So you may have heard some of the buzz already, but if you haven't here's the big news: In a very real way, the age of electric cars is coming fast. It might not be threatening much of the gasoline powered competition yet, but the cars are already here, they are available for purchase, and many more are on the way. [video=youtube_share;ZFrvxjjrdVo]http://youtu.be/ZFrvxjjrdVo[/video] [video=youtube_share;bYlToxn9Mhs]http://youtu.be/bYlToxn9Mhs[/video] [video=youtube_share;QweNsLesMrM]http://youtu.be/QweNsLesMrM[/video] So what are your thoughts? Are you excited or do you have concerns? How much range on a battery or how fast would it need to charge to make you consider getting one in the future? Care to speculate on when you think we might see mass adoption or do you think hybrids and range-extended EV's are the future? I'd love to know what the community's thoughts are, especially given the fact that by the time most of us are old enough to be thinking about a car, EVs will most certainly be cheaper and come in a much larger variety than today. In 2011 there was only 2 EVs for sale nation-wide; today there is already over a dozen and counting.
Hybrids can't ever be anything other than a transition. Eventually, we're going to use up all the fossil fuels and that will be it. Hybrids help to slow down that inevitability, but it will still happen because conserving is not part of human nature when it comes to large scale stuff like this. We'll eventually be forced to change fuel sources, so bring on the electric cars. That said, electric cars are a bit underwhelming at the moment, but they're still a somewhat new thing. I look forward to seeing what we come up with.
I think that this is a good first step, but we need to keep stepping. [video=youtube;PewMgx753G0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PewMgx753G0[/video]
The biggest problem faced by electric cars is that they're just so damned ugly. Many people view their car as an extension of themselves. They don't want to be seen driving something that looks like the offspring of a roller skate and a toaster oven.
I am actually in the market for a new car. If only electric cars had been out for awhile... I would at the very least be able to afford an older model. Gas is outdated and has been for quite some time. I know we won't get rid of it entirely. (Thankfully, because my dream car is gas.) But I think it will start being a rare commodity in the future.
Actually, I sort of agree with you... sort of For MANY years, that is very true, electric car designs have gone out of their way to look ridiculous. I think that, more so than even range anxiety, has been a serious problem with selling them. Even if someone wants to be green, they don't want to look stupid doing so. Case in point: Nissan Leaf Mitzubishi iMev Goofy features, and very tacky looking, imo (not cars I would choose if i wanted something nice to look at) HOWEVER, this being said, I think there are options available that don't look stupid. Ford gets a gold star for trying; it's not beautiful, but it at least looks like a normal car; the aston martin esc grill is a nice touch. The infamous Chevy Volt: not fully electric, but for 40 miles at least you aren't burning a drop of gas... and this is a nice looking car imo. and of course the king of EVs today, the gorgeous Tesla Model S So in summary, I think there have been dumb looking EVs and theyre will always be that ugly almost spherical compact that no one wants, but I think for the most part automakers are learning their lesson and starting to make desirable, cool, and even some awesome looking EVs.
Sooner or later, when we all run out of gas (Which will be a very long time in the future considering how many fuel sources are untapped because oil companies monopolize them) we'll all have to switch to electric vehicles, but by that time, cars with self-sustaining energies will have been made. I think all of this talk of running out of oil and such is futile considering how much can be done in 10 years, let alone 100.
Destruction and dangerous health hazard from increased pollution would happen first before complete depletion of fossil fuels. It's not just a "transition" it's an inevitable requirement (for the sake of human health) as population and resource use continues to increase exponentially. There is a ton of fuel we haven't even tapped into and most of it we actually can't reach with current mining and digging technology. It will never be completely depleted. Unless the world is okay with decreasing life expectancy and we all become a smog ridden China-esque world. :derpe: With that said, unfortunately it is theorized that fossil fuel use will increase 50% by 2035 while alternative renewable solutions only about 14%. It's a start I guess. Though personally I feel renewable will become adopted by companies once it becomes a norm and is cost effective for them. Anyway on the topic of electric cars. They're a nice gesture but in the grand scheme of things are not helping much (yet). They're expensive and rather unattractive. Though the newest electric cars are getting better in terms of price looks and performance (another reason some people may be turned off by an electric car). I personally would not get one anytime soon though. I actually dislike most vehicles from the last few years in terms of design. I love classic cars, but I appreciate the change to "green" cars for the average person. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4
That's a fair point. I think ultimately it really makes the case for distributed power sources like roof-top solar. Additionally, there's already a lot of solar powered public charging stations, especially ones the Tesla company has installed - so you could always seek those out during an outage. Maybe instead of generators, people will start buying large backup batteries for their houses. One of the huge upsides to the hybrid and electric car market boom is the equally large boom in repurposed lithium battery packs. When an electric car battery eventually starts wearing down at the end of a car's lifespan one option is to recycle the materials in that battery into new cars but there is also the option to send the less efficient but still working battery to other industries that don't need a perfect high capacity lightweight battery, they just need any battery (houses don't have to move so it doesn't matter how heavy a home battery would be)
The problem with electric vehicles- Car companies are too reliant on gasoline and do not want to make the change, and the car companies lose profits from the extra parts gasoline cars have. Renewable energy sources have no yet reached the capacity to withstand the increasing energy usage, so we will have to use coal for electricity. Electric cars have a large base cost, because of other car companies. It's best to have a garage and house to be able to charge your electric car. I do believe that electric cars are better than the average gasoline car, but our technology has not developed to the proper level to make it viable for most of the population to drive one. The problem is not electric cars, but rather where we get our energy and fuel from. Oil, coal, natural gases, nuclear. Barely any wind, solar, or hydro because of the geographical differences.
I think charging is sort of a key limitation at the moment, but honestly even if it takes 12 hours to charge a battery, that would be totally acceptable for me if I can just do it at night and have enough energy in the morning to go wherever I need. So that being said, 240 V is plenty of current for overnight charging, even if we're talking like 60 or 80 kWh packs. I'm betting that larger battery packs and more efficient drive motors will make cars go so far on a single charge that charging will become something you can put off until the end of the day. And even if you don't have time to charge the full battery when your going around town you can always add a few miles of range each time you stop somewhere for a few minutes. If every parking space in the country had an outlet you could plug into, there would be little need for fast charging because everyones car would constantly be topped off every time they stopped somewhere. Fast charging stations could predominantly be near highways and would only ever be used for long distance trips where you run down a large amount of battery in one shot. - - Auto Merge - - well, at least the plus about getting an electric car is that every year you own the car, a larger percentage of its energy is renewable as the grid continuously gets cleaner... compared to a gasmobile which always is as dirty as the day you bought it and if anything gets worse as the exhaust system degrades.
There's no way those numbers can be correct since the warranty alone on most cars sold in america, including the Nissan Leaf, is 100,000 miles. I doubt that companies like Nissan would guarantee functionality to that distance if they knew that the battery would fail at 60k. Certainly when you get up to higher milage the battery will experience some capacity loss, but all that means is that the range is a little shorter it doesn't mean you need to throw out the whole battery. I think the lifespan calculation you are using assumes that automotive batteries are of the same quality and durability as mobile computing batteries ... which they are not.
Thought it might be interesting to people what battery pack warranties are currently available for EVs. In my mind this is really the car maker's putting their money where their mouths are with how durable they claim the batteries to be. Nissan - Leaf: 8 years, 100,000 miles Toyota - Prius Plug-In: 8 years, 100,000 miles Chevy - Volt: 8 years, 100,000 miles - Spark: 8 years, 100,000 miles Ford - Focus: 8 years, 100,000 miles - C-Max: 8 years, 100,000 miles Tesla - Model S 65kWh: 8 years, 125,000 miles - Model S 85kWh: 8 years, unlimited miles - Model X 65kWh: 8 years, 125,000 miles - Model X 85kWh: 8 years, unlimited miles *So basically if you buy an EV from any major automakers and it's battery needs to be replaced within 8 years or 100k miles you get a free battery and/or maintenance to repair it. (and to re-iterate this only applies to US cars as far as i know, but my point was to show how confident they are in the fact that the battery should not fail for quite some time) - - Auto Merge - - Unfortunately, I don't think you can expect the same level of reliability and lifespan from a home-made car. While customizing gasoline powered cars has been a normal thing for people to do for years, probably since the first cars were sold even, electric car batteries are actually really complex and involve many high-tech subsystems that allow the battery to be so durable. So yes, it's possible for individuals to retrofit cars to be electric, and many already have, but they are usually very expensive, inefficient, definitely not as safe, and will have a much shorter range and lifespan compared to mass-produced EVs.
