Electric/Green Cars

Shoshannah

movilogo wrote: »

If you are worried about environment, just buy a small fuel efficient car eg. VW Polo Bluemotion etc.

Or buy second hand and keep the car for a long time, rather than buying new every couple of years. They say the majority of carbon a car emits in its lifetime is during its production, even if that isn't true we are taught to recycle so why not use the same old car year in year out rather than replacing it frequently?

goldspanners

Kurtis_Blue wrote: »

Went out in one of these at Hethel test track and have now placed an order (refundable deopsit) on the bigger brother
Model S.

If it comes out on spec and on price it will be awesome.

that will be awesome, it all seems a bit too good to be true, and if that price of 50k is in dollars then it is a bit of a bargain aswell considering the technology and drop dead gorgeous looks. i would consider buying one aswell.

peter_the_piper

If I could afford to buy an electric one I would, most have a range of close on 100miles and most people would do less than that daily. I live in the sticks so it would be a lot easier to charge up overnight, this could be a definite problem in town. I like the thought of not paying petrol companies anymore.

gilbert_and_sullivan

peter_the_piper wrote: »

If I could afford to buy an electric one I would, most have a range of close on 100miles and most people would do less than that daily. I live in the sticks so it would be a lot easier to charge up overnight, this could be a definite problem in town. I like the thought of not paying petrol companies anymore.

Don't worry about paying the petrol companies, well 40% of the fuel cost anyway, the rest going to the govt waste dept.
By the time electric cars are of any use or popular we'll be paying for use of the roads by the mile, you don't really think any govt is going to allow free unmonitored cheap travel surely.

Kurtis_Blue

goldspanners wrote: »

that will be awesome, it all seems a bit too good to be true, and if that price of 50k is in dollars then it is a bit of a bargain aswell considering the technology and drop dead gorgeous looks. i would consider buying one aswell.

The roadster was great, only took a few laps and then felt totally natural and I have always been petrol head.

I know the new car is currently on target but the US price does involve some tax breaks and they are getting ready to float on the stock market so are probably putting only good news out, however well worth putting a deposit down as RHD delivery is late 2011 early 2012 so good to flip for profit just before the Olympics where demand for electric limos will be high.

Possibly.

neilmcl

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Don't worry about paying the petrol companies, well 40% of the fuel cost anyway, the rest going to the govt waste dept.
By the time electric cars are of any use or popular we'll be paying for use of the roads by the mile, you don't really think any govt is going to allow free unmonitored cheap travel surely.

+1. One of the things holding up this country at the moment is fuel tax revenues. If we all suddenly went electric the Govt would have to recoup this by other means.

AdrianHi

The range, time to recharge, places you can recharge, top speed and in some cases crash safety all need to be considered carefully with electric cars.
The G-wiz for example, only recommended for city use where 40mph top speed is unlikely to be reach has nothing in the way of crash protection.

The Nissan Leaf is a practical 5 seater small family car that is all electric, 2 to 3 years away from production depending where you are in the world (production starts 2013, Sunderland, UK) and this car will still only have a range of 100 miles.
We have a long way to go before electric cars compete with oil fuelled cars for convenience.

I'm afraid most of use will need petrol, diesel or hybrid cars for a while longer yet. Once carrying enough electrical energy around becomes possible in a car the electric motor will leave the internal combustion engine for dead. Electric motors are 95%+ efficient on power use compared to around 35% to 60% for petrol and diesel engines and with the electric motor you get maximum torque more or less from a standstill.

AdrianHi

neilmcl wrote: »

+1. One of the things holding up this country at the moment is fuel tax revenues. If we all suddenly went electric the Govt would have to recoup this by other means.

Road use charging instead of fuel tax.

LandyAndy

How many threads are you going to start on this subject?

catflea

thescouselander wrote: »

There are still many problems with electric cars. I dont know why electric cars are advertised as green - they are not. By the time you have taken into account the losses in generating the electricity and getting it into your car (in addition to the normal losses you would expect in the car) the overall efficiency is probably less than you would get out of a diesel or hybrid.

Thanks for that, I was going to make a similar point. When I was looking into electric cars as part of a uni project it seemed that they were anywhere between 3 and 4 times less efficient than petrol vehicles :eek: That was a few years back, but the generation and transmission losses are likely to be the same!