Originally posted by Karlhungis
Right now it just feels like the electric cars are only a carrot being dangled in front of our faces to make us feel like progress is being made. I
can't think of a single affordable electric car right now. One came out for 25k but that is a pretty absurd price to pay for something that will
only go 110 miles/charge and only 65mph.
The tech being used in the cars doesn't seem new at all. We hear of reports of huge strides being made in alternative energy like solar collection,
yet these cars don't use it. We hear about strides being made in batteries as well (Japanese Pee battery comes to mind
www.reghardware.co.uk...) yet, these still use old tech toxic batteries. The environmental toll of these cars is higher than a
standard fuel burning car.
I am jaded and feel like we are all being taken for a ride.
That's rather your problem. The fact of the matter is, most claims about any new technology are overstated. Think popular mechanics. In at least most
cases, technology isn't suppressed or anything, it's simply *not as good as advertised, to the point that it isn't useful*. Even if the performance
is better, the cost may be prohibitive. Look at the Tesla roadster. It's merely got the best of well developed technologies, like a bank of Lithium
batteries, and it's very expensive. Developing all new technologies far enough that they can be safely and reliably used in a car is very
expensive.
Ultracapacitors can be charged in seconds to minutes, but they're expensive and don't hold as much energy per unit weight and volume as a battery.
Batteries are more advanced than most of the rest of our knowledge of chemistry, but they're still far behind gasoline in terms of energy per weight
and volume. Realistic, safe-esque vacuum enclosed kinetic flywheels are only about on par with batteries, but can be charged and discharged much
faster, but aren't close to being developed enough for automotive use.
Solar cells are useful for charging cars when idle, but simply can't keep one going very well - there aren't that many square meters on the top of a
car, and they're going to be pointing straight up on average, so you'll be lucky to catch 500W per meter square on a bright sunny day, and at about
15% efficiency, 4 square meters of solar panels is going to net you a little under ONE HALF HORSEPOWER (assuming 100% efficient electric motor, which
isn't a bad approximation- I've seen ones that reach a 98% theoretical efficiency, for about a 95% actual efficiency.).
Electric cars may not make as much money in dealer repairs, of the engine, but they will have to have all the batteries replaced every six years or
so, for a good 2000-6000+ dollars, which a dealer could stand to make a tidy profit on. Dealing with all the dead batteries is a real problem, one of
the major obstacles with mass use of electric cars. And they may be far more energy efficient than an ICE, but, because we build few renewable energy
stations, and no new nuclear plants, nearly all the extra power is going to come from coal and oil anyway. Combine that with the fact that energy
companies will probably just buy battery makers.
And they may make overall economic sense, but the average American does not want, nor can afford, such a vehicle. They have a strict limitation on
range, limited performance, a very high initial cost, and an inconvenient refuel cycle. Fuel economy is like the 12th highest concern, or something
ridiculous like that. People loved that Rav4 electric car, or whatever it was called, but you'll note that the people who loved it were the kind of
people who'd buy electric cars, not necessarily representative of people on the whole.
Despite all that, there are plenty of affordable electric cars on the market, they're just not highway capable. The government owns thousands of
'em, as fleet vehicles. They even sell 'em at costco sometimes. Ugly little things though.
