electric car questions plz answer?

4 Comments

1. JASON says:

   July 14, 2010 at 3:06 pm

   A lot of it has to do with the technology that the manufacturers are using. They choose their technologies not just on how efficient they are or their performance rating, but on their marketability. This is a HUGE decision maker these days. Take a look at all of the “flex fuel” cars there are these days, all major mfg’s have them as an option. This is a good selling point because you determine what gas goes in your car and you are told that E85 Ethanol is cheaper. E85 is cheaper in most cases, but try looking for it….these stations are scarce. This is something the public is left to research themselves….and most people who drive these cars don’t have a clue where to fill up E85. Same goes for electric cars, most of them are of a hydrogen fuel cell battery, which they tell you emits only water, no pollution. Sounds great right? Well its a great selling feature and people buy them up. Do some research…like you have… and you will find average Joe’s converting cars to electric with regular items anyone can purchase. These typically have better mileage, cost less and have better performance. But these cars do not have the same marketing ability as do the hydrogen fuel cell cars. So my point is BUYER BEWARE!!! (Note: I have heard of replacement batteries for the Prius costing between $7000-$8000 and only having a 5-7 year life span)
2. John W says:

   July 14, 2010 at 3:40 pm

   Well, first the donor cars used for the conversions on that website are sports cars to begin with. The same features that make a gasoline powered car fast (low weight, good handling, aerodynamics) also make an electric car go fast. Modern power electronics allow for the use of three phase AC electric motors which have a constant torque profile throughout the rotation of the motor and modern lithium ion batteries offer a higher energy density over the lead acid batteries commonly used.

   I have no idea where Jason is getting his information. There’s E85 at practically every gas station in my city, not at every pump but pretty much every gas station has one E85 pump just as they have one diesel pump. Hydrogen fuel cells are very much in the minority for electric vehicles due to the costs, rare catalysts such as platinum come at a very high cost and hydrogen fuels cells require very pure hydrogen and very pure oxygen both of which is nearly impossible to get, most electric vehicles still use lead acid batteries with nickel metal hydride and lithium ion being the next two most common battery technologies currently in use, definitely not hydrogen fuel cells.
3. Breath on the Wind says:

   July 14, 2010 at 4:12 pm

   Looking at the website you can’t see an add for a Tesla Roadster or a new Toyota Prius. The competition for the conversions seems to be mostly NEV or neighborhood electric vehicles. These are vehicles that are limited by law to under 35 mph and are relatively inexpensive.

   The conversions are being done by others and the site seems to maintain a listing of shops that will do conversions.

   In short this site seems to be primarily a place to go to for some NEV, used electric vehicles and a listing of conversion shops. They seem to be bringing information together rather than working with actual vehicles.
4. Mad Scientist... says:

   July 14, 2010 at 4:21 pm

   A VW TDi get’s about 60mpg hwy.

   Check mate…