A 339hp, 26mpg hybrid-electric vehicle! Or a pure electric sports car! Fashion hype or a view to the future ?

Question

Lexus has recently launched the GS450h. A hybrid electric vehicle that delivers 339bhp, will shoot from 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds and still achieve 25 city and 28 freeway mpg. Priced at $56,000, its a serious attempt at market. That cannot come with significant investment and a bet from Lexus. Also, a group in nothern California has launched the first ever all electric serious sports car. The Tesla Roadster electrifies from 0 to 60mph in 4 seconds! At $100,000 its is more of a statement to the world and a toy for the rich.

Will it work? Is the future already here? If not, what could cause things not to turn out this way ?

Answer 1

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Practical electric cars are arriving now. We can't wait for the big car companies to build them - they don't want to do it. But there are many small entrepreneurs doing it.
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Why doesn't anybody know these cars exist? Because small companies don't have the ad budgets to get their message out. But if you buy one, and spread the word, more people will buy them - the EVs will get better and better - and the rest will take care of itself. Below are just a few of many exciting electric vehicles we will be seeing.
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Here's one company making an EV that charges in only 10 minutes:
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http://phoenixmotorcars.com
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Here's a Chinese import that gets 200 miles per charge:
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http://milesautomotive.com/products_xs200.html
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Read this page to discover how you can buy an EV conversion for as little as $5000 that does freeway speeds, and saves hundreds in fuel costs every month:
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http://www.squidoo.com/cheap-electric-car
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Here's a very cute little car (this one only does 40mph) that only costs $10,000:
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http://www.zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=188
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Don't believe the disinfo about electric cars polluting. Electric motors are several times more efficient than gas engines. Power plants burn fuel at much higher efficiency than your gas car does. And distributing electricity by wire is far, far more efficient than trucking fuel around the country.
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The efficiency argument is easy to prove by looking at fuel prices. A typical electric car gets about 4 miles per kilowatt-hour. Using off-peak electricity prices, this translates into about a penny per mile in most places. What does gasoline cost? Closer to ten times that amount! The lower price of driving electric is mainly attributable to the higher energy efficiency of those vehicles.
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All these efficiency improvements mean that the EV can travel further on less energy. That means much less pollution per mile, no matter what the power plants burn. Plus, a significant, and growing percentage of electricity is now made from non-polluting sources.
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Answer 2

The future is electric cars fueling (charging) at night on what is now idle lost electricity from the baseline generation plants that have to run nearly 100% 24/7 whether people are using or not using, so it will make our existing infrastructure more efficient day and night. Right now most of that surplus electricity is shot into the ground because they have to maintain 60 hertz without interrupting the pace and heat of the plant, any range of temperature change can cause expensive water leaks, so it's cheaper to keep it constant not to mention a requirement right down to national security to have electricity ready at a moment's notice.

Answer 3

I'd be much more excited about vehicles that everyone can afford that run on 100% ethanol or 100% biodiesel. No reason we should not have both in 5-10 years. The technology exists right now.

I'm glad Yuppies and celebrites can feel good about themselves but these things will make very little difference in the world by themselves unless they lead indirectly to much more practical solutions.

Answer 4

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

man ive got to get me one of those!!!! lol i love fast cars however i also like the idea of a hybrid. my next car im looking at either a smart car or the honda insight. both r kinda cute and good for the enviroment.

Answer 5

The horrendous amount of pollution created manufacturing and maintaining these types of cars and the inefficiency of getting energy into them.

Answer 6

i hope that they are a success! we need more cars like these in gas hungry america.