mopar-or-no-car

Has any one watched this movie, I just did and those electric cars were kind of impressive. I had never heard of them before. What do you guys think about them?

kawi600

Electric autos look good but thye need to solve a lot of problems to make them economically appealing.
the batteries are the biggest problem. they need to store a lot of power safely and be cheap to replace. I just have these nightmare visions of acid and heavy metals being splattered around in accidents or dumped in fields.
Theres an electric dirtbike I was lookin at but its replacement battery was like 2000$. yikes!

Shovelhead

Storage Battery technology needs to get up to speed before the Electric Car will be more than a novelty toy for the "elite" tree-huggers.

A 20 - 30 mile range just won't make it in the real word

GalenEdgewood

Actually, if they can bump it up to 100-200 mile per charge, it'd be near ideal for most people in an urban environment. Of course, let's not forget the cost of electricity and having to get the electrical grid up to snuff to handle that kind of a draw of power to charge these things. And then there are the emissions of the increased number of power plants to provide the power (since so many are afraid of nuclear power plants).

All *kinds* of issues to worry about when it comes to electrical vehicles.

speyguy

Battery issues aside, so far this one is pretty impressive. They claim it has a 200 mile range and 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds is wicked quick.

xp8103

The problem I see in so many "alternative" methods is that the folks that promote them do so with militant rage at times. Instead of looking at applications where electric cars work WELL its "**** THE OIL BURNERS! FULL STEAM (or electron) AHEAD!"
Electric cars make sense in MANY parts of the country but not so in others. Make electric cars PART of the solution instead of trying to make them THE solution I say!

patdaly

Good thoughts, and for SOME on the country, they could be a good thing.

Illinois in January or August is not conducive to electric cars.......... Unless you like to freeze or sweat.

As for the movie, I rank it right up there with Fahrenheit911........almost as intellectually vacant.

HOHN

What's odd is that I just got this movie on Netflix last week.

Aside from the usual Leftist Bush conspiracy crap, it does raise some interesting questions.

When I was a fleet manager in GA, we had a couple gov't-mandated electric S-10 pickups that used the same technology as the EV1. They worked very well for bumming around the base-- basically as more capable golf carts.

But they apparently had a habit of catching on fire and GM recalled ours-- we never got them back.

Clayten

The batteries where taken care of, they were using a Nikad battery. The fella that invented this battery sold the patent to Texaco. A few days later Chevron owned Texaco. Chevron did not want anyone to use these batteries.
Toyota tried to and Chevron sued Toyota successfully for 30 million dollars.
Do a Google on the electric car,make sure you have a punching bag close by.

mopar-or-no-car

I know they are not the only solution, but I think it would be nice to see them as an option so that the people that could use them could and the ones that need bigger vehicles with longer range can get what works for them. On the movie I believe they said that the battery technology they have would power the ev1 for 300 miles(thats what I remember maybe it was 200 but it wasnt bad). As for the power situation they say that there is way less power demand at night time becouse people are sleeping so there not using power and so they wouldnt need more power plants to charger them. I was thinking maybe they could also put solar panels on them to help keep a charge. I never thought about heat, maybe they could make some kind of heater simular to a toster element.

ian515

if I remember the movie at all, the point was not that "THE" soloution needed to be electric, it was, why did the stop production of something that was so obvliously a success? i dont think the "tree huggers" cared about diesels, most understand its what drives our society, but they just wanted their car back.....hahaha.

they made a lot of great points though. and I love how now, "certain" people are talking about fully electric cars like they are a thing of the future, and have never been produced before.

j-fox

Here is my opinion.
electric cars are what some people need. Great as commuter cars.
however, an electric motor will outlast several gas motors. Detriot cannot survive by making a car that we never HAVE to replace!!!! They are in business to mass produce transportation!!

speyguy

Good post! There seems to be an excess of people on this forum that can't seem to discuss a single topic without spinning it into something about "greener, hippie, tree hugger, environmental wackos".

twoscooterz

I have a '98 Ranger EV w/ lead acid batteries that escaped the crusher. It gets between 15 - 20 miles per charge. I am in the NW & live in a VERY hilly area. Hills really suck the battery life quickly. I use it on a 280 acre property & for short runs to town. It's perfect for anyone w/ small, in-town runs. The other down side to the Ranger set-up is that the charge pack is 220v only - no 110v option. Makes it even harder to run around and plug-in somewhere. For my application it is flawless - wouldn't dream of anything else (except more range). Rides & handles very well, heater warms instantly, quiet & people love it.

kawi600

until they bring the battery cost down the new generation of lithium cels are going to be cost-prohibitive.
If youre worried about pollution, buying an electric car might be a BAD thing. The amount of heavy metals and nasty chemicals used to make these electrical parts is a lot higher. Lots of energy involved.
The other thing that worries me is anyone with a newer car has seen how crappy all these sensors and electronics are. They burn out and take a lot of money to fix since you need specialized diagnostic equipment and knowledge. The parts themselves are far from cheap.
This is why Im avoiding buying a newer car.. I cant afford to pay for all that stuff. The emissions crapola, the sensors and computers.. too much over-complex stuff to break.
I still think something simpler like vehicles fueled by compressed biogas or algae biodiesel will be the way to go. No new net co2 and the fuels can be made from waste streams.