Electric Vehicle

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   reserve27posted 11 years ago

   Do you feel the electric vehicle will take over the automotive industry within the next 40 years? Why or Why not?

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   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   Hard to say. Natural gas is a contender. So may even be compressed air. Also, over 90% of Brasil's cars at present run on sugar cane.

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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Doubtful.  While the electric may well become a big contender in the commuter market, the technology of batteries coupled with infrastructure for recharging is going to make it very difficult for electric cars to "take over" the atomotive industry.  Electric cars just don't, and won't, have the necessary range.
      
      It is quite possible, however, that hybrid cars, combing electric motors with some other form of energy may well do just that.  We might even see cars using solely electricity, electricity produced at need by fuel cells or newer technology.  While those cars would indeed be totally electric, the fuel will not and thus I would not consider that car to be totally electric in the sense we use the term today.

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   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   And come to think of it, I forgot hydrogen.

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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You also forgot grease.  As in used frying oil.
      
      If everyone in the country would commit to consumption of just 3 pounds of french fries each day it would produce enough used oil to run all of our cars.  It would also raise Idaho, with it's lowly spud, to the elite status among states that it rightly deserves.  All hail the Idaho Spud!
      
      This could also be made self sustaining; required bi-monthly liposuction of each person will produce enough fat to boil the next set of fries.  Free energy forever!

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   Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years ago

   I saw an article in a Science magazine about a new type of battery that charges a lot in a very little time. The problem with electric cars has always been the distance they can be driven before they need to be recharged. Which is silly when you consider that almost all of our usage is within 25 miles of home. Right now, people could have electric cars easily as a second car, if the cars weren't so costly. Most people want their second car to be the lesser expensive one.
   
   When the battery problem is solved and as the cost of the car goes down, the car will take over the market. The problem will then become what the sources of electricity are. For places like the Pacific NW that gets electricity from water, it's not as much of a problem as the coal country electric plants.
   
   If I had my way, I'd have solar power on my garage and an electric car for daily use (and someday when I can afford it I will). I sold my car and decided that I wouldn't have one until I could have an electric car. So now I use the bus and a bicycle, and I rent a car or pay for a friend's gas when I go out of town.

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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It's a matter of perception, how far people drive daily.
      
      You must live in a city, using bikes and buses.  I live in a suburb, and if I leave the house I can figure on over 25 miles to get back home nearly every time.
      
      Few electric cars will go much over that, and darned if I want to chance running out of "gas" every time I leave home.  For me, if a car won't travel 100 miles in good conditions (less when heat or AC is used, or in heavy traffic or hilly terrain, etc.) I'm not interested, and that's currently a major problem. 
      
      For me, then, a plug in hybrid fits the bill much better.  Even a hybrid that would only go 40 or 50 miles on electric alone would be fine; most of my trips are under that and I'd still have the gasoline engine to take over for longer trips.

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   Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years ago

   That's a long way to do anything! You're right. I do live in a large city, but some of my family live in small towns and they never go more than 15 miles round trip for normal errands. So the burbs are too often the exception.

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