10 reasons electric cars are tech sexiness!

1. They are more efficient than combustion engines, they always provide maximum torque, and don't require a transmission.
2. They can accelerate faster than ANY car that runs on gas (look up videos of electric cars smoking Ferraris!).
3. Oil is only getting more expensive, and the price of oil will outpace the speed that we can make cars more oil efficient. Electric cars are the only long-term cheap method of transportation.
4. Electric cars have been running on U.S. roads and highways for over a decade without problem (check out the Rav4-EV)
5. Hydrogen isn?t safe. For hydrogen cars, you take electricity and convert it into hydrogen, and then convert it back into electricity, why not just store the electricity in a battery?
6. 100% Electric cars are lighter than hybrids (no combustion engine, no transmission), they also have a lower center of gravity and better handling.
7. Electric cars cost more than 25% less to maintain (less parts)
8. In 2008, U.S. spent $600 billion on oil, over 2/3 of which was imported and accounted for 30-59% of u.s. trade deficit. Electric cars could pump money back into the country and revitalize the economy. As we became less dependent on oil, we could stop purchasing it from unfriendly governments which threaten us, and we would have to spend less military power protecting our oil infrastructure, meaning we would be a richer and safer country.
9. Although jobs will be lost if we start moving towards electric cars, jobs will also be created. A new study released estimates the net change in jobs would be 13,000 - 250,000 new jobs created.
10. There are too many more reasons to fit in a list of ten. The price of healthcare would go down, cities would be quieter, the electric grid is already at a capacity to handle charging electric cars, electric cars are fun...

If electric cars are great, why aren't they more popular? Car companies can't access the best battery packs for electric cars (high powered NiMH batteries) because Chevron owns the patents for them and refuses to license them. Before Chevron owned the patent, GM and Toyota both had 100% electric cars that worked great. There are plenty of places to learn more about electric cars on the internet, and elsewhere. I recommend the movie "Who killed the electric car?" and the book "Two cents per mile" by Nevres Cefo. If nothing else, remember that electric cars could be more than luxury vehicles- that they could change the way we think about transportation.

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A few issues

by make_or_break Jul 23, 2009 12:41AM PDT

My turn to rant:

2. They can accelerate faster than ANY car that runs on gas (look up videos of electric cars smoking Ferraris!).

Given the right circumstances that's true. But given a different situation an "infernal" combustion engined car can conversely out-accelerate the electric car. It all depends upon the given specifications. The Tesla Roadster is a smaller, lighter car than any modern day Ferrari by a significant amount, so right away there's an advantage to the electric Tesla. The Tesla has been optimized from the start for weight efficiency; it had to because of the weight penalty that the Li-ion batteries were going to bring. Ferrari's pork isn't all about the "necessary" bits; there's all sorts of superfluous niceties and gadgets that add heft and weight. Take a bunch of that off and suddenly the acceleration difference isn't going to be as pronounced. Take ALL of that stuff off, or optimize the Ferrari for maximum weight efficiency...and any advantage could vanish altogether.

3. Oil is only getting more expensive, and the price of oil will outpace the speed that we can make cars more oil efficient. Electric cars are the only long-term cheap method of transportation.

And electricity isn't? With the demand that invariably will happen with a makeover to an electric vehicle economy, the demand for more and more power generating plants will be HUGE. Think your Kwh rate is not going to change? Think again. Moreover, this change affects EVERYTHING you use electricity for; it's not going to be limited to just your car.

5. Hydrogen isn?t safe. For hydrogen cars, you take electricity and convert it into hydrogen, and then convert it back into electricity, why not just store the electricity in a battery?

Some would say the Li-ion isn't safe as well. Take a look at the laptop battery debacle from a couple of years ago. Stop thinking 'Hindenberg', will ya? Given a well-designed storage container hydrogen can be perfectly safe, and overall potentially CLEANER than your all-electric option (all it exhausts is water vapor, a lot cleaner than more than some of those powerplants will be emitting to supply all of that electricity to recharge millions of electric car batteries).

6. 100% Electric cars are lighter than hybrids (no combustion engine, no transmission), they also have a lower center of gravity and better handling.

While the Lotus Elise is no hybrid, its chassis was the basis for the Tesla Roadster. The Tesla's curb weight is about 2600 lbs. The Lotus' curb weight is a shade under 2000 lbs, with said wretched gas-burning engine and that blasted boat anchor transmission.

9. Although jobs will be lost if we start moving towards electric cars, jobs will also be created. A new study released estimates the net change in jobs would be 13,000 - 250,000 new jobs created.

I would dispute this. Looking specifically at the car itself, as you said yourself, fewer parts are needed in an electric-engined car. Fewer parts means less resources...and suppliers that once supplied those resources. If you don't need the parts, then there's no need to build them...or keep the people who used to on the payroll. With fewer parts needed where's the demand for the labor going to come from?

If however you're also banking on the need to build infrastructure to support all of these electric cars, then yes there should be the need for labor, potentially LOTS of labor, to build up the charging stations and other support functions that feed an electric vehicle economy. Whether this offsets the job losses in a gasoline-fed ecosystem is beyond the limited info I have, so you should provide links that show the methodology and support for your claim.

I'd also question Nos. 1, 4, 8, and 10, but I've got to get on with my day. Only with No. 7 would I not take any (long term) issue with.

And as always, I'll leave you electric-car zealots with this question: how in blazes do you get across the country (or do any long-distance journey) in an electric car without it taking a week or more to do so? Right now the best performing electric car only has a 240 mile range, and takes over 3 hours to recharge under optimal conditions. If your idea of a road trip vacation is spending 100% of your time actually on the road, then it appears that you indeed don't have all the answers and that there's still tangible life left yet for those smelly old fossil-fueled automobiles.

And just how much additional carbon and other pollutants do you think all those coal-fired powerplants will be pumping out just to provide the juice to recharge all those batteries? Even discounting the potential for new plants here in the west being built (gasp) nuclear, I can hardly wait for all the soot to waft over from China as a result (coal-fired plant are the love of their ever-power hungry lives over there, and I doubt that it will be abated any time soon. And sadly electric cars will only exacerbate this contentious issue).

Your turn...

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sure, ill have a go at it...

by DjarisNY Jul 31, 2009 8:01AM PDT

2. While you make a valid point about weight not being the main factor, you left out the impact that a lack of transmission has on the vehicle. Constant torque. Any combustion engine has a torque curve that affects acceleration at different points in the race. Even CVT cant match the flatline torque produced by an electric motor. In addition, there was a recent prototype in electric motors that was designed to be used on the wheels of airplanes to help boost during takeoff. This prototype had extremely high torque(normal motors are limited by the number of coils), but limitations as well for any potential automotive use. Nonetheless, we havent seen the end of the line when it comes to powerful electric motors.

3. Again a valid point that the cost of electricity will definitely be impacted in the short term but as technologies advance in the field of mass energy storage and the implementation of a smarter grid, it shouldnt be an issue. Not getting into methods of local electric generation.

5. OK i couldnt agree with you more on this one. To call hydrogen _not_ safe is laughable. It's less combustable than the gas that fills your tanks today. The actual deployment of a hydrogen economy does not make sense because of how close we are to one of pure electric. there is no need for a transitional fuel, which hydrogen would have been had it been deployed ten years ago.

6. we cant really make this statement because there hasnt been significant development in EV technology. While electric motors are lighter when directly compared to a standard IC motor/tranny configuration, that weight gain is usually offset by battery packs.

9. It makes logical sense that jobs will be lost. There is no arguement that current IC configurations need a lot more parts, but most factories built to accomodate demand in electric components will likely be as automated as possible. There will be a jump in R/D and skilled technical jobs, but the days of the unskilled laborer at the Detroit factories are over.

Now i have a major issue with the last point that you tried to make. actually i just want to give you a link,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7938001.stm

battery charging may one day take as long as lunch at a rest stop

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I'd love to do electric

by Dan Filice Jun 15, 2010 8:01AM PDT

I live in the Los Angeles area, and the biggest issue I see in daily traffic is a single person driving an SUV that gets 12mpg in the city. When logic is applied to the electric car, is becomes a perfect solution to the millions who could drive one for a daily commute, me included. One issue that needs to be overcome is that ego is what controls why many of us drive the cars we do. Look at the TV ads for cars. Many of them are geared to being better than the schmo next to you, or being able to out perform them. I think the biggest hurdle for the electric car is convincing many people that they only need to drive a simple commute car rather than a 500hp SUV.

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