Are there corps. needing personel to drive electric vehicle - keeping data on problems / performance?

Question

I have a 1977 associated degree in auto mechanics & have worked in fact keeping projects. After hearing of electric Toyoto Rav EVs, i could not believe they are not on the road. I want to keep data on the perfomance of an electric vehicle to used to promote or inform manufactor of possible problems. I would expect to be given various coniditions or mileage for the testing of the electric vehcile. I am very good at keeping notes & elaborating on prroblems, checking the system as it is driven, checking for possible problems a 'normal' driver might encounter, keeping track of costs. I want to be the driver for such manufartors or companies.

Answer 1

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I'm not aware of any test-driver programs currently being run by EV makers at the moment. Incidentally, there are a handful of those Toyota RAV4 EVs still on the road, powered by their original NIMH batteries, many of which now have over 100,000 miles on them - it's the only remaining EV using that battery technology, which was subsequently purchased by an oil company and pulled from the EV market.
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The poster above me appears to be talking about 30-year-old EV technology as though it were still state-of-the-art. Let me introduce him to a couple of present-day electric vehicles:
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http://zapworld.com/zapworld.aspx?id=4560
http://phoenixmotorcars.com/models/fleet.html
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The ZAP-X sports 644 horsepower - 155mph top speed. It travels 350 miles on a charge - its batteries charge in only 10 minutes. And the batteries will last 10 to 20 years. The Phoenix EV uses the same battery technology, and is being built right now for fleet use.
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Lithium battery technology does not present a hazardous waste problem either - lithium in spent batteries is in harmless salt form. And they are fully recyclable. And of course, no amount of so-called 'battery pollution' could possibly compare with the environmental damage caused by drilling, pumping, refining, shipping, and burning gasoline.
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Answer 2

There is a reason why Toyota, GM, Ford, and other auto companies haven't gone full scale on electric vehicles. The first reason is that electric vehicles don't have a very long mileage range. They can only currently go about 30-40 miles before having to be recharged. Fuel based cars can last for normally 300 miles or more. Secondly, it normally takes a good bit more time to recharge them that to fill up a gas tank. Then you have the problem of how much the batteries weigh. Basically your car would be a tank. Then when the batteries go out after a couple years you are looking at thousands of dollars to replace them and you are also looking at a biohazard waste problem of how to dispose of all those dangerous chemicals in those batteries. Electric cars would be more feasible if battery technology increased a lot quicker, however battery technology increases very very slowly. And even then after the technology does become available it is very hard to find companies smart enough to produce it, especially in the mass quantities that car companies need.