Electric motoring + bangernomics

britishmoneysaver

barrymung wrote: »

Reliant once made a four-wheeled electric car. I believe it was either a Fox or a Kitten with an electric motor in it and some large batteries under the floor.

They didn't make very many but suspect there are still a few knocking around as they had GRP bodies which didn't rust.

Most of the rest of the car was standard Reliant stuff-cheap, reliable and easy to repair.

I suspect that you could buy one of these cars for ~£500 to £1000....if you could find one.

I've been looking on the internet for information about it, but I can't see anything about an electric version. If I could find an electric model I think I'd snap this up!

anewman

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

what about a horse?

They emit Co2 as well - parp! :rotfl:

Here's a thread started on another forum of someone starting to undergo such a project. Unfortunately it doesn't seem much progress has been made in a while. http://briskoda.net/project-journals/coming-soon-greatest-favorit-project-ever-probably/112799/ He estimates the cost to be around £6000 so an LPG conversion is probably more practical and cost effective, unless you're a bit bonkers and want to do it for the hell of it.

redux

Jakg wrote: »

Surely a car engine is much much less efficient that a coal generator...

Modern diesel engines are about 45% efficient

A typical coal-fired power station is about 28%

This means that the environmental benefits of electric cars are a myth

The only reason they are cheaper to run is because of misguided tax subsidies, of production costs, of purchase costs, lower company car tax, and zero tax on the fuel. Without duty and tax, the fuel cost of a small diesel car would be about 2 pence a mile.

Instead, the OP might look into running a diesel car on biodiesel, made from reprocessed waste cooking oil ...

barrymung

Done a bit more research and I believe that Reliant produced around 40 battery powered 4-wheeled Reliant Fox's.

The original website that I saw has gone but it'd be worth contacting the webmaster of this site and asking if he knows of anyone that has one for sale: http://www.3wheelers.com/

The webmaster is called "Elvis Payne" and what he doesn't know about Reliant vehicles isn't worth knowing!

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

redux wrote: »

Instead, the OP might look into running a diesel car on biodiesel, made from reprocessed waste cooking oil ...

^^^ this ^^^

MrSmartprice

britishmoneysaver wrote: »

Surely there must be some way of having a car, however small, with minimal running costs, inc road tax/depreciation/maintenance etc.. I just presumed that electric was the way to go, as even LPG still costs 60p a litre or so, and apparently you lose 20% of your fuel efficiency, so in real terms it's more like 80p a litre compared to petrol..

And I cycle everywhere, but I plan to be doing eighty mile round trips, as I regularly travel somewhere which is forty miles away.

It sounds like the car for you is the Smart Cdi, which is the diesel version. My OH had a petrol Smart for 3 years and loved it. They are surprisingly roomy and economical as well as fun to drive. I have a friend who is now on his 3rd Smart, and his 2nd diesel. Both of his have been imports, but the UK dealers are now supplying them too. They do around 100mpg and the road tax is free.

I would suggest that there is no better environmental option. It is true that people forget about the emissions from electric cars which have already been made in the generation of the power.

Lum

barrymung wrote: »

Done a bit more research and I believe that Reliant produced around 40 battery powered 4-wheeled Reliant Fox's.

The original website that I saw has gone but it'd be worth contacting the webmaster of this site and asking if he knows of anyone that has one for sale: http://www.3wheelers.com/

The webmaster is called "Elvis Payne" and what he doesn't know about Reliant vehicles isn't worth knowing!

If they only made 40 then by now they are probably considered collectors items, thus I doubt you'll find one for cheap. Probably be better to get a Sinclair C5