What is Digg?369 Comments
- chris1234, on 05/19/2008, -5/+318i love MythBusters
- greenlight2001, on 05/19/2008, -13/+176*typical digger comment about how Kari Byron is hot*
- inactive, on 05/19/2008, -4/+150In other news, Jamie Hyneman was mysteriously murdered last night and gas prices rose again to $6.50 a gallon.
- inactive, on 05/19/2008, -2/+86Where are we with the battery technology?
- wrxpert, on 05/19/2008, -4/+86"I fully intend to make a full-size electric car; I figure it’d take about $28,000 worth of components for a plus-300-mile range. It should take me about a week or two to build—tops."
This is why Jamie Hyneman rules. - cerealjynx, on 05/19/2008, -3/+78*typical agreement, digger or otherwise*
- abhilash, on 05/19/2008, -7/+60It's so clear how great electric vehicles would be if only the oil companies would invest in the infrastructure to support them. Gotta love the mythbusters crew.
- acrodev, on 05/19/2008, -3/+42You're not going to create gasoline from electricity. So supposing vehicles ran on electric motors, it would be much easier to supplement the increase in electricity demand with an increase in green sources like solar, wind, and tidal. Is your suggestion to use "green" fuels like corn ethanol that convert food to fuel while famine spreads?
- simpletwist, on 05/19/2008, -9/+44The electric car will never be mass-produced until someone can figure out a way to charge $150 for a battery.
- sterntastic223, on 05/19/2008, -6/+40Well they're close but these gas companies keep buying up the battery companies and shutting em down. Bastards
- MacParrot, on 05/19/2008, -0/+33It's not just the oil companies that need to support them. Automobile makers need to as well. part of what's slowing down the acceptance rate of vehicles like this is that there is no standard battery pack. If the US/Japanese/Koreans/ect could agree on a common fuel-cell/battery pack, they long-distance trips that can only be done efficiently now with gasoline engines could be done in alternative ways.
Imagine you've drive say 300 miles and a guage is telling you at the present rate of consumption you have about 25 to 50 miles before you run out of energy. You pull into a former gas station and they replace your pack with another one (assuming that these packs can slim down in weight to say 50 to 100 pounds) that works with most of the car makers. Pop-out and pop-in and you're good for another 300 miles or so. - SpostareDuro, on 05/19/2008, -12/+42love it. stumbled, blogged, and then some. thanks. ;-)
- tacapd42, on 05/19/2008, -0/+28Jaime argues in the article that offsetting the consumption of fossil fuels from many different automobiles to professionally maintained plants. Automobiles being different in design and efficiency and most importantly proper maintenance aren't the most efficient to use these fossil fuels as opposed to a regularly maintained facility operated by specialists.
- SLockhart, on 05/19/2008, -1/+27Ever heard of Dell?
- WordsnCollision, on 05/19/2008, -5/+31So much for electric vehicles being a hit or myth concept.
- mikeyeah, on 05/19/2008, -7/+32We should all be driving electric cars by now, instead the Auto Industry, Big Oil, and our government decided it would be better to keep America addicted to oil. If you disagree with what I just said, please watch "Who Killed the Electric Car" and get back to me.
- calipan, on 05/19/2008, -3/+27F the oil companies. Why don't you get off your lazy ass and invest in electric vehicles. It's like saying I wish the rich would donate their money to low income housing an welfare programs instead of making iPhones and Aston Martins. I mean come on did you think people bitched back 100 years ago "I wish the buggy whip companies put their money into horseless carriages"?
Put your money where your mouth is and YOU make the change. If the oil companies want to stick to their business model and don't want to adapt them screw em, let them go the way of the buggy whip, but for crying out loud enough whining and bitching that the world need to deliver what you want on a silver platter, time to grow up people, - emjaymj, on 05/19/2008, -1/+25They've been wrong on numerous occasions but there's no such thing as an unbiased scientist. Their controls aren't as rigorous as a peer-reviewed and published experiment would be, but even the most scientific of studies are often wrong and even contradict each other.
Maybe they should bust the apparent myth that scientists are superhuman beings with perfect knowledge of the universe, allowing them to never get things wrong and always take every single factor into account. At least, that seems to be what YOU think a real scientist is. - Vegiemaster, on 05/19/2008, -10/+32*typical nerd who has no chance with any girl even remotely attractive who says "Eh, she's a 6."*
- greenlight2001, on 05/19/2008, -0/+22What about Grant?
- jguy584, on 05/19/2008, -2/+23Lots of people are bitching about taking energy from the grid, and how its just as bad as a car with a gas engine.
It's not.
Power plants have far greater efficiency then cars do.
Besides, when the time comes that we are all ditching our fossil fuel dependent vehicles, we will probably also be ditching our fossil fuel dependent energy grid. - fasda, on 05/19/2008, -1/+21Well theres a limit to the voltage generated by any battery since all there are is a oxidation/reduction reaction and the pretty much the best reducing agent is lithium which is currently being used. They could just use better oxidizing agents to get more voltage but then most of them need to be dissolved in something or as a gas which would make disposing them when they eventually die out pretty hard. So a lot of research is put into how to pack more lithium into the batteries.
- marm0lade, on 05/19/2008, -4/+24"how many times have they been proven wrong now?"
[citation needed], because I have not heard anything about them being proven wrong. - inactive, on 05/19/2008, -1/+20What makes this even more attractive is that you don't need to charge the vehicle for an inordinate around of time. "80 percent charge over a lunch break" sounds great to me!
- SilverBlade2k, on 05/19/2008, -0/+18It may suck (for you) because *you* need to go on long trips. 75% of the population don't go more then 40 miles in one day. So an electric car is perfect for 75% of the population..
Or is this going to be the "oh, 10% of the population think it's useless, so we won't make it available for anyone' scenario?? - pakruse, on 05/19/2008, -0/+18I'm in your situation as well - no plug in at my condo carport - but the millions of suburban commuters who have garages could probably take advantage of this technology.
- shadoweva09, on 05/19/2008, -3/+20air pollution from gasoline cars would probably still beat that amount, and it's not like anyone is going to approve building another coal power plant, so your argument is flawed. Especially since you don't have numbers, and more and more wind and solar power plants are going up.
- paker, on 05/19/2008, -2/+19That was one of the best documentaries I've seen.
- jguy584, on 05/19/2008, -1/+18Super capacitors will hopefully far surpass batteries in the next decade or so.
- Snuffs, on 05/19/2008, -0/+17the sad thing is, I actually think that petroleum industries are capable and willing to take such precautions to ensure their market.
- Hercules, on 05/19/2008, -4/+20The inherent problem with these vehicles is that they still rely on largely "battery" power -- a technology that simply has not evolved as much as other pieces in our infrastructure.
We already know we can make amazing electric engines -- we just need some power source that's worthwhile to store that energy as they charge up. - badmephisto, on 05/19/2008, -0/+15You are very wrong. There are other ways of generating electricity, and they are quickly becoming mainstream. There is a lot of research done on renewable energy sources like hydro solar and wind power, and there is also a lot of work done to figure out how to dispose of nuclear waste properly. Catch up on your news, the healthy transition is well on its way.
- AmyVernon, on 05/19/2008, -1/+16that's an interesting point. i wonder what the answer truly is... but wouldn't this still cut down on the greenhouse gases released by cars??
- banmaster, on 05/19/2008, -1/+16Go rent "Who Killed the Electric Car"
- diggB, on 05/19/2008, -0/+15Next generation of plug-in serial hybrids (where all traction power is provided by an electric motor as oppose to current generation of hybrids like the Prius) will allow you to run completely on electric power for commuting (roughly 30-50 miles) and then switch to using gas (to power the electric motor through a generator) for longer trips seems like a good compromise.
Source: http://www.ev1.org/sshb.htm - mlwarrior, on 05/19/2008, -0/+15Your also all forgetting that gas power plants are WAY more efficient than gas car engines, and electric engines are WAY more efficient than gas.
Fact: electric cars WILL reduce emissions. - PopcornDave, on 05/19/2008, -0/+14Or a refill. That's the main thing keeping "big business" from investing in this technology - they can't make the same profit on it yet.
- MacSuxWindozSux, on 05/19/2008, -6/+20Digger please...
- Yetisquatch, on 05/19/2008, -4/+18For all the people that say it would be impractical to plug in or that there would be a larger strain on power plants, please look into the breakthroughs that have been made in solar panels. Most people drive their cars to work and those cars sit in the sun for 8 hours a day. With solar panels added to a vehicle, that car can be fully charged again without being plugged in. An electric car that has a 200+ range would probably never have to be attached to the grid if solar energy was used.
- davidrools, on 05/19/2008, -0/+13People were probably saying the same thing about the lack of gas stations when cars first started gaining popularity. As acceptance grows, so will the infrastructure.
Back in the EV1 days, the California codes were updated to require EV charging stations to be installed whenever a new parking lot was built. Sadly, the EV program got squashed for no good reason, but charging stations are still being put in new parking lots today. As EVs grow (as I expect they will), property owners and the like will make changes to allow tenants to charge and probably even designate electric vehicle parking spaces with electricity provided. - inactive, on 05/19/2008, -0/+13Why worry? Each of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.
- c010rb1indusa, on 05/19/2008, -5/+18Charging electric cars sucks. Who wants to wait around for a vehicle to charge. How bout gas stations start swapping batteries in cars, instead of having to charge the car yourself, you could go to the gas station, and the gas station would have pre-charged batteries that you would exchange for the dead battery in your car. So you get the convenience of a gas powered car, with the benefits of an electric car. Sound good anyone?
- unusualbob, on 05/19/2008, -0/+12Actually a lot of auto companies dont want electric cars either. Combustion engines have more parts that are more likely to break so they also make money off of all the parts you buy to fix your car. Electric cars are simple, sturdy and efficient. They lose a lot of revenue by not selling parts and gas.
- publiclurker, on 05/19/2008, -0/+11It's a lot easier to clean up the emissions from one power plant than a couple thousand cars, so while not perfect, due to transmission losses, etc, it may be a lot better.
- inactive, on 05/19/2008, -5/+16I've already decided that my next car will be electric :)
- SkippyDoorknob, on 05/19/2008, -1/+12What's "with" the quotation "marks" around "battery"?
- paker, on 05/19/2008, -1/+12How many moving parts are in a gas engine compared to an electric motor? An electric motor has no belts, hoses, fluids, oil.. I'm sure there were/are many nervous prople NOT looking forward to a successful electric car.
- dblespresso, on 05/19/2008, -3/+13There is still the issue of energy density of the energy storage mechanism. It is the problem that needs to be solved before a mass roll out would ever be feasible. How do I fill up and reset my total range in less than 10 Min? One interesting solution is aluminum
http://hydrogen.ecn.purdue.edu/2007.05.01-Woodall/ - The_Red_Monkey, on 05/19/2008, -6/+16Yeah but I can not drive more than about 100 miles on electric. That is ok for commuting but I do take trips on the weekends and travel for work so it sucks.
Also how will you heat a car that is all electric? If you run a traditional heat unit then it kills the battery where as a gas powered vehicle uses excess heat.
Its all nice to think about plugging in a car but we need billions in electricity infrastructure to go electric and many, many new nuclear power plants to help out. Otherwise its all for not. - davidrools, on 05/19/2008, -0/+10Making steady progress. The batteries on the market today are suitable for commuter cars and will only get better, increasing range and decreasing charge times.
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