Who killed the electric car

[Andy Cabrera]

Just saw this movie on Green HD called Who killed the electric car

Very interesting film, it showed the life of the GM EV-1 and how it was wiped out. It shows how GM ignored product demand for political reasons, and how it reverse promoted the car. It shows how the battery technology that made it work was sold to Chevron by GM.

I'm not a conspiricy theory buff, but it make you think !



If you can catch this on TV I highly recommend it.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

Have you seen this on the news?



Why one town may get 100s of new jobs. Tesla going into production with a 4-door sport sedan that can go 300 miles before it needs a recharge.

 

[Robert Caffyn]

Yeah, saw that a while back(1-2 years ago) and it made me think there were a lot of back room dealings going on. GM had made a product that was well received by the public, proved to be reliable, but the catch was they were on lease to a select group of people. So it seemed as if a back door was left open so they could have have a viable option if it failed. The problem was it didn't, and many of the owners refused to give them back when GM, all of the sudden, called in the leases(back room deal?). Makes me think the oil lobby had a lot to do with that decision. I think its a conspiracy. Oh well. Bob

 

[Johnny O]

There are parts of the country where electric cars make a lot of sense. Unfortunately those are the same places where most of the people currently running the country come from, and they are intent on forcing them on the rest of the country where they don't make sense.

 

[Richard L]

I don't believe in any consipiraciy theories.



When GM was developing the EV-1 electric car, the battery technology was state of the art at that point in time, but it did not match up to the consumers requirements. Battery power and the limited range has always been a problem. That problem has not been overcome yet, and that is what severely limits the market appeal of electric vehicles.



The limited range of electric vehicles makes them appear more practical for use in or around larger cities. However that is deceiving.



If you live in a large city: Most large cities have very good mass transit systems like buses and subway systems. Many people who live in large cities do not even own cars or use them to commute back and forth to work because of other issues like parking, high insurance rates, heavy traffic, etc. There is very little convenience in owning or driving any vehicle in any large city especially when trying to park it.



If you live outside the city: Most people who live outside the larger cities will end up with a 30-40+ mile commutes each way to work. Most electric cars only have a maximum range of 100 miles on a charge. There is little or no infrastructure in place to charge your vehicle battery while you are at work. That means you might not be able to go anywhere else after work to run an errand, have dinner, or go shopping, etc. You could also find yourself stranded if there is a detour or you did not fully charge your battery the night before, So the distance you are able to drive per charge and the inability to quickly recharge the battery while traveling is a real problem.



If you live well outside of the city: You will often have a daily commute that far exceeds the range of the typical electric vehicle making them far more impractical. I you live in a small retirement community and have no need to regularly commute into the city then a bicycle or golf cart is probably a much cheaper and effective alternative means of transportation.



Now that companies like Tesla are able to extend the range of electric/battery powered vehicles, they will become more popular for customers whos lifestyle fits the operating range of the vehicle. However, even a range of 300-400 miles per charge can be a problem for people traveling longer distances if it takes more than a few minutes to recharge the battery. We are used to stopping at a gas station, filling the tank and be back on the road again within a few minutes. Until electric vehicle technology can do that, they will never replace the gas/diesel powered vehicles. That will require hydrogen powered fuel cells to power/charge the batteries for an electric vehicle.



Rich

 

[mookie]

Think back to the early days of the automobile. Those "horseless carriages" probably didn't make a lot of sense to the people happy with using horse power.

Horses were the accepted mode of transportation and in comparison, horses were quiet, didn't require oil changes, no problems starting, etc. As time passed, cars became more practical and the benefits out-weighed the drawbacks.

I think this will happen with other-than-gas-powered cars, also.

 

[Andy Cabrera]

Think back to the early days of the automobile. Those "horseless carriages" probably didn't make a lot of sense to the people happy with using horse power.

Horses were the accepted mode of transportation and in comparison, horses were quiet, didn't require oil changes, no problems starting, etc. As time passed, cars became more practical and the benefits out-weighed the drawbacks.

I think this will happen with other-than-gas-powered cars, also.

Mookie,

Funny you mention that. In this video it said that back in the day of "horseless carriages" there were actually more electric cars than gas powered. But they were push out by to oil companies.

 

[mookie]

...there were actually more electric cars than gas powered.

Yeah, that's true. But I think technology was also the limiting factor for the electric vs. gas.

 

[Kevin Lang]

Funny you mention that. In this video it said that back in the day of "horseless carriages" there were actually more electric cars than gas powered. But they were push out by to oil companies.

And they were able to be pushed out because oil driven technology was better. Turn of the century electronics was rudimentary, batteries were nothing like we have today, and there was no way for them to compete with the gasoline cars.



Battery technology would not have evolved fast enough even if the electric car had gained dominance. This is a time when the transistor wasn't even invented yet, and the vacuum tube was just beginning to be a reality. Radio was barely accepted as a technology, Tesla had just recently invented it.



Around 1900 when Tesla invented his remote-controlled boat, it destroyed the notions of electronics at that time--it was beyond state-of-the art. One can view the patent for it online. Look at that obfuscated mess that took a genius to construct and then reconsider the plausibility of any electric car in that time period.



Look at the inefficiency and huge size and extreme danger of batteries in German WW1 and WW2 submarines--they pushed the battery technology forward, and they were still inefficient, and this was 40 years after the dawn of the car.



Would you drive a car which would be mostly battery, contain deadly acid, and put off deadly chlorine vapors? I wouldn't.



Today, over 100 years after the dawn of the car, we aren't much better off on the battery front.



The gas station "quick refuel" argument is probably the best answer to why the electric car is still a distant reality.



Maybe if the electric car didn't have to carry its own power source on board, but that is just a Tesla pipe dream. (Socialism fails)



There's no conspiracy, just fact.

 

[mookie]

Today, over 100 years after the dawn of the car, we aren't much better off on the battery front.



The gas station "quick refuel" argument is probably the best answer to why the electric car is still a distant reality.

I have a more optomistic view regarding recent battery advancement. I think batteries have improved significantly and, while the newest technology is expensive now, will come down in price the same way most (if not all) newly introduced products do.



As far as quick charging goes, that is advancing, too.



In the immediate future, I don't see battery powered vehicles replacing ALL cars/trucks, but I think there is a place for them in certain applications.

When I get through with some home improvement projects, I will be converting a VW to battery power.

I'm hoping that I will be able to use something other than lead-acid batteries, but the price has to make sense.

 

[mookie]

Now I know how to double/triple post!

 

[mookie]

I refreshed the browser after making the original post!