Should we bring back electric cars?

Question

I personally think electric cars, for those who want them, can really help our situation. That situation of course can encompass anything from climate change to high gas prices to foreign dependence on oil. Would anyone else buy these cars or is it just me? I think they should be back because every little bit can help.

Answer 1

With the rising popularity and availability of hybrid cars, Americans are more comfortable with using electricity to power their cars - at least in part. I think that as long as money can be made, people will develop, market, and sell a product. The time is near when completely electric cars will be affordable and enticing to the American consumer. However, I think that they will be more popular in large cities where the car can be recharged as necessary. I doubt it will replace the family car that is used for long road trips even if the electric car can travel 500 miles before recharging. The peace of mind is just not there among the average consumer whereas gasoline powered cars have been around (and working) for over a century.
As for the power source, it is a lot easier to control a point source of pollution like a coal-burning power plant than the millions of gasoline powered cars on the road. Also, more alternative energy sources - such as wind - are coming online everyday. It would be awesome if we could take advantage of that renewable resource in our cars!
I have a hybrid and would absolutely switch to an electric if it was as affordable.

Answer 2

This is the USA.

Many of us have more than one vehicle in the family. A truck to haul the toys to the campground or to haul sheets of plywood to make a dog house for Fido. A sedan for taking the family to church or Aunt Martha's.

So why couldn't we have a car that we drive to work? The national commute is 25 miles. Well within the range of most electric vehicles. Charge it at night when the power-plants are shunting excess power to the earth, and the rates are lower. Most of the cars you see on the rush hour commute are occupied by one person anyway so a small efficient electric car for commuting is a smart move.

I am investigating making a conversion to electrifying one of my cars. And the solar-voltaic panels will be paid for with the fuel savings in five years.

Answer 3

There are electic cars already on the market. The best distributor I know if is ZAP. They currently distribute a few different models, primarily the ZAP Xebra which goes up to 40 mph and about 40 miles per charge:

http://www.zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=188

And they've teamed up with Lotus Engineering to design the ZAP-X which will be able to go 350 miles per charge, up to 155 mph, and recharg in 10 minutes. It's scheduled to come out in late 2008, but cost somewhere around $60,000.

http://www.zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=4560

Similar but currently available is the Tesla Roadster which can go very fast, 200 miles per charge, but costs $92,000.

http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php

There are some other models out there that are basically upgraded golf carts that only go up to 25 mph.

So there's not a lot out yet, but there are some electric options and more to come in the near future.

Answer 4

Yes
- regarding the load on power plants= we have plenty of power plants, the prob is peak load, usually a 4 hour span in the hottest part of the day when our air conditioners are working hard. The trick is to put your charger on a timer so your car gets recharged between midnight and 5 AM. During that period the power plants actually have to throttle back the generators because of lack of demand.
Of course, if we all had solar panels on our roofs with net metering, we would ALL be adding power to the grid when the sun shines.

Answer 5

Absolutely. These are readily available and much more effective than the hydrogen-fuel cells. The only reason the powers-that-be want the hydrogen fuel cell is that they can still make plenty of money off of it through having to buy the expensive fuel. Powerful interests are terrified of electric though because there isn't money for them to make off of it.

Answer 6

I can't understand why people are still not knowing that electric vehicles are still around. There are several EV clubs with home made electrics and even some companies with limited EV stock. The L.A.Electric Assoc., Electric Auto Assoc., as well as one in Orange county.Go on line and search for electrics.
Spartawo...

Answer 7

I would stand in line to get one. No more filling up at the pump, just plug it in at home and your good to go. If you check the web, I believe that there are some companies that will be coming out with EV's again soon, like end of 08. We would not need more powerplants like the guy below me says. Electricity usage at night is so small compared to during the day. You cannot turn a powerplant off at night just to start it back up again in the morning, thus you have excess electricity at night, thus the reason electricty usage is cheaper per kilowatt hour at night. Plug in at night.

Answer 8

How are the electric cars going to help? The US generates almost all its electricity from burning fossil fuels ... just because you don't see the exhaust at the electric car doesn't mean it's not happening (at the power plant).

But, they haven't gone anywhere.

I would NOT buy one until we've built enough nuclear plants to fuel them. Otherwise, they don't reduce our dependency on oil, and they're very inconvenient.

Answer 9

Yes we need to have a solution but at present the range is too short to be effective. It has a good thing that all the power could come from a power plant and they have scrubbers on their chimneys . Thus reducing the pollution.

Answer 10

Go ahead, just don't require me to buy them OR give tax breaks to those who do because they are a waste of time.

Yes, power plants still spin their turbines at night, but it doesn't take as much oil/gas/heat/water/wind/etc. as if they have to produce power.

Energy still requires a source. You don't get something for nothing.