Would you buy an electric car?

[normsmith 0]

I found this on the web:

http://www.teslamotors.com/

There are heaps of articles and clips for the car on the net. Not only does it look nice but the performance characterstics are right up there with other sports cars in its class. The only down side is still the range which is limited to 350kms but I reckon it is probably a lot less if you drive aggressively.

But then I also found this on the web:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/...71219103105.htm

So this breakthrough could mean that within 5 years we could have an electric supercar that can do a sub 4 second 0 - 100 and will go 2000+ kms on one charge!

[Mark 178]

If you haven't seen it already, I highly recommend the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car". Incredibly interesting story of GM's foray into building electric cars in California in the mid-90's and how the oil companies managed to shut the experiment down. If that program been allowed to continue we'd probably all be driving electric cars today!

Edited March 28, 2008 by gannetboy

[steve R 0]

How long to the batteries on electric cars last? how much do they cost to replace and what do you do with the old ones? Don’t see many manufacturers covering these kind questions

[normsmith 0]

How long to the batteries on electric cars last? how much do they cost to replace and what do you do with the old ones? Don’t see many manufacturers covering these kind questions

Yes, that is an issue. Apparently the battery is only good for 100,000kms. But with technology improving I can see better batteries in the next 5 years.

[Sammy J 1]

the eleteric cars actually have a bigger "carbon footprint" over the entire lifespan of the car, compaired to a normal one. they need more resources to produce, and they need to be disposed of because of all the acids which need to be created so thay arnt all that clean and green in the whole process, sure once they on the road but what they dont tell you is always the bad part i guess

[cainchapman 0]

Not true at all. It is the Lithium Ion and NiCd batteries that are the issue from an environmental point of view. The Standard 'Lead-acid' battery is 99% recyclable.

The rest of the car is the same as any other. So assuming they can make a sensible choice on battery type.

A 100,000km on a battery (bank) is not really a fair comment either. Batteries are either designed to have a use of 'standby' or 'cyclical'. In this application, you need a cyclical battery. They will have calculated the life (a NiCd is generally good for about 500 cycles). And this is significantly effected by the depth of discharge, frequency of discharge and the charge regime put in place.

The rate at which you discharge the battery also effects the 'apparent' capacity of the battery. For Example...

On this datasheet. You can see the the battery is capable of supplying 3.4A for 20 hours. So it is 'apparently' a 68Ah battery. It will also deliver 11A for 5 hours, 55Ah. 18A for 3 hours, 54Ah. 47A for 1 hour, 47Ah or 305A for 5 minutes, 25.3Ah

So they same battery can be anywhere between 68Ah and 25.3Ah depending on how you use it.

Would I buy one? Yes. However, I don't believe that the Power Generation and Transmission network of NZ could cope with an influx of these vehicle.

US_ODY_1500_002_1206.pdf

Edited March 28, 2008 by Cain

[Carl 3]

You're also forgetting that the power needed to recharge these has to come from somewhere and that power source may be coal/oil/gas fired?

[my_e36 43]

How about if we fit enough solar panel to cover absolutely everywhere on earth? Would that solve the carbon footprint problem?

[mrad01 0]

How about if we fit enough solar panel to cover absolutely everywhere on earth? Would that solve the carbon footprint problem?

Ha, we are assuming there is a carbon problem...

[Sammy J 1]

You're also forgetting that the power needed to recharge these has to come from somewhere and that power source may be coal/oil/gas fired?

thats what i mean too, over ther whole life, i forgot to say in my post

[cainchapman 0]

How come no one cares about the carbon footprint of diamonds?

Tonnes of pressure for millions of years. This far outweighs the consumption of drilling for and refining oil.

[m325i 709]

If you haven't seen it already, I highly recommend the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car". Incredibly interesting story of GM's foray into building electric cars in California in the mid-90's and how the oil companies managed to shut the experiment down. If that program been allowed to continue we'd probably all be driving electric cars today!

That doco is pretty good.

Also interesting that the first cars were electric.

But the 90's pilot scheme in LA reeks of oil company conspiracy...

The Tesla is mean as. (Its an electric lotus basically)

[my_e36 43]

How come no one cares about the carbon footprint of diamonds?

Tonnes of pressure for millions of years. This far outweighs the consumption of drilling for and refining oil.

Maybe because the diamonds are alraedy there? The whole carbon footprint thing is about creating less in future without looking to the past (pretty much).