electric car advances.

[rolmops]

Renault Nissan in combination with a silicon valley company are putting a new sedan on the road.It is fully electric and will cost just as much as a regular sedan.The range is 125 miles but they claim that new range extending technology is rapidly becoming available.
In Israel these cars will be available by 2010 while as we speak, investors with government help are installing battery swap stations throughout the entire country.The claim is that a battery swap will take as long as filling up a fuel tank,so long distance travel is possible for these cars.Of course it is possible to plug you car in your home socket as well.
Denmark has also embraced this new idea and the cars will be available there in 2011.
This sort of development is what will defeat oil subsidized terrorism.If you want to help win the war against terror,you may want to call your congress man and start bugging him about subsidizing new developments like this one,because oil independence will make our economy stronger and our country safer and cleaner,while we can still be a nation of long distance travelers.
It may be a good time to privately invest in this development.
So when will we find these vehicles in the USA???

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: electric car advances.

Affordable transportation is my opinion of the answer.

The Tesla is a great car but at 99,000 euros it is a bit out of reach but looks fun to drive. The buyer's who can presently afford this probably do not have the angst of the fuel prices.

The Nissan plan sounds great and I looked at the info available and it even looks good but no real mention of consumer cost. It is a great idea to defeat the oil addiction (or at least combat it) I think this anti-consumption attack should be geared from the lowest possible level..... the "plain old lower income class".... Currently a Prius is around 22K and gets 50 mpg and my car was less than 14K and gets 40 mpg.....

My answer is mandatory public transportation.... drive your vehicle to point A and get on a public bus/train. Increase in trains for both passengers and freight..... Prohibit driving in certain major cities (we have all seen streets dedicated to walking in Europe)...... these solutions will help everyone regdless of income.

The first order of battle is to admit we have a consumption problem and admit it........ plan on ways to reduce the use of oil...... implement the plan! Kudo's to Nissan for their part. Kudos to Toyota for selling their original Hybrid technology to Nissan and Ford.

 

[JCF350]

Re: electric car advances.

For oil use reduction yes, Still gotta deal with electricity and battery logistics.

One thing that always amazed me was. How was it cheaper to load a tractor trailer full of Canned Tuna put 2 drivers in the tractor and ship it from NY to LA. And the amount of fuel consumed to ship such a limited size load?.

Mass transport needs to be more than just people.

I agree with Bob, continuing individual transportation (daily commutes and related) will always be the major problem.

 

[mscher]

Re: electric car advances.

Does not sound that great of a deal.

You own the car, but you have to "rent" the batteries from one foreigned-owned company only? When they compared this owning a cell phone, did not help the cause much.

Also, where do we get the electricity to power 400 million vehicles?

Hybrids are a better deal and will get better and cheaper, as more people buy them and more models are produced. Vehicles waste a great amount of energy, that the fuel produces and the hybrid technology recovers and reuses some of it.

Sure, hybrids still use standard motor fuel, just less of it. Manufacturers can easily build them and fuel (although expensive) is avialable everywhere.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: electric car advances.

The two reigning heavy weight champs of the world for transportation continue to be walking and bikes. Currently nothing even comes close to those two for reliability, economy, ease of use, maintenance, environment, health, etc, etc.
Trains and other mass transport (buses, trolleys, etc) are undoubtedly next in line.
Do you live in places where you could a bike to get around?...say even 20% of the time?
It would be interesting to query the Iboaters to see who is living the urban vs. rural life. I live in an urban environment myself in a very 'bike' friendly city (Victoria, BC). Its undoubtedly something I should be embracing more than I am....maybe its time for me to smarten up a bit.
So what about guys, are city or country mice?
BP

 

[JCF350]

Re: electric car advances.

I be both I reckon, house in Panama City area nice neighborhood quite with large lots (boat ramp 2 long blocks away). Spend a lot of time at the Citra property 10 acre lot surrounded by other 10 to 30 acre lots.

Vehicle is the "BEAST" pictured below (looks are deceiving it's a throughly modernized truck, only wear surface with more than 40k on it is the turn signal switch)

As to everyday running around I use a scooter just like attached below since my walking distance is limited and can't ride a bicycle. The thing will carry a whole grocery cart full with the fore and aft baskets. I use the scooter at both locations.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: electric car advances.

Country mouse here. The closest store of any kind is 4 miles away.
My last place of employment was 20 miles away.
I now remodel and a full load of tools is a must.
So a bike or walking isn't practical.
Public transportation is out as well.
I sold my Dodge Neon, kinda wish I woulda kept it now.

 

[mscher]

Re: electric car advances.

For oil use reduction yes, Still gotta deal with electricity and battery logistics.

One thing that always amazed me was. How was it cheaper to load a tractor trailer full of Canned Tuna put 2 drivers in the tractor and ship it from NY to LA. And the amount of fuel consumed to ship such a limited size load?.

Mass transport needs to be more than just people.

I agree with Bob, continuing individual transportation (daily commutes and related) will always be the major problem.

If your talking about rail, it's really improved in recent years and will shine big-time in the future.

Logistally for freight, railroads used to stink, manually loading and unloading freight cars, pallet by pallet. They could not compete this way with trucks, especially for "just in time" deliveries.

Now days, it's all about the "container". Pluck em off the ship, drop em on rail cars, transfer to a flatbed truck, to your door. Load em up with American goods and back they go. N&S even has the cool wheels, they attach directly to a semi van, making it a "railcar"

I'd buy rail stocks if I had any money.

 

[bandit86]

Re: electric car advances.

someone needs to come out with a small $5000 electric car, with proper advertisement it could take off. the worry of cars like thelectrics is that what if it runs down?

they all need to come with a solar panel on the roof and a small, say 50 or 100 cc gas or diesel generator, no more worrying about being left on the side of the road.

I dont mean like a hybrid, just strictly as backup. go to work and the solar panels charge your vehicle, if you'r eon a longer trip and batteries are getting down, jjust flip a switch and start the generator. wouldn't be able to put out enough electricity to power a vehicle entirely, just keep a small charge to extend the range and charge when stopped. Unless you get a 10hp diesel generator, it could almost power a vehicle by itself

 

[PW2]

Re: electric car advances.

It's much more than purely an economic problem. I have no doubt we could produce an economic alternative electric car if the economies of scale are realized at some point.

However, proper planning needs to be done. There is no energy free lunch, and somehow we are going to need to produce the electricity required to power all these cars, and I am sure some consideration needs to be made to the oil companies who aren't going to like to see their billions and billions of dollars of refinery investments devalued due to decreased demand.

Still, on balance it makes nothing but sense. I'm sure from a statistical point of view, the amount of individual car trips that are less that 125 miles would dwarf those that surpass it.

 

[tommays]

Re: electric car advances.

Well

Working with battery and propane forktrucks everyday that littel bottle of propane cost a LOT less than the electric to recharge the battery units


We still make the electric fom oil or coal SO there should be and MPG figure on the oil cost of the electric cars which allways seems to be kept hidden

 

[fishdog4449]

Re: electric car advances.

Yea those NS cars are called roadrailers. It is the most efficient way to transport large amounts of cargo.

 

[PW2]

Re: electric car advances.

Well

Working with battery and propane forktrucks everyday that littel bottle of propane cost a LOT less than the electric to recharge the battery units


We still make the electric fom oil or coal SO there should be and MPG figure on the oil cost of the electric cars which allways seems to be kept hidden

You have to be sure you are comparing apples to apples here. Industrial electricity rates are calculated based on "peak demand" and not necessarily on power consumed.

If you did a thorough power consumption analysis, it may well be that it depends on the time of day you charge the batteries, and what other electrical consumption is going on at the same time. It can get very complicated, but it could very well be that it could cost next to nothing to recharge the batteries between 2 AM and 6 AM, and it could cost an exhorbitant amount to charge them between 7 AM and Noon.

Industrial Rates are dependent on what power requirements are needed to be available to meet the peak demand at any given time, unlike LPG that is easily stored and used only when needed.

 

[dolluper]

Re: electric car advances.

Sure when everyone plugs in their car to charge the electric rates will be the problem and gas will be the bargoon.....just shift the problem what are we thinking

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: electric car advances.

Keep in mind one needs to pull ones boat.

 

[tomatolord]

Re: electric car advances.

its called the chevy volt...

http://gm-volt.com/

basically the car is completely electric

1st 40 miles pure battery

then next 600 miles runs a gas generator to produce electricity and to recharge.


There are already work places where you can plug in to recharge, so you can drive to work, plug in go home without using gasoline.

with better battery technology the 1st part of the dirve will only increase in time.

RIght now PURE electric gets you about 100-150 miles, with a few hours to recharge.


Tomatolord

 

[tommays]

Re: electric car advances.

And i ask again HOW much oil does it take to recharge the battery and WHY is it such a SECRET

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: electric car advances.

And i ask again HOW much oil does it take to recharge the battery and WHY is it such a SECRET

Tommays- I am laughing about this "power struggle" and feel it will cause a demise in GM ......... Read this C & P ....... It's a secret but alludes to the higher prices!


We all cant wait to get into our Chevy Volts and drive off on electric power. After all, what could be better than not using gasoline for most driving needs? We are aware the source of energy for the Volts battery will be the electric grid. All indications are that the energy costs will be cheaper, at current average rates, roughly 80 cents for 40 miles of electric driving.

The Wall Street Journal reports our GM friend Rob Peterson saying that the utility companies will become more important than the oil companies in this electric car future. The story raises the question as to just what the utility companies think of this.

Per the story, "most utilities view the cars with a mixture of excitement and trepidation." The issue is that nighttime charging when demand is low will be a benefit to utility companies, but daytime charging could increase demand and thereby cost.

A study by the Oak Ridge National laboratory is cited as indicating that indeed electric costs could rise in the latter scenario.

The idea of smart meters that could titrate electric rates to the time and purpose of use was discussed and it was noted that these are already being rolled out in California.

There was also mention of studies which show the grid should easily be able to handle the demands of electric cars and allow dramatic displacement of petroleum as an energy source.

Bottom line, the grid will handle it, it will cost less than oil, and both the individual and the utility companies will benefit from plug-in cars.

And, in my opinion, the tide of the sea change is unstoppable.

Source (Wall Street Journal )

 

[rolmops]

Re: electric car advances.

It always makes me grin to see that we are just beginning to titrate the power rates for regular consumers and that it has started in California already.
When will America start looking beyond its borders and see that this type of cost charging for electricity has been common place in Europe since the 1950s?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: electric car advances.

It always makes me grin to see that we are just beginning to titrate the power rates for regular consumers and that it has started in California already.
When will America start looking beyond its borders and see that this type of cost charging for electricity has been common place in Europe since the 1950s?

oh at twice the voltage too