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+--- Thread: What would convince you to buy an electric car? (/showthread.php?tid=123460)
Re: What would convince you to buy an electric car? - Winston - 09-12-2011
Lots of focus on long-range or quick battery swaps.
But if I could recharge an electric car in 5 minutes I could live with a 100 mile range. I need a car that can drive an hour or more each way, which with highway miles is 120 or so round trip. That won't work with most pure electrics. If I could recharge in 5 minutes after the outbound leg I could make it work, assuming that in very cold or very hot weather use of heating or A/C didn't drop the range below 70 or 80 miles.
In the near-term I think we are going to see a lot of "e-assist" where a battery is used to let the car turn off the engine when at a stop light, then start off and drive a short distance while the engine restarts. I already turn off my engine at known long stop lights, then restart a moment before the light changes. These systems are not outrageously expensive like "full" hybrids (Prius, Honda Insight, etc.) and can have a significant impact on fuel use in stop and go driving.
On the comments about using coal to generate electricity: two advantages over burning fuel in a car:
1. It's much more efficient in energy conversion, as others have pointed out.
2. It's a big point source. It's easier to clean up one big plant than to reduce pollution from millions of moving cars. If you are worried about CO2, that can be captured and dealt with (say by injecting it into old oil wells). No easy way to capture CO2 emissions from cars.
- Winston
Re: What would convince you to buy an electric car? - Article Accelerator - 09-12-2011
lazydays wrote: What would convince you to buy an electric car?
A Tesla S.
http://www.teslamotors.com/
Re: What would convince you to buy an electric car? - Article Accelerator - 09-12-2011
lazydays wrote: I love my Solara convertible...I would need something comparable...I'd need a heater...I'd need a real a/c...I would need a 200 mile range...
I don't think I can get any of the items on my criteria so electric isn't an option right now
You can get ALL of the items on your list right now:
http://www.teslamotors.com/roadster/specs
"The Roadster offers supercar performance without supercar emissions. Engineered for efficiency, the zero-emissions Roadster can drive 245 miles per charge. It plugs into nearly any outlet, anywhere in the world."
Battery heater for cold weather charging to -20 degrees Celsius Standard
Heated Seats Standard
Cruise Control Standard
Power windows and door locks Standard
Air Conditioning Standard
All it takes is (lots of) money, lazydays...
Re: What would convince you to buy an electric car? - Wags - 09-12-2011
Article Accelerator wrote:
[quote=lazydays]What would convince you to buy an electric car?
A Tesla S.
http://www.teslamotors.com/
Saw my first Tesla sports car in the wild last week. Really sweet looking ride. I think I'd look pretty good in one. Maybe you could all chip in?
Re: What would convince you to buy an electric car? - DRR - 09-12-2011
mattkime wrote:
>>A revolutionary breakthrough in energy storage. Electric only cars can't store enough juice for most American's uses.
I think thats a bit of an exaggeration. A shift in thinking might be sufficient.
How many people buy trucks because they're definitely going to need to haul something someday? People worry about distance the same way.
I think one of the biggest selling points of an electric car is not needing to stop for gas.
That's not even close to an exaggeration. Have you seen the range numbers for the Leaf? 70 miles at 55mph. That's an effective range of 35 miles before you have to head home unless you're staying at your destination for a while, or you know they have 220 available. And that no one else is using it. You really think that's realistic for anyone but city dwellers?
Back to the OP's question, I'm in the same boat. AC needs to be on max for roughly 6 months out of the year. That would severely limit the range of an electric car for me. I could use a hybrid, I could use an electric as a third car, but it would be incapable of replacing a current car. It would literally be a commuter car/maybe an occasional grocery getter. Until the range numbers improve drastically and infrastructure (charging stations) becomes commonplace, there will be no electric-only cars in my future.
Re: What would convince you to buy an electric car? - AllGold - 09-12-2011
Winston wrote:
Lots of focus on long-range or quick battery swaps.
But if I could recharge an electric car in 5 minutes I could live with a 100 mile range.
In addition to increasing capacity, there is research being done on new battery designs which can be charged very quickly. We're definitely not there yet but when we are it will certainly change the electric car landscape. In the next decade we might see batteries that can be fully or at least 70%-90% charged in less than the time it takes to fill up a gas tank.
Re: What would convince you to buy an electric car? - Lew Zealand - 09-12-2011
Short answer:
Retrofitting an electric car into a gasoline car economy is a niche business only and that will not change for decades.
That said, I could use an Accord or Sonata-type EV with about an 80 mile round trip for everything in town. 120 miles would open up a few more trips to remote friends. But I'd still have the gas minivan for the 500 mile trips to the parent's house, which it seems are the type of trips everyone here is complaining about.
An EV is simply not a one-car replacement for a gas machine. It is a second car, or with a ~100mi range, a primary car with a regular gas backup car for longer trips. For families that's doable but for single people, not so much.
Re: What would convince you to buy an electric car? - AllGold - 09-12-2011
I think I might want a Prius plug-in when it becomes available in 2012. From what I have heard, it is a full hybrid the same as the current version but they added a much higher capacity battery and the ability to be charged by plug-in. It will have only a 12.5 mile electric-only range but it's supposed to cost ~$12K less than the Chevy Volt.
I could see buying that. Obviously, the trade-off for the lower cost is burning some gas on many trips--but still at 50+MPG--but you would never have to worry about running out of juice as long as you have gas in the tank or a gas station nearby.
Re: What would convince you to buy an electric car? - Speedy - 09-13-2011
Not cheap but I would buy another heater. I used to add heater cores to my cars that had weak heaters. Fiberglass and sheet metal.
lazydays wrote:
So Speedy, what would you do about the heater?