Who Killed The Electric Car?

<Perhaps our modern day electric automobiles could pull a tender that contained the battery pack.>

There was a car that used that idea. Basically it was an electric car with limited range. It was enough for trips to the store and to commute to work and back if it wasn't far. If you needed to go on a longer trip you'd attach a small trailer that contained a gas powered generator that would charge the battery pack in the vehicle. That made it a series hybrid similar to the Volt.
 
...Then, instead of spending the day at a charging station when on a trip, the tender could be swapped for a fully charged one.:lol:
This idea is seriously investigated by several companies.

But not a tender pulled behind the car, but a standard, unified battery pack
battery pack fixed under the floor of the car with few fast connectors,
easy to replace within few minutes at a "filling station".
(not much longer than filling up, you will manage to visit the side house
in the mentime...)


Battery leasing is another option, but rather to solve the problem of
high price/short lifetime/recycling problem.
You pay fix per month and don't care, if battery goes bust,
you get another one.
 
Steam locomotives pulled a tender that carried water and coal.

Perhaps our modern day electric automobiles could bull [sic: pull] a tender that contained the battery pack. Then, instead of spending the day at a charging station when on a trip, the tender could be swapped for a fully charged one.:lol:

Many air passengers want to go a long distance. How would you get intercontinental range out of a helicopter or a gyroplane? You could load them into an A-380 and then fly that. Or maybe you'd suggest towing a glider/tanker behind an Enstrom?

Such ridicule doesn't prove that there is no practical mission for a helicopter on its own terms. When I want to fly a hundred miles, I use my Bell 47. When I want to go to Argentina, I fly in a Boeing 767. Horses for courses, as they say.

The same is true for cars: they're not all designed for the same mission, which is why we have semi-trucks, Formula 1 race cars, and economy hatchbacks. Carping about short range for pure electrics doesn't make them a bad choice for short trips, especially given that most Americans don't drive more than 60 miles on a typical day.

Nobody's is forcing you to buy one, or suggesting that you make do with one if it doesn't fit your mission. Nissan certainly won't care if you don't buy one, because plenty of others will. You can poke fun at them as you wish, as I'm sure they would poke fun at your Bensen.

The driver I saw in traffic the other day didn't seem to be at all discouraged by your chart, and had no need to wait until a hydrogen infrastructure is someday in place to go green. His electric car hasn't been killed by anybody or anything, and he's getting safe, valuable service out of it, right now.
 
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Thankfully I'm the kind of person that takes other peoples opinions with a grain of salt (and maybe a shot of tequila :) .....

Anyway, I'm building an electric motorcycle to travel to work. My total trip is 12 miles a day. I have a 20 HP DC motor, controller with regenerative braking, and a couple of lead acid batteries.

Electricity at the outlet is .056 kW/h.....CHEAP.

This plan beats the crap out of my overpriced car, and my ancient truck. Both burn a stupid amount of fuel.

I won't ride it in the winter though......
 
I'm reading this wile eating raisins.
Thanks a$$ h0le.
You need to get your six wheeled buggy running and drive that to work.
 
Oh yeah....that was my "extreme" weather vehicle. For winter and floods (it floats).

I think the DOL will require me to put in seat belts and a windscreen though. No biggie. Right now the only thing that needs fixed is the brakes.

Enjoy your raisins Gary :)

Back to topic!!
 
My wife, Cindy, doesn't plan trips to conserve fuel, has a 38-mile round-trip commute, and still rarely needs to go more than 50 miles per day. If we could park her Nissan Altima and use a plug-in electric with even lead-acid batteries for the short hops, we'd save over $1200 a year in fuel, more counting maintenance costs. On long trips, we'd take the gasoline car. Many Americans live in two-vehicle households.

What we're really debating is whether we can continue waste without thinking about it. I hear lots of complaints about $4 gas, but I still see lots of it being wasted, and not just by rich folks. That tells me $4 is still cheap.
 
Perhaps in the future, highways will have 'rails' for charging electric cars while powering them. Then the batteries will only be required for the distance between the on/off ramp and the home or destination, which will have charging capabilities.

Perhaps, these future highways take control of the cars at the on ramp so that they are traveling in close proximity to the ones in front and behind. This will reduce drag and the driver can now become a passenger.
__________________

Electric motors become less efficient as they become hotter. Perhaps, the pure water that is discharged from a hydrogen fuel cell can serve double-duty by being evaporated on the coils of the motor..


Dave
 
Great ideas Dave. That's what we need. Brainstorming almost always produces fruit. Negativity certaintly does not. Thank you. I've often wondered why there wasnt a "main" lane where you could hook into a system if you were traveling long distance....becoming a train of sorts with other vehicles.

Paul,

4 bucks is cheap for me, but only because I moved into the town I work in. We have a guy here who makes the same commute I used to. He complains all the time about the price of fuel. But the price hasn't changed much since he started working with us. I think alot of it is public perception of what should and shouldnt be. I'm still happy :)
 
I still think that the electric car is but a scam. Where does this electricity come from? Today in Europe we lose about 20% of produced electricity through transmission loss, in the US likely more for longer distances. This electricity is mostly produces with coal or natural gas plants. OK and nuclear, yeah!

The Hybrid technology has its pros, as it recovers brake energy and DC motors operate through wider range of rpm with less loss. However, this advantage only works in cities, where do a lot of accelerating and braking.

Also for short range commute the pure electric comes to play, because you can re-charge over night and the pollution you cause is not inside the city.

If you ever cross a street in Shanghai at night, better look closely into the dark. There may be a phalanx of quiet, unlit and extremely fast electric scooters charging at you. They don't have 1 Mio bicycles in Shanghai any more.

Kai.
 
I still think that the electric car is but a scam. Where does this electricity come from? Today in Europe we lose about 20% of produced electricity through transmission loss...

Oil has to be brought from the oil fields to refineries, refined, and generally must be trucked to gas stations. Nobody ever talks about how much energy it takes to distribute gasoline, only electricity!

It's also much more efficient to develop a clean powerplant than a million clean cars.

There are inefficiencies and health risks in all forms of energy.
 
....becoming a train of sorts with other vehicles.

Jon,
Yes. If todays cars maintain 7 car-lengths between each other at highway speeds for safety and a computerized system can maintain 1/7th of a car-length, then one lane can handle the same amount of traffic as seven lanes are currently handling.

Your 'train' raises the possibility that private, cheap electric cars might eventually replace mass transit.


Dave
 
Its there.....

Its there.....

Gary,

over a million returns for "air car". Gary, the Wisconsin project was around before the internet and the technical college I went to in the early 90's had purchased the rights to the film. I think the air car is very efficient, has a low hp to run but you have huge power reserves like an electric, but without the weight !

Air hogs toys are really cool and I have played with a few of them. The concept is sound. Tanks are cheap. You just need an efficient drive motor which is where the next level comes in. But overall it is incredibly low tech which means oil companies cannot steal or buy the secret forumula for li-po-cadnium-lead acid- nickel metal unobtanium. In electrics....

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/preview-concept/4251491

YouTube - A car that runs 200 miles on compressed air.

"its always easier to be skeptical than to think in a positive way".....


YouTube - air car ? why not in u.s.a.? can you power a car on air ?


YouTube - American Air car 1989

Then there is this...

YouTube - Mustang powered by the new inline 3 cylinder SYS engine








The government scrubbed the internet of everything concerning that air car .
 
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