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136 Comments
- MacBookForMe, on 07/05/2008, -0/+23Wow, that's a fast charging! My mobile and my iPod need more time than this car):
(The only info, which is not so very viable is about the power storage for the utility company...numbers don't work for me)
University of Delaware - the team of Dr. Christiana Honsberg and Dr.Allen Barnett also holds a world record in efficiency rates of solar cells 42.9% and they are heading towards 55% (50% for the market) financed and supervised by DARPA and DuPont. - pinkpackrat, on 07/05/2008, -4/+23A viable electric car is closer than we think--I love that it is a Scion--hope they get the price down soon.
- MtheoryX, on 07/05/2008, -0/+16As long as I could get to work and back (less than 30 miles round trip) on a full night's charge, it would work.
Kudos to the team doing this; maybe this tech can move to my other battery powered devices like iPods and phones. - BalooUrsidae, on 07/06/2008, -0/+12Odds are they can see the car.
- Gzero, on 07/07/2008, -0/+12Power plants are more efficient at generating energy than your car. It's still better for the environment.
- stephhicks68, on 07/05/2008, -1/+10Soon - very soon! I have a friend in the plug-in electric car industry. He regularly meets with top elected officials to work to get charging stations installed at Park and Ride stations, garages, etc. so that the future of electric cars is not delayed by lack of infrastructure. Companies including Microsoft are very invested in seeing a viable electric car in the near future. Their technologies will provide needed support for electric companies and municipalities looking to avoid peak loading of systems and more. This is very exciting news!
- azAZ09, on 07/05/2008, -2/+11I get the reason for blind people even though I don't agree with it, but exactly how will a noisemaker help anyone who is deaf?
- Professr, on 07/07/2008, -0/+9Uh, no.
- lvlln, on 07/07/2008, -1/+9It's called economies of scale. The power plant is producing energy at a far higher rate than any individual vehicle, and so much less of the fuel is wasted to heat. So even if all power plants burned fossil fuels, it would still be a good thing for cars to go electric.
- Professr, on 07/07/2008, -0/+8Why, thank you, kind sir! A compliment from a Digger such as yourself is like a drop of water in the desert to someone in my position. I will sleep soundly tonight, secure in the knowledge that, at least on the internets, I have made the world a better place.
- Hosalabad, on 07/06/2008, -2/+9So let me get this straight. You charge the car up, presumably when you have multiple rates in the day for electricity. Then when demand is high, the car will discharge into the grid to make you some money. What about the effects of this extra pointless cycling on the batteries, and what about when you want to actually use the car, when it's just been sucked dry by the grid. $2000 a year at 10 cents a kwh is 20,000kwh, or at my house that is a year's worth of power.
It's great that they built an electric car, but this selling back to the grid business is bogus. - JQP123, on 07/07/2008, -0/+7If you happen to live near a nuclear power plant, there is no smokestack. In fact, lots of people who live near such plants don't even realize that they're there. No smoke, no noise --- just clean, efficient energy.
- ratheunknown, on 07/07/2008, -1/+8Google "Who Killed The Electric Car" Excellent Film about this topic. Check it out folks!
- freddyjackson, on 07/07/2008, -0/+7Yes, but only if you take the cross-country route that is downhill the entire way.
- Dukeye, on 07/07/2008, -2/+9The electric car has been viable for a few years now. See the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car" for an entertaining and sobering analysis.
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -0/+7Baby steps.
- norman619, on 07/07/2008, -0/+6What's the price on that car again?
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -0/+6If they put solar powered air conditioning on one of these I would be happy to pay the large price tag that a lot of these first productions are likely to have. I want my car cold all the time.
- WhiteMike87, on 07/07/2008, -0/+6Why is it that the people who are able to actually afford these cars are those who can easily pay the price of petrol? Shouldn't these cars be more available to those who find it more difficult to pay the price of gas? It just seems almost redundant to me.
- JQP123, on 07/07/2008, -0/+6"Stop and go traffic isn't very fuel efficient."
Stop and go traffic is one of the big advantages of an electric car.
Hitting the brakes recharges the battery. And once you're fully stopped, the electric motor is stopped also. The only thing left consuming power is the electronics. Much more efficient than a gasoline engine in stop and go driving. - inactive, on 07/05/2008, -0/+5Well I am certainly one who feels that it has to be close. With all the articles I see Dugg here, I cant believe one of them will not have a viable prototype ready for production really soon.
- muted0, on 07/06/2008, -2/+7"It's very frustrating that I'm not able and you're not able to go out and buy an electric vehicle. Something that can go 120, 150 miles which is more than enough for the average American," Baker said.
Uhhhh, the tesla roadster can go 250 miles on a single charge and its available for order now, you would get it in 2009. - p3ngwin, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5 One guy asked a question another guy answered.
he now has confirmation and knows more than he did.
This is an improvement, but why is this simple confirmation of a closed ended question not sufficient?
You want more, you want one of two paths confirmed and also to have further knowledge of that confirmed path.
Never happy you? - MacEnvy, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5Real men don't need to worry what other people think of them. You must be thinking of insecure boys.
- ImperialSoren, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5what is so hard about this *****...
- dood, on 07/07/2008, -1/+6The summary indicates that the electricity is currently far cheaper than the gas. Most of my electricity comes from hydroelectric (ie low-pollution), so I'd feel pretty good about going electric.
- KingGorilla, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4new-ish technology is usually expensive
- MDtech, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4Not sure how you came up with your figures for the electric car (20 miles would cost $2 - $2.40). The article claims $.03 per mile:
"This fully electric vehicle goes about 3 cents to a mile, when compared with a gas vehicle that might go between 10 and 12 cents a mile" - waggdogg, on 07/07/2008, -4/+8I just found out that a friend of mine who owned a hybrid car. His battery went bad after the warranty ran out and a replacement was $2000.00. He ditched the car and bought a gas guzzler. Question; How long do these batteries last and what is the replacement cost? I am in construction, and even the batteries on my cordless drill doesn't last forever.
- Barackalypse, on 07/07/2008, -1/+5Do you have any numbers to back up how many is "alot", because the US Census Bureau says on average you're wrong. The State with the longest one way commute time is New York at an average of 30.4 minutes, so you'd be looking at 30-35 miles one way, assuming most of that time was actually spent on the freeway and not in traffic. This car easily has the range for that.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/a ... - breadfred, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4No, that is not going to happen. First, these 'batteries' you speak off are rather large. Second, each different car will have its own proprietary battery, so garages would need umpteen different batteries. Sorry, nut it is just not practical or economical.
- inactive, on 07/06/2008, -1/+5Chevy Volt, 40 miles between charges and comes with an ICE that extends the range to 300 miles.
- MacEnvy, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4I live 5 miles from a windfarm, so there aren't any smokestacks here either :)
- MaybeMike, on 07/07/2008, -1/+5Death of the electric car learn about it.. god America is ***** up
- freddyjackson, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4Agreed. Saying that gas vehicles cost 10 to 12 cents a mile equates to saying gas vehicles get 40 to 33 mpg (at $4 per gallon). I'd say that doesn't really cover the gamut of gas powered vehicles.
- ImperialSoren, on 07/07/2008, -1/+5110K
- FallenWings, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4Check these guys out too:
http://www.aptera.com
120 mile battery-only range, 500 - 600 mile hybrid range.
Fuel economy is approximately 300 MPG over the first 120 miles, dropping to 130 MPG when the batteries are depleted. Plug the car in, and the milage leaps back up to 300 MPG.
Unlike a lot of other EV manufacturers, these guys have lots of investment capital, several working prototypes, and a product that shouldn't cost over $25,000 when it's released.
Check it out in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUhPaxvhJCI
If it's a commuter EV you need, then you should keep your eyes on these guys. If 30 miles is really all you need to drive, just head out and pick up an electric scooter / moped. There are already products on the market that will do exactly what you're looking for, and they cost plenty less than a full-sized car. Paying $70,000 for a chunky Scion conversion just doesn't sound like a good idea. - Barackalypse, on 07/07/2008, -0/+32 hours for 150 miles? The Tesla electric car gets 4.7 mi/kW·h. A 110 volt 20 amp household outlet can deliver 2.2 kW per hour, so in 2 hours you're getting 4.4 kW into it, assuming 100% efficient charging. That's enough to move a Tesla 21 miles. So I'm guessing they're basing that number off using a 30 amp 220 volt outlet which kicks out 6600 kW per hour, so you'd get 13.2 kW in 2 hours charging, which only moves the Tesla 60 miles. That would make this thing at least twice as efficient.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster - Clodhopper, on 07/07/2008, -0/+3I believe it was the Stonecutters.
- bsonline, on 07/07/2008, -1/+4I want an all electric vehicle. I'm curious, however, what if any would be the penalty of using public power outlets?
- form3hide, on 07/07/2008, -1/+4So if I'm driving cross country, how do I 'recharge' this thing? Can the brakes essentially recharge it enough to get me through the country without stopping for a 'recharge'?
- Nudar, on 07/07/2008, -0/+3I never have to wait more than 5 minutes for gas. I don't get mine at Costco.
- Shawkab, on 07/07/2008, -1/+4I can't wait till gas stations are just modern day ruins.
- JQP123, on 07/07/2008, -0/+3"Electricity is generated through natural gas, right?"
Sometimes but not always. Electricity is a universal form of energy that can be generated any number of different ways --- sun, wind, geothermal, hydro, wave action ... nuclear, - inactive, on 07/07/2008, -1/+4No, but as our infrastructure changes we will most likely rent our batteries at gas stations, and rather than recharging them ourselves, we would swap out for a pre-charged battery in the same amount of time as it takes to fill a car with gas.
- nitrusoxyde, on 07/07/2008, -1/+4I wish they'd be more factual and say 10-40 cents per mile
- floorman56, on 07/07/2008, -0/+3unless the car companies agree on a standard for batteries, you know like consumer electronics batteries?
You mean like how Apple and PC notebooks use the same batteries?
/S - inactive, on 07/07/2008, -0/+3100,000k generally. I don't know about the car listed in the article though.
- Tyrghast, on 07/07/2008, -0/+3If I didn't live in Texas, where 150 miles can easily be an average day's journey, this would be great.
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