Could this be a "FREE" car?

Flyboy152

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Probably not, no.

But then who is actually doing these miles within the city of London each week? Bar taxi's, couriers etc, all of which this car you have highlighted wouldn't suit.

You keep avoiding that question.

No one is doing 120 miles a day. Your 120 miles a day is based on your experience of your car's maximum distance on a tank of petrol. It is not based on a car driving in London.

C_Mababejive

Is it just me or is the logic of electric cars totally flawed?

Surely fossil fuels are used most efficiently as close to their point of use as possible?

So we can either;

a)Shovel tons of fossil fuel be it oil or gas into some remote power station and incur massive efficiency losses in the combustion and transmission process to its point of delivery at the charging point of your electric golf buggy

or


b)Continue the development of highly efficient internal combustion engines where the fuel is burned at point of use.

There are also the carbon footprint issues of producing electric cars,battery production ,maintenance and recylcing issues etc..

forgotmyname

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Is it just me or is the logic of electric cars totally flawed?
.

OH DEAR!!! You dont get it do you..

Please put your blinkers on.. and then read about electric cars saving the planet.

You must skip over the fact that making the batteries for the Prius contribute 2x more pollution than the average person produces anyway.

And the fact it doesnt achieve the fuel savings they claim.

Dont read the full story or between the lines, Just read the bits in green

James1968

Quite a good thread this. The car makers claim 5 years for the batteries, but the original Toyota Prius test cars given-out in 1997 are still going strong on their original packs so until electric cars are commonplace and have been in use for several years, we will not have a true idea of the real life expectancy of the batteries.

Ford will soon be launching an electric Focus with a 200 mile range. If they get the price right, it will be a good commuting car. As yet car designers have yet to explore ways of charging on the move using such technologies as 'in-hub generators' and wind-powered generators fitted in place of the traditional radiator. Not to mention building solar panels into the top of the dash and into the backs of the headrests on the back seats.

When you apply a bit of lateral thinking to the situation, then solutions can be found for everything given enough time.

forgotmyname

10 year 100,000 or 150,000 mile warranty in the US.

Plenty of cases of batteries failing over there.

200 mile range is getting better. But will it do that in slow moving traffic with lights wipers and heaters going?

C_Mababejive

You see the thing is,and what we must always keep in mind is the law of Conservation Of Energy and no amount of kidology or technology will ever change that.

But essentially,this is what electric cars are seeking to do.

To challenge a basic law of physics by simply redistributing the "energy" in the system to make us all believe that they are somehow greener,more efficient and therefore better. We can then all rest easy in our cribs and pretend that all is well with the world.

Graham_Devon

Flyboy152 wrote: »

No one is doing 120 miles a day. Your 120 miles a day is based on your experience of your car's maximum distance on a tank of petrol. It is not based on a car driving in London.

Your sums are based on spending £80 a week on petrol.

Therefore, how many miles do YOU think people will get for that in London? You've not said.

We can then figure out how many miles you reckon people do in London to commut to work (as thats all these cars are suitable for).

I'll be generous, and assume £80 of petrol only gets you 350 miles in London. It still leaves the over-riding issue that people won't be commuting 350 miles WITHIN London each week....leaving your sums completely wrong...something which you won't appear to admit to.

Flyboy152

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Your sums are based on spending £80 a week on petrol.

Therefore, how many miles do YOU think people will get for that in London? You've not said.

We can then figure out how many miles you reckon people do in London to commut to work (as thats all these cars are suitable for).

I'll be generous, and assume £80 of petrol only gets you 350 miles in London. It still leaves the over-riding issue that people won't be commuting 350 miles WITHIN London each week....leaving your sums completely wrong...something which you won't appear to admit to.

What is your flipping problem? I started this thread as a debating platform to discuss a particular offer from a car manufacturer, yet your tone and debating style is one of conflict and confrontation. You are behaving as though the suggestion, that it might be a good deal, is an affront to the morals and survival of humanity and must be prevented at all costs.

Graham_Devon

Flyboy152 wrote: »

What is your flipping problem? I started this thread as a debating platform to discuss a particular offer from a car manufacturer, yet your tone and debating style is one of conflict and confrontation. You are behaving as though the suggestion, that it might be a good deal, is an affront to the morals and survival of humanity and must be prevented at all costs.

Glad you shown me the way the alternative

I was just asking you how many miles you think people drive in London as you are obviously very pro this idea.

Sorry for asking.

NBLondon

James1968 wrote: »

Ford will soon be launching an electric Focus with a 200 mile range. If they get the price right, it will be a good commuting car.

I do 75 miles a week commuting in a petrol Focus - so if I have a garage and charging point or my employer gets green tax credits for letting me charge it at work then it could well be good for commuting. Or as I said before - maybe a small business using a Focus estate for deliveries.

However, I also go on holidays to cottages in remote bits of GB more than 100 miles away, so unless there are charging options along the way; I'm going to need a petrol one for those. For the occasional trip, hiring works but there are people who commute in the city all week and then make long drives at weekends e.g. they need to visit family regularly. It doesn't work well for them as the only car.

The other thing that strikes me about charging is will the battery life be affected by the charging pattern. If you have access to a good charging point at home/work then you can run from 100% down to nearly empty and then long charge back to 100%. If you are grabbing them as and when and using a lot of quick charges, the battery may go from 100% to 50% then to 80% then to 20% with a lot of top-ups. Can a battery be designed to work/last equally well on both patterns?