Would You Buy an Electric Car?

Yes, when/if:

• the operating cost (well, call it fuel cost counting the cost of replacing batteries when needed) is less than the cost of an IC vehicle
• the initial cost is in the range of the least expensive IC vehicle
• when the range is at least 100 miles, with a possibility of fast recharging, to accomplish a recharge in 30 minutes with a reasonable power input, so perhaps I could go to some gas station and talk them into letting me plug in my charger to a 220 volt outlet for 30 minutes (at some reasonable cost)
• if the range were less than that, I'd consider one that achieved a range of 40 miles on battery, but was sort of a poor man's hybrid, i.e., it had an onboard (economical) IC driving a generator for recharge. (I wouldn't want all the mechanical components required to actually drive the wheels, just a means to charge the battery (and continue to run on the electric motor(s) while charging)
  

www.teslamotors.com solves all your problems except the price.

I designed a Solar powered version of the Car. No it does not have the solar panels on the car. The Solar panels are on the Charging station roofs. 100 Car batteries are being charged all day long. You just drive in and change the battery. 30 seconds to exchange. There are 12 batteries for easy handling, so you only need to carry the amount you need. 1 Battery to go to the shops. Put in 12 if you want to go out of Town, without stopping. Pull into any charging station to change battery.

I had one a few years ago. Until they come up with a design that can do interstate speeds for at least 200 miles non stop while pushing a good head wind I have little further interest in owning one again unless I get it very cheap.

Power wise I already have numerous 240 volt 60 and100 amp outlets in my shop so charging at home is not an issue.

Would I buy an electric car? No.

If one will sound and drive like a 458 Italia, maybe. I would still prefer the suggested example.

I will buy an electric car when it is powered by fuel cells running on liquid fuel. I can expect up to 60% efficiency in the cell, plus 80+% in the motors, and a great range. Liquid fuel has a lot of energy in a small volume and low weight.

Forget Hydrogen.

Batteries have to be charged. If everybody's charging at the same time, the power stations won't be able to keep up with the peak demand. If you want a quick charge, it will be at about one Megawatt. Alternative is a slow charge at night for 10 hours at 100kW rate, still high. You consume energy in your house at a rate less than a tenth of that.

Re: Alternative is a slow charge at night for 10 hours at 100kW rate, still high.

That implies something like a 1000 kwhr battery (ignoring efficiency of any sort)--I don't think electric cars use a battery anywhere near that size. I've seen small vehicles talk about 12 kwhrs (iirc) (that might have been for something as small as an electric motorcycle / scooter) --I'm guessing something from 50 to 100 kwhrs might be more likely for a typical car with 40 to 60 mile range.

I want the bigger range.

Check your calcs, I think you are off by a factor of 10 or more on the power demand for the charger. A 1mW diesel genset typically produces 1500A at 480V 3Ph. No battery that would fit in a car could take that much power.

Even if the above mentioned problems were solved, there are other difficulties that make electric cars not attractive in northern areas.

1- No design presently available to handle properly in snow or ice but the potential is there. Hopefully, somebody will do it properly.

2-While I can live without air conditioning in the summer, I need heating in the winter. I don't want to use the moose fur and hot brick technique that my grand father used in his horse buggy. The "efficiency" and the losses production centers of the electric cars make it difficult to get the "free heat" available from an IC engine.

3- As far as the range and size, I wouldn't have a problem with only 50-100Km for our second and third cars. We use them for shopping and going to school or work. Since we have three (me, my wife, my kids), we only need one larger family car for trips and to carry more than two people at a time.

But as others have written, the technology is not ready yet. Many large problems have to be solved before they become a reality. The governments are making a big mistake by pushing the technology with un-natural incentives. We are all paying for it now and will be paying later to clean up the mess.

Once metal/air batteries are perfected, yes I WILL.

1. At some point the electric power company's contracts for fuel will catch up with the actual price of fuel.

2. Learn to go as efficient as poddible with solar cooking, water haeting ........

Ecpect power to become much more expensive...........

Looking at a recent test of the Nissan Leaf, I noted that the maximum range achieved under cold winter temperatures was only ~35 miles - a far cry from the 100 miles claimed. BUT - they did say the electrically powered heater worked well! Absolutely no good for my circumstances. A back-up engine ( a la Volt) is essential. Without it, Leafs (Leaves?) abandoned by the roadside will be a common sight.

My next car will be a plug-in Hybrid version (about one more year). There just is too much chance that an Electric-only car will run out of juice just when you need it most (consider getting stuck in a snow drift and using all the juice to get out!). We need to continue to develop smaller, lighter engines to do the charging of the batteries (I like the Volt's approach, which uses the motor(s) for all of the actual propulsion, and the engine to either charge batteries or generate current for the motor).

No.

Can't wait for my first electric car!! Tesla, Fisker and now Li-ion from Mooresville, NC will all have realistic cars for sale this year, though priced according to production numbers. The Li-ion will either do 170mpH or go 250 miles on a charge. The Tesla four-door will come with batteries rated for 160, 240 or 300 miles, and will have a 0-60 mph time of 5.5 sec and fast recharge to 80% in under an hour.

Ultimately electric drivetrains will dominate, as they will become as cheap as IC systems and can offer higher performance if desired. The Chevy Volt is pointing the way with "assisted" operation, though in reality it is a hybrid at certain conditions. The Jaguar concept is a real glimpse of the future: multiple drive motors will allow integration of ABS, stability and traction control through the central computer, with a battery or ultracapacitor/battery providing tractive power and small engines and ultimately fuel cells providing extended range options.

Everything old is new again: research Porsche's first racing cars: battery electric and hybrid gasoline/battery electric with all-wheel drive. In the late 1890's no less!

Hi

The main problems with the electric car at the moment is, a short range, high voltage bus or batteries required, I have developed a concept and I have proved it can work using a test model that I have.

The 'MagGen' unit could give you up to 360volts at 240amps and at the moment the dimensions for a full engineered unit are 620mm x620mm x 1100 to 1200mm.

Or the voltage could be as low as 120volts at 240amps.

It does not use any fuel but uses the on board battery's, it utilizes the assistance of magnets, the speed can be controlled if required, but would 'normally' run at a steady speed, around 1,500 to 2,500 rpm. Its primary purpose is for home generation giving up to 15 to 20kW at 240v, using it in the reverse of standby power, that is the 'Grid' becomes the standby power and the 'MagGen' supplies the normal power for the home.

However it has been looked at for use in the all electric car, the car to me would need to be of the 'medium to large range'.

We have some investors that want to invest but at the moment a stuffing us around, so if any one is interested in a serious manner contact me.

Brian Bayliss

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Bayliss Controls

Why don't you have an aerial loop that sits above the vehicle, and picks off the energy from the 11kV lines. I'd recommend the coil be as close to the lines as possible. Might be an idea to wear a suit with metal threads thru it, to act as a Faraday cage, just in case.

In the early days of the car ("horseless carriage") electric cars were a serious threat to the IC engined ones.

IC won out because on cold days, the electrics couldn't get enough power out of their batteries to move far.

Has this cold weather performance of batteries been solved?

No trouble here, but Canada could find it a serious problem.