# Who Killed The Electric Car?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 1, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964 "2009-11-01T18:38:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964/122 "2009-11-07T16:49:37Z")
> [@ivn1188](#):
>
> Please stop touting this 40 mile range limit. You’re off by more than a factor of 2. It’s disinformation, and your point has been brought up by several previous posters, and has been answered by other posters.
I think it’s just a simple misunderstanding. Isn’t the Volt supposed to go only 40 miles before the backup motor kicks in? Or the Fusion? Or maybe the Fusion can go up to 40 mph before the gasoline engine kicks in. In any case, 40 _something_ is coming from a widely-published source.
I’d go for an electric-only vehicle now if it could handle my commute (60 miles round trip). Whenever I need to leave the site, I could just grab a pool vehicle or take the shuttle service if the destination is close. Yeah, both of these are a _lot_ less convenient than just hopping into my own car, but I’d do it. However we’re only looking at 100 mile range vehicles currently. What’s the problem with a 40 mile buffer? Well, if car batteries are anything like laptop, camera, or iPod batteries, then I only have the 40 mile buffer the first year. Then it becomes a 20 mile buffer. Then a 5 mile buffer. Then I can’t even get the 60 miles I need out of it. Instead of needing to replace the batteries after 7 years, I’ll need to replace them in the fourth year.
Oh, we’d continue to have a second car. There are way, way too many occasions that I need to travel more than 60 or 100 miles. Many of these are the same occasions that I insist on owning a full-sized SUV, even if it’s not a daily driver. Having a car + SUV is still the norm in my home neighborhood, so there’s a lot of precedent to establish that EV + SUV (or other long-range vehicle) could work in my socio-economic class.
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### Author:  [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964/123 "2009-11-07T21:42:07Z")
The Volt, a hybrid, has a smaller battery pack because it is also carrying around a gasoline engine. The Volt should do around 40 miles on pure electric. So yes, the 40 mile range is an accurate number _for the Volt_. The Tesla gets 200+ on the highway unless you’re in the Rockies or somewhere different than 95% of the highways in the US.
The other misconception is how the battery pack works. The battery pack in a car is much more sophisticated than one in your ipod. The computer keeps the charge within the best range to keep the battery in good condition, so the fade is likely to be very slow. The Tesla batteries are supposed to last about 10 years. Figures like 4 years are simply WAGs that do nothing but spread the same sort of disinformation.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964/124 "2009-11-07T22:10:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The other misconception is how the battery pack works. The battery pack in a car is much more sophisticated than one in your ipod. The computer keeps the charge within the best range to keep the battery in good condition, so the fade is likely to be very slow.
I can see how this would work in a hybrid, but what options would the computer have in a pure electric? If you’re still driving, it needs to keep pulling juice out of the battery, and if you’re not plugged in, it can’t put any more in.
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### Author:  [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964/125 "2009-11-07T22:50:35Z")
Because most cars use a 50-80 charge cycle. Li-ion batteries lose capacity through overheating and through deep discharge and charge cycles. Electric vehicles generally only charge the battery to 80% and “run out” around 50%. The battery is kept in the charge range that provides the most lifetime, as opposed to your cell phone or your laptop where you can run the charge almost all the way out, and charge it to 100%.
Some electrics will dip into the 50% range as a “reserve tank”.
Of course, the problem with this technique is that you essentially carry a lot of extra battery that isn’t really used. One theory is that as the battery ages and gets older, the charge system can dip into the reserve area, so the range won’t decrease in a linear fashion. You’ll start getting warnings when the charger has to start going outside the 80-50 zone, indicating that your battery is getting near replacement time, but you won’t lose much range.
ETA: I forgot to mention that the battery packs for cars have cooling systems that keep the battery from getting hot, and heaters to keep the battery warm in really cold temperatures.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964/126 "2009-11-08T07:22:33Z")
> [@ivn1188](#):
>
> The Tesla gets 200+ on the highway unless you’re in the Rockies or somewhere different than 95% of the highways in the US..
The Tesla is also a 2 seater, with space, and a price tag of $110,000+. They have made a grand total of 700 of them. The seats are punishing. @ 120volts, it takes over a day to recharge (but about 4 with a special charging station). It does go 200miles- if you’re not going real fast, say 75mph.
It’s not a transportation vehicle, it’s a concept toy.
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### Author:  [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2009, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964/127 "2009-11-08T08:03:21Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> The Tesla is also a 2 seater, with space, and a price tag of $110,000+. They have made a grand total of 700 of them. The seats are punishing. @ 120volts, it takes over a day to recharge (but about 4 with a special charging station). It does go 200miles- if you’re not going real fast, say 75mph.
>
> It’s not a transportation vehicle, it’s a concept toy.
How far does it go if you are driving 75mph?
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### Author:  [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964/128 "2009-11-08T10:18:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> It’s not a transportation vehicle, it’s a concept toy.
Yes, it’s a sports car with performance equaling your average Lamborghini.
What is your point? Should we declare that since the average supercar is not practical for getting groceries and transporting a family of 5 that gasoline engines aren’t viable?
And unless you live somewhere where they have no speed limits, my guess is that you aren’t going to be a lot of driving at much more than 75 mph, especially not with the sort of acceleration and braking that you find in track situations.
Are you somehow under the misconception that the Tesla roadster is supposed to replace the average family sedan? It’s not. It _is_ a toy, but it shows that you can certainly make an EV that has decent (actually incredible) performance and range.
Furthermore, Tesla is a tiny company without the R&D resources of the big automakers. It’s not at all farfetched to assume that big automakers can and will improve upon the technology. And if you want to go the other way, look at the G-Wiz- Reva, which is fairly popular in London.
I just don’t understand what point you’re trying to make. It’s not exactly like a car with a normal engine? Granted. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t viable. You wouldn’t buy a VW Golf or an Aston Martin to drive around in the mountain roads in Northern Alaska – yet people still buy both of those cars.
If you’re claiming there is no market for Electrics, you’re wrong. If you’re claiming they are not viable for a decently sized subset of drivers, you’re wrong. Those are the only two issues that matter; the rest is nothing but ignorance of the capabilities of an EV or some sort of fear that someone will force you to buy one.
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### Author:  [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964/129 "2009-11-08T17:31:16Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> The Tesla is also a 2 seater, with space, and a price tag of $110,000+. They have made a grand total of 700 of them. The seats are punishing. @ 120volts, it takes over a day to recharge (but about 4 with a special charging station). It does go 200miles- if you’re not going real fast, say 75mph.
>
> It’s not a transportation vehicle, it’s a concept toy.
> [@RaftPeople](#):
>
> How far does it go if you are driving 75mph?
Not sure if you know, so I’ll tell you: about 165 miles
[http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/](http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/)
For me, even at 165 miles, it would cover 98.5% of my driving days in a year. Yes it’s too expensive to be a practical option at this point, but hardly a “toy”.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-the-electric-car/515964/130 "2009-11-08T23:18:21Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#):
>
> How far does it go if you are driving 75mph?
The figure I saw was 120 miles, which ain’t bad.
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