2006-08-06 12:59:54 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Other - Cars & Transportation
With steam powered cars, you have to fire the boiler and then wait, until the steam pressure builds up. Not very convenient when you're in a hurry.
With pure electric cars, there has always been the problem of replacing all those expensive batteries every so often. Today we are better at recycling, so it has become less of a factor.
It's important to remember that pure electrics do NOT have a zero carbon footprint. Most electricity in the U.S. is generated by burning fossil fuels.
2006-08-06 13:08:10 · answer #1 · answered by Jay S 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Steam and electricity don't come falling out of the sky (except for lightning), they need to be produced. To do this some sort of fuel is needed. Until today the most economic way to convert fuel in mechanical energy is to use the internal combustion engine. It just delivers the most power per weight unit of fuel you put in.
For steam systems you also need, besides the fuel, a big boiler with a lot of water (lots of weight), and a lot of high pressure piping and safeties that can damage and wear easily by of the erosion caused by the high pressure and speed of the steam. Leaking high pressure steam is very dangerous.
Electricity also has to be produced. Many times this is done by steam generators (mostly with coal or environmental waste as fuel) or lots of diesel-generators. After that the losses only increase because you have to transport the electricity, convert it into chemical energy when charging the battery, convert it back into electrical energy when running your electromotor, and then there are all kinds of electrical and mechanical losses in the electromotor before it finally conveys it's energy to the drive shaft of the car. Also batteries and electromotors are very heavy and batteries don't last as long as a tank of fuel and recharging takes a lot of time, while not delivering the power you'd like in your car.
I think these are the most important reasons.
2006-08-08 13:53:30 · answer #2 · answered by Caveman 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the early days of the horseless carriage there were numerous makers of steam and electric powered vehicles. The issue then as now is practicality and cost. Neither are efficient enough to operate in every day situations for the overwhelming majority of commuters.
Hybrids are a stop-gap solution but come with a premium price that take several yrs for the payback which most people will not own them long enough to see.
For me they are impractical. There are no charging stations where I go nor no way to carry fuel for a boiler. Both still require use of fuels. For the boiler- coal, wood or some other combustible material and therefore a scrubber to clean up the exhaust. For electric vehicles charging the discharged batteries with electricity being produced with coal or gas fired plants still does not solve the long term problem.
2006-08-06 20:26:09 · answer #3 · answered by hithere2ya 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cars take a tremendous amount of power to run. They found out early on that the most efficient way to produce enough horsepower is via the internal combustion engine. Steam power takes a lot of water and fuel to work, water weighs a lot and so would the fuel needed to produce the heat to power the vehicle.
Electric cars major drawback is that batteries can't hold enough energy to successfully power a vehicle for extended amounts of times or at a quick enough speed to satisfy the majority of drivers.
2006-08-06 20:06:21 · answer #4 · answered by sjoschko 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The very best electric batteries today can provide you the equivalent of a 5 gallon tank of gas that weighs 900 lbs. Gasoline can do better. The very best steam engine that can be put in a car could only have about 50 horsepower. Gasoline can do 4 times that much.
2006-08-06 20:06:24 · answer #5 · answered by eric l 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Steam is too difficult for most drivers, it must be warmed up like an hour before you can go.
Electric is still out there but with battery technology today they can only run for about an hour before they need a charge, and the more batteries the longer run time but, then the more weight.
That is kind of a problem because to move more weight you need more power.
2006-08-06 20:06:20 · answer #6 · answered by grandnational_man 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You must stop every so often to get water and fuel to make steam. Too much of a hassle! Electric powered cars require being recharged often, and must lug around very heavy batteries. This is not good when gasoline powered is the easiest less hassle source of power.
2006-08-06 20:06:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Same reason that hydro and ethonal cars are doing very well yet....The oil companies want us to pay through the nose until they suck every last drop out of every last oil well...Then they will complain that they cant drive to the unemployment line in there oil-powered car.
There are activist websites supporting alternitive fuel. Do some research, its quite interesting.
2006-08-06 20:06:19 · answer #8 · answered by Firesoul 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they still might we just haven't got fed up enough yet.
Once they are clean and fast to recharge and last for long trips
we are a society that wants things NOW
so taking 2 minutes to fill up a car and drive 400 miles is Now and god forbid we would have to wait any longer than that
would you want to say to yuor b/f g/f i will be over in an hour after my car charges ?
2006-08-06 20:05:47 · answer #9 · answered by G L 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because then nobody could make such a killer profit off of things such as steam and electric...
fyi-steam when passe when gas became available... It used to be a cheap great thing.. Then the world got greedy.
2006-08-06 21:06:53 · answer #10 · answered by SassySista 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋