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Who Killed The Electric Car?

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B) I have been watching "Who killed the electric car?" film on the web, man when are the politians going to start working for us instead of themselves? ;)

As RC nutters we all know that 1:1 electrics are very possible. :D

Whoever put the kibosh on ebay would you please do the same to the people who killed the electric car. Thank you.

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The most exciting thing I have seen recently i think is by a company called "Tesla". Looks like a Lotus elise. Can remember the exact details though. Some can have a hunt on google if you like, I'm supossed to be working at work! :D

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The most exciting thing I have seen recently i think is by a company called "Tesla". Looks like a Lotus elise. Can remember the exact details though. Some can have a hunt on google if you like, I'm supossed to be working at work! :D

tesla_roadster_1.jpg

Style 2-seat, open-top, rear-drive roadster

Drivetrain Electric motor with 2-speed electrically-actuated-manual-shift transmission with integral differential

Motor 3-phase, 4-pole electric motor, 248hp peak (185kW), redline 13,000 rpm, regenerative "engine braking"

Chassis Bonded extruded aluminum with 4-wheel wishbone suspension

Brakes 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS

Acceleration 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds

Top Speed 125 mph

Range About 220 miles

(based on EPA combined city/highway cycle)

Battery Life Useful battery, 100,000 miles

Energy Storage System Custom microprocessor-controlled lithium-ion battery pack

Full Charge About 3.5 hours

I'm working Too!

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Check out the Zilla electric controller at cafeelectric.com . It can be fitted to most small cars with a small amount of effort. Cost is scary but you would save in the long run if you combined it with a house roof covered in solar panels.

I'd love to pull the V8 fuel guzzler from my TE (Mk4) Cortina and make it electric with one of these. Check around on youtube for the porsche fitted with the Zilla, has some real guts and the electric drag bike powered by the same.

Oil companies, car companies and governments with their hands in the oil pie squashed what could have been a big thing that started with the EV1. GM sold the new battery technologies to Texaco, who done not much with them. Too many men getting rich on oil and electricity can be made for next to nothing once the infastructure is in place.

There's a few interesting things on youtube along the lines of playing with magnets and coils of wire. Callaway V-gate etc, once you find one video it links to most of the others, zero point energy.

Greed killed the electric car.

Mark

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Just to make this thread a "thinktank".

What does a car needs to be a sucsess on the market.

Size: midclass car between Golf and Passat or Focus+Mondeo

Power: 100kw should be OK for nearly anybody

Operration range: 400km+ would be a dream if you want to travel - for daily traffic 100km+ is Ok

Charge: more then 1hour is in exeptable when you compare with petrol cars is even this to much - but after 400km a break for an hour should be OK

That meens we need a 100kw brushless to cary a 1,5 ton car and this for 400km - how many amps on how many volts?

What size of Lipo accu do we need and how to charge a lipo in this big size with 1C?

Maybe we can figure out a way "howtodo" ;)

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1.5 tonne for a small->medium size car?, the 5.0Ltr V8 Cortina tips the scales at 1075kg, lighter than it was with the 4.1ltr inline 6cyl. I know modern cars are heavier with all the ____ they fill them with, but do you really need it?

Charge stations are not the answer for long trips in an electric car. Removable battery pack the same as we use in the R/C's. Battery swap stations instead of fuel stations. Charging is what you do at home over night on your 'free' stored solar/wind energy.

Range of 100km is minimum, that would only just complete our weekly shopping trip to the 'big' town. 400km does not take you far when you consider the size of Australia. (Brisbane->Sydney->Melbourne)

With a speed limit of 100km/h in most places, 100Kw is more than enough to sustain that, however if you live in mountainous areas, or you need to carry a load this would not be enough. Larger families would need a larger car to fit all the kids and the luggage/groceries (I have 4 kids and a 7 seat Pajero Wagon to move the family around in).

Getting the 'ideal' car from electric is not going to be an easy task with what there is to work with on the market today. If more had been spent into the research of electric vehicles instead of trying to make an inefficient internal combustion engine more fuel efficient and envioronmentaly friendly maybe there would be something to work with by now (and we would have better electric R/C's to boot from the technology gained).

With the technology available today electric vehicles are limited to small light cars and hobbyists. When the powers that be want to squash something they do it. When new ideas are brought forward what happens to most of them? Investigate the 'grey' motor or Stan Meyer's 'water power' as some examples. Perendev magnetic motor is another to look at.

We live in an oil based economy, look at the effect it has had on the price of everything since it's price has skyrocketed. I'm not wanting to blast anyone down, but this is the world we live in. The people with alot of money call the shots and most have their hands dipped into the oil barrel.

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;) I don't know much about art but I like the tzero.....

It blew away a Viper over a .25 mile, a Viper ate it's dust.. Wow that takes some doing... for an electric car... :o

Where are the electric cars?

It's all on youtube,,,

I love the tzero... :P;)

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1.5 ton for a midsize car? Even a Ford Fiesta has nowadays the weight of 1 ton! any body wants airbags aircondition stereo doby suround sond and and and so the weight grows up! You couldnt sell a car nowadays without this things ABS ESP and what ever.

100KW for a 1,5ton 5passenger car isnt that much when you look at the most sold petrolcars.

If a electriccar will have any chanche on the market it MUST compare with these.

Yes we live in an oilcultre, but we live in the last decade and if we doesnt wake up and look for alternatives we will end up in stoneage.

No Oil - No energie - so you have to take horse and wagon and sit at the campfire! nothing left from our technologie without energie.

Im not the one who belives in all these climateterrorist which say we have to came back to the staoneage to save the planet.

I just see if there is no technologie to replace oil we will came back to stoneage anyway!

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It takes just as much fuel to make electricity as it does to just run a gas car.

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It takes just as much fuel to make electricity as it does to just run a gas car.

If you take oil or coal for geting electricity you are absolutly right - thats the point why the Hydrogen car not in production - to much engerie needed to produce hydrogen.

The question is - can we use water - sun and what ever to get energie in the same amount as we need it to replace oil?

using the tide is a new way to get electricity aout of the sea - windpower is nowadays a comon stuff - burning things to get the heat to boil water to run a turbine is a very inefficent way to get energie - so let find a way to get engergie without burnig oil coal or what ever. Even burning biologicalfuel is not the best way - you see the prices for food rise and they coulndt produce enought even for the 10% that the EU will put into oilpetrol at 2010.

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Control pollution at the stack. Nuclear or coal while it lasts. Wind and solar more than welcome.

Guys our expectations have got to change...

Think of it as a race, using only what you've got, it will come to that one day and it's not that far off.

Anyhow I love FAST electric cars! Vipers suck!

Tzero is da BOMB!

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Actually, i think that the hybrid car is the way to go, like the Toyota Prius with its Hybrid Synergy Drive..

2 weeks ago, i was at our local Toyota dealership (purchasing a brandnew Aygo for the missus), when i noticed a Prius outside the shop, and asked for a testdrive. (Priusare VERY rare here due to our incompetent fools who calculate the import-taxes on all cars, and with the Prius being neither-this-or-that, they cannot set a tolerable tax on the Prius, so only very few of them here..

Anyway, i took the Prius for a spin, and it was lots of fun, and quite quick also, with its switching between gas and electric power.

I think the "Power: On / Off" button is serioulsy fun, LOL..

I think thats the way to go, so you wont get stuck anywhere with flat batteries, but simply is able to continue on gas power when nessecary. :lol: Oh yes, and the Prius recharges itself when running on gas, when you either free-wheel or brake. :) Cool thing..

Cheers..

Michael

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B) I seem to remember a car that had something like a 350cc 2 stroke engine and an electric motor back in the 70s but I can't recall the name... :) Anyone?

Yes the 1970s... :o maybe that was the first killing and they got a taste for blood and PCBs...

Even then it was put up against a 911 and won outright on the .25 mile dragstrip at least.

I know that 2 strokes wouldn't be possible now but what about a little biodiesel or bioethanol burner instead?

Toyota seem to think it's a good idea... 35 years later! :lol:

I hate us all being taken as fools and what the electric car murderers have done is just that! :lol:

There are serial EV killers on the lose and with oil @ $150 plus a barrel they will kill again trust me.

There is just too much money involved, they won't be able to resist!

Watch this space, it won't be long before they tell us not to panic again and to wait a bit longer as Hydrogen cells will available in another 10 or 15 years.

They have been spoonfeeding us that nonsense again and again for years...

In the meantime buying those new fossil fuel cars... It just keeps them killing.

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I have been searching for the 1970s EV and it might have been the "Impact", precurser to the GM EV1 but I seem to remember another... mmm..

However while searching I discovered that there EVs were being made in 1900 and Galt produced their "Gas Electric" car in 1914! :lol:

That must have been the first crime scene. :)

The EV killers even made the people of my Greatgrandfather's time victims! :lol:

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:P Very nice! Can't think of a better option for the money, the g-wiz is way too small and flimsy, the smart looks great and is crash tested. No contest.

In a perfect world I would prefer a more general purpose 5 door fiat Panda size myself but the smart 3 door size would be fine especially around town.

Are they available in RHD? :lol:

There is also a UK company that offers a EV conversion from a petrol smart but the costs seem high... oh well.

Mass production will bring the cost down. I am holding out hoping that there will be a masive demand for EVs so we all can enjoy the fun but at a reasonable cost.

I would love to buy a 4x4 panda style EV with or without an optional small 500cc biodiesel or similar backup for.. lets say... double the petrol version price as the EV savings would repay most of the price quite quickly. Hopefully one of the big producers might have one on trail as we speak... dream on.

The prius also seems to fit the bill, I mean people want to buy them which helps. It hangs on to the petrol performance which some people must have.

Maybe that's the way, whatever works, we have to give up oil and get our boys out of the sandpit.

Why isn't Bono or Geldorf pushing this? :D

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Trouble is that the Prius only gets around 45mpg in real world conditions. Any normal little petrol car gets better than that, a small diesel considerably more.

It can only run on the electric motor for a very limited time, due to being a big car, and having to push a petrol engine as well as the electric motor and batteries around.

I very nearly bought one as the company car tax on them is so low, but an Alfa 147 got nearly as good fuel economy. In the end I decided against it completely as I have too many cars already!

The Smart looks ace though - 70 mile range is perfect for my commute, performance looks pretty good (better than the current Smart up to 40mph anyway) and at current prices it does the equivalent of 300mpg.

I realise electric cars just move the burning of fossil fuels to a power station, but emissions at a power station are much cleaner per unit of power (joule? watt?) than a car engine - they can clean, scrub and recirculate emissions far better, and of course it means that exhaust gases aren't being generated in places with high concentrations of people - city centres, car parks etc.

With more clean, renewable energy sources being introduced across the country it can only be good news for the future of the electric car, and I want to be there at the beginning.

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B) I agree completely. Not only can we control the pollution at the stack better, as new methods of producing a current are introduced i.e. waste and cardboard burning, new hydro dams or even Fusion in the future :o it can be added to the grid... Sounds good to me, plug me in! :)

Yes the prius is a compromise, but I do remember my first moped a Yamaha 50cc FSIE, such a great little bike that I have bought quite a few new yammies since... the trade call it brand loyalty loss leading, "get 'em young and you've got 'em forever"... whether you make a profit on that loss leading model or not.

Maybe that's what Toyota is doing whilst using some design compromise just to get it onto the larger "how fast does it go" market. Clever.

I would love a Nexus EV that goes as well as the GM EV1. :wub: Are you reading this Mr Toyota? ;)

There must be more mass produced EVs in the pipeline, I think someone somewhere is missing a lot business at the moment, but what do I know? ;)

With Diesel pushing 6 a gallon (UK) I think there might be an orderly queue forming outside the dealers as we speak but all the salesmen are all still in bed! :blink:

Wake up Guys you've got some extras to sell! :(

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Just read the comments on your link and someone has said that if we all fill up at the socket the government will find a way to tax that, so what's new? :blink:

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The current cost of oil & gas will sent a signal to fast track an alternative source of energy, whether is electric or hydrogen or water or air or whatever. I have a feeling once some inventor has some doable alternative energy source the price of oil and gas will come back down again. These oil producing nations are not dumb, they know their resources are limited and they got to milk the consumers while supply last and hope when their oil do run out, their country has some other economic base to keep it going otherwise the citizen already used to the good life will pay a price.

As for the electric car, the batteires are heavy, takes a long time to charge and the infarstructures are not in place where a drained battery powered car can just go to a station, swap batteries or a 5 min. quick charge and be on its way again.

The best way to preserve this world is to reduce, reuse and recycle and I think Germany is heading in the right direction through government incentives and put technology to use.

I think by using simple energy saving bulb, stop the water in the shower when soaping up, take public transit where possible and turn down the heat in winter and the opposite for air conditions in the summer would save a lot of energy and $$$. Little effort without a complete change of life style. Remember, is all a numbers game, individually may not amount to much but collectively as town, city, country will add up. Minor adjustments will make a big difference, think of it like a golf swing, 300 yard drive if all the moves are correct....a 50 yard drive if one moved his head or stood up just 1/2 inch given the amount of power was put into the swing. Is the little changes that make a big difference.

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Just read the comments on your link and someone has said that if we all fill up at the socket the government will find a way to tax that, so what's new? :blink:

They already do.

But there are other incentives as well - no congestion charge in large cities, free parking in certain boroughs, and in Westminster there are already a number of free recharge points. Sure, you can't fill it up and be ready to do another 500 miles in 5 minutes like you can with a fossil fuel burner, but then that's not the idea.

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Trouble is that the Prius only gets around 45mpg in real world conditions. Any normal little petrol car gets better than that, a small diesel considerably more.

:P Your "normal" little cars over there get 45 mpg? Man, I'm on the wrong continent... My beat-up old Ford Probe manages 29 in town and 36 on the highway, which is considered "really good" mileage over here. There's a new Chevy Aveo (little Daewoo-built piece of junk) on a local dealer lot proudly proclaiming "32 MPG!" on its windshield. I just shake my head every time I see it.

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A Probe is quite a big coupe over here. I'm talking about stuff like a Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz, Citroen C2 etc.

Even my little 205 GTI (which is a "hot hatch") with a 1.9 litre engine gets 35mpg combined.

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:lol: Your "normal" little cars over there get 45 mpg? Man, I'm on the wrong continent... My beat-up old Ford Probe manages 29 in town and 36 on the highway, which is considered "really good" mileage over here. There's a new Chevy Aveo (little Daewoo-built piece of junk) on a local dealer lot proudly proclaiming "32 MPG!" on its windshield. I just shake my head every time I see it.

:unsure: Err.. an Imperial gallon is x1.2 more than a US gallon so if you used Brit gallons you would get some more mpg but only x1.2 more...

We have some very economical cars here in Europe. The Smart petrol version can do over 65 miles for one of her Royal Majesties Imperial gallons!

The only trouble is that it costs us nearly 6 GBP a UK gallon, that's about $11.50 USD.

Ok we get x1.2 more volume so I reckon adjusted that's about $9.50 USD a US gallon.

I think you Guys pay about $4 USD for a US gallon am I right?

I haven't had my cup of morning joe yet ;) and my maths may well be out but I think I'm close enough. ;)

So now it seems that we pay more than double per equal volume of gas than America... Holy cow! :o

B) Now you know why electrics are starting to look rather tasty over here old chap! Tally ho!! :lol:

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