I own an Echo. I ain’t in no rush.
Damn you for getting my hopes up. Damn you to hell.
This. Ooohh Ahhhhh! ! !
I’d still want a gas vehicle for long road trips though. I really couldn’t handle a four-hour fill-up every 250 miles. . .
Lesseee… why do I need an electric car?
- To cut my gas bill? All I drive is short hops now, so it would take me like 10 years to recoup the cost in gas
- To cut my carbon footprint? I would be very surprised if my buying a new electric car with all those exotic elements is better for the environment than driving the modestly efficient used car as little as I drive it now. Especially since an electric car is just a coal-fired vehicle.
- So I can drive more without worrying about the cost of gas? No thanks.
- To promote renewable tech? I don’t think so. Hybrid cars just allow suburbanites to sprawl out twice as far into the countryside at the same price.
- To help the environment? If everybody in the developed world starts using EV’s and cuts their petroleum demand, then the developing world will start chugging the newly cheap fuel like Budweiser at a frat party, exploding their population, economy, and energy use while they’re at it. I think I’ll pass on that.
I can’t see any benefit in the EV except enabling suburban sprawl and possibly hedging my bets against gas price shocks. That’s not good enough for me.
I have this idea about how plug-in electrics could be used for long drives. Let’s say that our car has two batteries (or two battery packs, I’m not sure how the things work, exactly) that are easily removed and replaced. When battery A runs out the car switches to battery B. At some point before B runs out, you pull into a battery shop and pop out battery A which can be exchanged, for a fee, for a fully charged battery. When battery B runs out, the car switches to battery C, and whole process repeats as often as necessary. And of course, when you get where you’re going you can plug in and charge it. What think you all? Am I missing something important, or is it a good idea?
Good idea if the weight of the battery allows for easy enough swap.
They weigh a couple hundred pounds IIRC…so, good luck changing em out yourself. 
ETA: They are also REALLY expensive…like over $10k each. So, having two would be pretty expensive.
ETA2: I suppose you could get by with a series of smaller, cheaper and less capable batteries…but how would you bring them along on a long trip?
-XT
And now the need for a nationwide system of mass transit rears its ugly head…
My SO and I are a 2 car houshold. It would be very easy for us to replace one of the ICEs with an electric, used mostly for commuting. We’ve even talked about it. The person with the longer commute would use the electric to get to and from work, making the most of that, and we would still have the standard car for all our 200+ mile trips.
What would we need:
Less expensive then an ICE commuter car
At least 100 mile range
Capable of freeway speeds
Large enough cab space to fit my wide-shouldered SO.
Reasonably easy to find someone to repair it, and repairs that are no more expensive then a standard car.
I think the problem there would be energy accounting. Measuring the remaining charge in a battery is not as straightforward as measuring gallons of gasoline because it depends on individual characteristics of the battery. I would think this scheme would be very vulnerable to fraud… unscrupulous participants (both consumer and supplier) could find ways to manipulate the apparent remaining charge in the battery so that they come out a little (or a lot) more favorably on the energy balance.
Still, though, as a convenience it might work. Just like some people consent to the “convenience” of paying the car rental agency a full tank’s worth of gas if you returned it at 3/4 full, I’m sure some folks at certain times would be willing to eat the difference just to have a mostly-charged battery without having to wait for it. Come to think of it, there might be some good money in that, especially if your ethics are a touch on the shady side.
Put those heavy mugs on wheels. Make them fold up like an ambulance stretcher.
Cars could be equipped with twice as many batteries at half the size, so you could change out just half your battery pack. And maybe they’re installed in a way where they can be easily popped in and out with something like a purpose-designed miniature forklift operated by a station attendant.
But if we’re going to do that, there’s no sense in replacing just half the battery array at once. Just replace the entire stack and get credited for the unused charge in the battery you’re replacing (though as I said this whole energy accounting bit could be sticky).
I have no doubts that there are various engineering solutions to the problem. Of course, those solutions aren’t ready TODAY…and they will probably come at some kind of other trade off (like cost or weight or something else).
The problem is that, as with solar, battery powered cars are simply not ready for prime time (IMHO). On a small scale or as a niche product? Sure. I’d LOVE to have a Tesla, for instance! But the technology just isn’t there for mass production and general use. It’s not because the car companies are holding back…it’s because the technology and engineering aren’t there yet. We need cheaper, lighter batteries with more capacity that can also be recharged faster. We don’t have them yet. We may NEVER have them as it just might not be practical to do. Maybe batteries aren’t the way to go…maybe electric generating fuel cells are better. That technology isn’t ready for prime time yet either.
-XT
I just replaced my beloved pickup with a minivan. I think I’ll always need an ICE for family road trips, for all the reasons people have already pointed out. But my commuting car is a Corolla, and I see no reason my next commuter car can’t be an EV as long as it’s cheap, reliable, and freeway-capable.
So I don’t know if my situation is really typical, but it seems an EV is a great idea for a family that is going to have two cars anyway. And a not-so-great idea for an individual or for a single-car family.
Why do people jump to the ‘2-car’ conclusion and ignore the rental-car? I know a few people who don’t even own cars but rent when they absolutely need one (such as - oddly enough - an out-of-town trip). I’d be perfectly happy in a family situation with 1 EV and 1 hybrid (let the wife drive the hybrid), or 2 EVs and renting a hybrid or ICE for longer trips. What’s the bfd?
The real solution that’s practical right now is plug-in hybrids. You have a battery that’s just big enough for your typical daily commute which you charge up overnight (and hence usually use no gasoline at all), and then you have a gasoline engine which starts up when you need to go further than that, and which you can refuel quickly and easily with the existing infrastructure.
All that said, for me personally, I’m still very much in the “used car” wealth bracket, and it’ll be a while before any sort of hybrid starts really making it in the used car market, at prices similar to those for used conventional vehicles.
None have 400+ mile range, afaik. And, in a gas or hybrid car, if you need to go further than one tank, you stop and take a few minutes to refill. Recharging takes hours.
Now, I’d seriously consider a NEV if I had a garage.
I live at the top of a hill, but my driveway is flat. The problem is that the drive system shuts down when it slips.
That’s probably “traction” control that is really really over zelous. I have sort of the same problem with my '06 Pathfinder, but I can turn the silly stuff off.
I’m doubting that your Prius has Low-Range?
The EV is a loooong way from a vehicle that will work for me. But I support it’s developement 100%.
Unless it’s run off a non-coal-burning grid, what’s the point? Why not just make synfuel?
I’d like an alcohol or biodiesel burning engine with 8-10 cylinders, that allows me to run on any number of cylinders, including just one. In a subcompact, with a trailer hitch for hauling.
Call it a Tug. That’s the kind of car I would want.