Who killed the electric car

[KarmaPolice]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSBykAngDpY

 

[Cattlegod]

that is garbage. the operating costs are crazy. the battery dies after 2 years and you can maybe go 100 miles and it takes 24 hours to charge. that limits you to 50 miles one way per day MAX.

the thing is a money pit because you would have to own this and another car as well for the longer trips. totally unpractical. and where do you think the energy comes to power the car???? yep, from the same dinos that died to fuel your combustion engine.

 

[cavemanmoron]

electric car is NOT a New idea.

Look 100 years + ago.

Battery life/ weight was the problem then, as now.

Electric trains work well.

 

[cavemanmoron]

http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarselectrica.htm

Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage. A small-scale electric car was designed by Professor Stratingh of Groningen, Holland, and built by his assistant Christopher Becker in 1835. Practical and more successful electric road vehicles were invented by both American Thomas Davenport and Scotsmen Robert Davidson around 1842. Both inventors were the first to use non-rechargeable electric cells. Frenchmen Gaston Plante invented a better storage battery in 1865 and his fellow countrymen Camille Faure improved the storage battery in 1881. This improved-capacity storage battery paved the way for electric vehicles to flourish.
France and Great Britain were the first nations to support the widespread development of electric vehicles in the late 1800s. In 1899, a Belgian built electric racing car called "La Jamais Contente" set a world record for land speed - 68 mph - designed by Camille Jénatzy.

It was not until 1895 that Americans began to devote attention to electric vehicles after an electric tricycle was built by A. L. Ryker and William Morrison built a six-passenger wagon both in 1891. Many innovations followed and interest in motor vehicles increased greatly in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In 1897, the first commercial application was established as a fleet of New York City taxis built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia.

The early electric vehicles, such as the 1902 Wood's Phaeton (top image), were little more than electrified horseless carriages and surreys. The Phaeton had a range of 18 miles, a top speed of 14 mph and cost $2,000. Later in 1916, Woods invented a hybrid car that had both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor.

By the turn of the century, America was prosperous and cars, now available in steam, electric, or gasoline versions, were becoming more popular. The years 1899 and 1900 were the high point of electric cars in America, as they outsold all other types of cars. Electric vehicles had many advantages over their competitors in the early 1900s. They did not have the vibration, smell, and noise associated with gasoline cars. Changing gears on gasoline cars was the most difficult part of driving, while electric vehicles did not require gear changes. While steam-powered cars also had no gear shifting, they suffered from long start-up times of up to 45 minutes on cold mornings. The steam cars had less range before needing water than an electric's range on a single charge. The only good roads of the period were in town, causing most travel to be local commuting, a perfect situation for electric vehicles, since their range was limited. The electric vehicle was the preferred choice of many because it did not require the manual effort to start, as with the hand crank on gasoline vehicles, and there was no wrestling with a gear shifter.

While basic electric cars cost under $1,000, most early electric vehicles were ornate, massive carriages designed for the upper class. They had fancy interiors, with expensive materials, and averaged $3,000 by 1910. Electric vehicles enjoyed success into the 1920s with production peaking in 1912.

The decline of the electric vehicle was brought about by several major developments:

By the 1920s, America had a better system of roads that now connected cities, bringing with it the need for longer-range vehicles.
The discovery of Texas crude oil reduced the price of gasoline so that it was affordable to the average consumer.
The invention of the electric starter by Charles Kettering in 1912 eliminated the need for the hand crank.
The initiation of mass production of internal combustion engine vehicles by Henry Ford made these vehicles widely available and affordable in the $500 to $1,000 price range. By contrast, the price of the less efficiently produced electric vehicles continued to rise. In 1912, an electric roadster sold for $1,750, while a gasoline car sold for $650.

 

[radioouman]

THere was a company that did gas to electric conversions in the early 1980s to Escorts and Omnis. I believe it was called Jet Electric. I ran across an Omni on Ebay a few years ago. I wish I would have bought it now.

 

[cavemanmoron]

Originally posted by: radioouman
THere was a company that did gas to electric conversions in the early 1980s to Escorts and Omnis. I believe it was called Jet Electric. I ran across an Omni on Ebay a few years ago. I wish I would have bought it now.

At my work we had a few electric VW Rabbit cars, and Rabbit p/u's.

The range on them sucked.

They were not practical in the winter.The defroster was too wimpy.

The rode nice, handled ok, even with the heavy duty tires needed for the
extra electric weight.

The hybrids like the Prius make more sense to me.

 

[desteffy]

My brother saw this and says it is good.

 

[Fenixgoon]

electric cars can't go as far without recharging, and recharging batteries is time consuming... and that one performance electric car is a POS. it's just a modified Ariel Atom.

edit: i should say that the news makes this vehicle seem big, when it really isn't.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
electric cars can't go as far without recharging, and recharging batteries is time consuming... and that one performance electric car is a POS. it's just a modified Ariel Atom.

edit: i should say that the news makes this vehicle seem big, when it really isn't.

I wouldn't say this is a complete POS, but its cost makes it nothing more than a technology demo, if you ask me.

The Ariel Atom rocks though

 

[adlep]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
that is garbage. the operating costs are crazy. the battery dies after 2 years and you can maybe go 100 miles and it takes 24 hours to charge. that limits you to 50 miles one way per day MAX.

the thing is a money pit because you would have to own this and another car as well for the longer trips. totally unpractical. and where do you think the energy comes to power the car???? yep, from the same dinos that died to fuel your combustion engine.

Or a Nuclear Power Plant wich produces very little and controllable waste...
Also, you should read the spects of the EV1 and the reviews of the owners. They are very favorable of the car!

 

[ruffilb]

I killed it with a butter knife.

 

[Cattlegod]

Originally posted by: adlep

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
that is garbage. the operating costs are crazy. the battery dies after 2 years and you can maybe go 100 miles and it takes 24 hours to charge. that limits you to 50 miles one way per day MAX.

the thing is a money pit because you would have to own this and another car as well for the longer trips. totally unpractical. and where do you think the energy comes to power the car???? yep, from the same dinos that died to fuel your combustion engine.

Or a Nuclear Power Plant wich produces very little and controllable waste...
Also, you should read the spects of the EV1 and the reviews of the owners. They are very favorable of the car!

maybe in france where nuclear power is plentiful, but for some reason the US public is resistant to putting in nuclear power. most of the power in the US now is fossil fuels.

also, one major negative is if you forget to plug it in at night, you are screwed for the next day.

the only time I would think about using one is if i lived in the city, but then i would probably just use public transportation.

 

[thescreensavers]

trickle charging?

 

[getbush]

I'm going to bump this b/c I saw this before and irked me. Hey, let's all drive electric cars! Ya no pollution what a great idea. They act like the power outlet in your house employs some magical form of energy creation. People can't run their air conditioners in the summer w/o pushing the limits of the electric grid. Can you imagine if everyone suddenly plugged their cars in? The thought of it is pure lunacy.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: getbush
I'm going to bump this b/c I saw this before and irked me. Hey, let's all drive electric cars! Ya no pollution what a great idea. They act like the power outlet in your house employs some magical form of energy creation. People can't run their air conditioners in the summer w/o pushing the limits of the electric grid. Can you imagine if everyone suddenly plugged their cars in? The thought of it is pure lunacy.

I bought a whole-house generator to plug my electric car into to.... save.... gas.... co.... never mind.

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod

Originally posted by: adlep

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
that is garbage. the operating costs are crazy. the battery dies after 2 years and you can maybe go 100 miles and it takes 24 hours to charge. that limits you to 50 miles one way per day MAX.

the thing is a money pit because you would have to own this and another car as well for the longer trips. totally unpractical. and where do you think the energy comes to power the car???? yep, from the same dinos that died to fuel your combustion engine.

Or a Nuclear Power Plant wich produces very little and controllable waste...
Also, you should read the spects of the EV1 and the reviews of the owners. They are very favorable of the car!

maybe in france where nuclear power is plentiful, but for some reason the US public is resistant to putting in nuclear power. most of the power in the US now is fossil fuels.

also, one major negative is if you forget to plug it in at night, you are screwed for the next day.

the only time I would think about using one is if i lived in the city, but then i would probably just use public transportation.

My dad had an EV1, we liked the car, only blunder was the mileage. They even had chargers at the bart station so your car would charge during the day, it was too bad my dad never used that station though because it was too far away. When the car was gone I found out he wasn't allowed to keep it and it wasn't a matter of him not wanting it, but was forced to give it up. It was a wierd relationship, I don't know WHY they would force one to give it up..

 

[Mermaidman]

Originally posted by: goku
. . . I found out he wasn't allowed to keep it and it wasn't a matter of him not wanting it, but was forced to give it up. It was a wierd relationship, I don't know WHY they would force one to give it up..

That's fishy.

 

[potato28]

It cut itself like a retarded emo kid

 

[mjrpes3]

Originally posted by: getbush
Can you imagine if everyone suddenly plugged their cars in? The thought of it is pure lunacy.

Instead of being lazy like you are doing and making broad assumptions, someone actually did the math and discovered you only need to increase the power grid by 10% to support mass use of electric cars:

http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic8972.html

You should read the whole article, it's enlightening.

Also, the A/C scenario you bring up is not a good one, since electric cars would be programmed to charge up at night, not at the peak of hte day when everyone is running A/C.

 

[VanTheMan]

I thought the Stonecutters were holding it back...