What happened to the electric car?

Question

Hey!!! I have yet to watch the documentary called "What Happened To The Electric Car?".

In a nutshell, does anyone know what happened?

Answer 1

Gm decide that it wasn't worth it to make the car. It only had a 75 mile range and was to much to make the car. It was considered impractical. But there is an electric car that they have now that is freakin awesome! It's called a Tesla. It does 0 to 60 in 4 seconds has a 250 mile range. fully recharges in 3 hrs and has a top speed of 130mph. But it's for a select few. It costs around $125,000 Here's the website to check it out.
http://www.teslamotors.com/performance/performance.php

Answer 2

There are many issues to be dealt with with an electric car. First is the batteries. Lead/acid batteries are too heavy to be efficient, a lighter weight dry cell battery doesnt produce enough power, so then the logical choice would be liion, its lightweight, it produces alot of continuous power, but the cost is very high.
For a typical liion battery for a car, the cost is around $20,000. Telsa motors (as listed by a previous poster), has gotten the cost down to $10,000 per car. But still, you have completely design everything on the car from the ground up, and a $10,000 part completely balloons the cost to build.
Your next problem is maintenance. If you know anything about cars, you know not to take your car to the dealer once the warranty has expired. The cost of dealer service is twice the cost of any other mechanic. So what do you do with an electric car? There are very few mechanics that would even bother looking at it. Gasoline engine mechanics are a dime a dozen. Non dealer mechanics specializing in german cars will work on your ford mustang, and vice verse.
Finally, back to the batteries. What do you do with dead li/ion batteries? They reak havoc on the enviroment, and no parts can be reused.
The cost needs to come down and the support needs to come up.


**EDIT**
to the poster who said; "don't go fast enough", are you nuts? Where have you been in the last 5 years?
Tesla makes an electric car that does 0-60 in 4.0 sec and 1/4 mile in 13.6... The 1992 dodge viper did 0-60 in 4.3 and the 1/4 in 13.7
Mini cooper made an electric prototype that did 0-60 in 4.1 sec and 1/4 m in 14.0

Answer 3

Like many things, they have morphed to hybrid cars/motorcycles/bikes. We are currently working on a three wheeled cycle that at less than 30mph, it runs on battery power, then above 30mph, the vehicle runs on a turbo 2cyl engine. The gas powered engine recharges the batteries when needed. The batteries have the reserve to run/operate the vehicle for 100 miles alone, and with the motor running, the batteries can operate the vehicle indefinitely. We also have a bicycle that travels at a max speed of 35mph for 1.5 hours before needing a charge, or 20 mph for 5.5 hrs. The 0 to 30 time is roughly 2.75 seconds, so grip tight and grit your teeth. The one thing that limits the battery vehicle is the consumer. Most Americans cannont percieve a vehicle for commuting and another for long trips with more than 2 people in the vehicle. Most commuters travel alone or paired, so why waist energy and the environment driving an SUV to get to work, unless you live in the back woods and need an SUV to get to work?

Answer 4

In short, electric cars are DOOMED.

Why? Simply put, OPEC is waay too powerful.

GM's EV1 was way ahead of its time and SUDDENLY disappeared. Hmmm...

But even electric vehicles pollute like crazy. How you ask?
Well, where does the energy come from?
On prder of probability:

!) Coal fired plants that are badly maintained and refuse to comply with clean-air regulations and escape by using muscle.
2) Nuclear plants that are MUCH cleaner but pollute nearby streams with massive amounts of heat
Not to mention nuclear waste that can be used in dirty bombs
3) Wind farms are relative pollution free, but they can kill birds :(
I think 15% of FL's power comes from the wind!

OPEC has also stunted development on photo cells. Solar energy is 100% free, 100% safe.
Yes its expensive now, but if we go that way, it'll get WAY cheaper, just like cars.

Now that I'm done with my spiel, I'm gonna go jump in my corvette and drive off ...tsk tsk tsk! lol

Answer 5

Chevy is coming out with one. 40 mile range and recharge on 110 volt in 6 hours.

Answer 6

The Stonecutters put a stop to it, right after they made Steve Guttenberg a star (sorry -- I could not resist)

Answer 7

electric cars are no good,they will only polute the air with electrons and cause radio waves to be disrupted

Answer 8

they are more expenvie to build, don't last as long as they should to sell, don't go fast enough, they are still a work in progress

Answer 9

they are still made.along with fuel cell motorcycles.