead of being reflected to space), which can be up to 10C warmer than surrounding areas in summer.

Conventional skyscraper rooves (asphalt?) absorb heat. In comparison, green rooves, which are often comprised of vegetation which reflects sunlight and can lower a building's temperature by several degrees.

So yes, colours do have an impact.

However, while a large grid of solar panels may have an impact on the temperature in the surrounding desert, I would imagine that you would need a massive grid on the same scale as a medium sized city (i.e. several square kms) before it begins to have an impact. A small collection of office towers doesn't cause the urban heat island effect, so I imagine a small solar panel grid wouldn't have a large impact either.

Definitely something to investigate.

Global warming?

LOL

 

[zerocool84]

None of that was aimed specifically at your situation. It's just a general commentary on what folks have been saying.

With regards to #3 - the difference is that if you're low on gas you pull over and fill up. If you're low on electricity..... that's a bit of a problem right now, and it isn't instant-fill.

Yep, you have an emergency and you can't just fill up if you need to. You have to wait hours for it to charge up.

 

[sdifox]

None of that was aimed specifically at your situation. It's just a general commentary on what folks have been saying.

With regards to #3 - the difference is that if you're low on gas you pull over and fill up. If you're low on electricity..... that's a bit of a problem right now, and it isn't instant-fill.

so why quote me at all if it is not a response to my comment?

 

[BassBomb]

they cant even make the playoffs though

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Yep. And make sure you don't detour to any shops. God forbid you get stuck in a line because of an accident then get detoured back down road......

Electric vehicles are a great idea. However, there are some very serious implications that people are not considering - implications that suddenly make a lot of sense when considering hybrids.

For instance:
1. You get home from work at the end of the day, break your leg, and your wife realizes you don't have power in the car to get to the hospital.
2. You come home exhausted and forget to plug in.
3. You have to shopping only to realize you don't have the power to get home.

People are used to having their car RUN when they need it. 70 miles is nice, but if most people look at their driving habits they'll realize there are many days even in a given week where it's simply not going to get it done. Especially if you have a family.

I'm not denegrating the leaf: I think it will be an absolutely excellent vehicle for what it is. However, you need to look at it twice to realize that it also has some very real limitations that people aren't considering.

It will be very entertaining to see people being towed around in their leafs to places where they can plug in. For overnight. It's not like you just fill up with gas.

The Volt has a very real niche. It's an electric vehicle that addresses the issue of "what happens when I need to go further, forget, or have an emergency?" The Leaf has a very real niche. It's a less expensive all-electric for people who want to lower their reliance on gasoline (notice I did not say fossil fuels).

This Leaf = Win and Volt = Fail bullshit is just a bunch of juvenile crap. Both vehicles have their "fails" and their "wins".

i'm sure back in the horse and buggy days, they were saying the same things about these new and mysterious motor cars.
gosh, what if you have to travel across the country and reach a part where there's no petrol replenishing stations. at least hay is abundant and can be found anywhere if i need to feed my horse.
these "automobiles" will never catch on!

 

[Eli]

Wow, there's a lot of fail in this thread...

Moving to an electricity based infrastructure would "ruin our culture"? LOL.

 

[Eli]

i'm sure back in the horse and buggy days, they were saying the same things about these new and mysterious motor cars.
gosh, what if you have to travel across the country and reach a part where there's no petrol replenishing stations. at least hay is abundant and can be found anywhere if i need to feed my horse.
these "automobiles" will never catch on!

Haha.. While the sentiment is amusing.. people did not travel across the country on a whim back then. There was no reason to. The mere idea would be considered insane.

If you've never seen it, I highly recommend the documentary called Horatio's Drive. It's a film about the first "road trip" across the country in a motor car. Very cool!


http://www.pbs.org/horatio/

 

[DivideBYZero]

Wow, there's a lot of fail in this thread...

Moving to an electricity based infrastructure would "ruin our culture"? LOL.

It was such a stupid post I didn't feel it even warranted mocking.

 

[sdifox]

Wow, there's a lot of fail in this thread...

Moving to an electricity based infrastructure would "ruin our culture"? LOL.

To be fair it most certainly will ruin the oil burning culture.

 

[iGas]

Haha.. While the sentiment is amusing.. people did not travel across the country on a whim back then. There was no reason to. The mere idea would be considered insane.

If you've never seen it, I highly recommend the documentary called Horatio's Drive. It's a film about the first "road trip" across the country in a motor car. Very cool!


http://www.pbs.org/horatio/

The sentiment of battery operated equipment was very negative for tools, and phone in the past because it was cumbersome poor range and relatively short operation runtime.

IMHO, laugh all you wants now while you can, because the Leaf is the first true battery operated car in the market with decent runtime. And, give it time battery cars will be the norm.

 

[bigi]

In heavy stop-and-go traffic, averaging just 6 mph with temps of 86 degrees and A/C on, range drops to 47 miles.

If this is true, in Chicago it'll be useless for three summer months for many, many motorists. Moreover, this would hold true in many hotter cities too.

 

[desy]

Oil and gas are getting more expensive to find and environmental costly

Electricty can collectively become greener and there is enough capacity at night already in the system to charge electric cars without adding ANY power plants. It's more efficient this way too cause most plants like a steady baseload and this will provide it 24 hrs a day.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/12/11/031109.html

However til the battery becomes better, electric cars will be a long time off as gasoline becomes more efficient and possibly boifuels progress faster than battery technology
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2009/12/07/457466.html