Alright I need some help with an electric car?

Question

Can someone tell me in detail how an electric car works? also tell me the reason why no one buys them and what detriments do they hold? I think i have a solution to some things with it that would make it run forever infinitely without refueling, MAYBE. I still need to know how everything works on the car before i can put my plan into action. Thank you my fellow yahoo members.

Answer 1

There's a lot of information on EVs, and how to build them on this site:
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http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/build
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People don't buy them because:
-They are hard to find. Small companies make them, and have no advertising budgets.
-There is a lot of disinformation about EVs spread around by various interest groups. (Claiming that EVs cause a lot of pollution from powerplants, for instance, which is not really true.)
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The only real detriments are limited driving range and recharge time. New battery designs coming out now are addressing both of those problems. For example the Phoenix car:
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http://66.218.37.153/index.htm
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Can charge in 10 minutes, and travel up to 200 miles per charge.

Answer 2

I would need a bit of clarification. Is the vehicle totally electric, or is it a hybrid model, such as the Toyota Prius? Totally electric vehicles operate with a rechargeable battery, which is nothing more than a capacitor; meaning that you have to connect to a power source in order to recharge the battery. The battery only has limited storage, and must be periodically recharged. The hybrid technology vehicles use a small horsepower engine in order to help charge the batteries, and may also use regenerative braking in order to help charge the batteries. The engine only kicks in under moderate to heavy engine use or accelleration, and relies upon the batteries for slower speeds such as in city limits where the speed limit is 30 mph or less. The reason that many people do not purchase these cars is for the need for power/speed. Electric and hybrid cars may have more torque for faster take off, but the electric cares have limited energy capacity, thus lower travel range, and have to be plugged in. Hybrids still use fossil fuel. The hybrids are only really economical under very easy take off and accelleration, so if it's power and speed the driver is looking for, they won't find it in most of the electrical vehicles, and hybrid vehicles lose all of their fuel efficiency with heavy accelleration. The next technology on the forefront is the use of hydrogen fuel cells. There is no infrastructure for a supply of hydrogen stations on the freeway, and hydrogen is a highly explosive gas. Methanol can be used as a source of hydrogen, but onboard converting is required using electrolysis in order to split the atoms for the electochemical process to occur, which means a more technologically advanced vehicle, which equates to higher costs. You can go to the website for Toyota and see how the hybrid works is great detail. Good luck, and safe driving.

Answer 3

There's a pretty detailed explanation on "How Stuff Works"

Answer 4

Perpetual motion?
Can't beat the law of diminishing returns.

Answer 5

...it's been done, and it didn't work. Get your engineering degree first THEN take a stab at it.