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January 2009 Posts
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As we get closer to the mass adoption of EVs, more and more naysayers are coming out of the woodwork with their reasons as to why they think the EV is either a bad idea or will never catch on in the near future. Join Bo, Ryan and Jason as they tackle these excuses head on and give you facts and personal insight as to why EVs are a great idea and why EVs will succeed this time around.
Don't just listen to the EVcast -- experience and be a part of it! Join us at 1:00pm Eastern, M-F, in our live video broadcast and chat along with us!
Sorry I can't tune in today, but will try to catch a re-play later. However, for "naysayers" to present that EV's are either "a bad idea" or "will never catch on " is just a plain silly notion. There's more interest in EV's being generated daily. Once the R&D gets to a point where a charge can carry as far as a conventional tank of gas and can operate in many varied climates, EV's will appeal to a much broader market - especially for inner city and localized commutes and uses. Remember the "naysayers" vs. the Smartcar ..... Need I say more !!??
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I have a electric car and an electic boat, both are simple in design, dependable and very quiet. The general public doesn't know what they are missing out on.
I am a big proponent of EV's. However, it IS an emerging technology and isn't, yet, THE solution to our transport needs. Even if it were, it would take a huge investment from the public to get EV's to market in a way to solve our transport needs. I believe the extended range HEV is a good new vehicle technology but are still on the high end of cost to really be cost effective for the average Joe. I think a better solution is rapid development of ethanol production. This gets us off oil and solves most of the pollution problems. Ethanol has many naysayers, too (most well funded by oil supporters). Conversion of current vehicles to ethanol is a few hundred dolllars at the most. I could go on, but there is complete info at http://alcoholcanbeagas.com Using Ethanol in an extended range HEV would be the next stage. Once batter tech gets the cost down, this will come on board in a big way. Incidentally, check out lead-carbon technology which should be coming onboard within a year. At 40% the cost of Li-ion tech and with all the infrastructure already on line, already, plus comparable performance expect li-on batteries to be passe, soon. In 20 years, or so, EVs should be starting to really come online for the average consumer. Staying on gasoline until then would be a disaster, environmentally, economically and security wise, IMO.
Thank you for your show today. When I talk to friends and colleagues about electric or hybrid vehicles they think I'm from another planet. The most resistance I've gotten is from one of my relations who works for an electric cooperative. He also works a farm and is a big supporter of ethanol as is many of the folks around here (South Dakota).
I am so desperate not to be so dependent on oil that I've purchased a $3000 Toyota Rav4 with the goal of adding electric hub motors in the rear, lithium batteries and a control system that allows for all electric mode below 45mph, hybrid mode for longer trips and gas only mode for the times I need to drive 300 miles. The brakes and steering will be modified to work off of electricity 100% of the time. The cost of this project will exceed $15,000. The average MPG should jump from 28 to hopefully in the 40s. (based on 80 miles of driving per day). Electricity here is currently 7cents per kilowatt hour.
Yes I've done the math, there is no payback. I just don't want to burn oil anymore. I could get a Honda Insight or a Prius I suppose but I need the utility of a RAV4. Electricity is the logical choice for most situations. And no, I'm not a tree hugger. Years ago I spent time with my father working on carborators, I'll spend time now with my two sons wiring up a controller to two hub motors.
Hi Bo & Ryan,
I listened to the broadcast today and you touched on batteries. I noticed that there is a lot more things that need to be added into your discussion about it. I suggest that you get an expert on batteries and let him/her talk about it (e.g. type of batteries, charging cycle, energy capacity, etc.). I believe this will help out a lot more in dismissing misconceptions on batteries.
John M
Converting cars to run ethanol is not the problem- it is in the creation of ethanol- it is not cheap, it is very energy intensive, and, currently is using food-stock (i.e. corn) and arable land. And while there is hope to use other items, like switch grass, it is still not cheap and is energy intensive to convert. Until they can solve these issues, it is not a quick replacement for oil, though there is hope that in a few years, they may be able to use enzimes or bacteria to break down and convert grasses to ethanol. But, honestly, even if they do- in a few years battery technology will have usurped the need for ethanol- and pure EV's are far superior to ICE cars, both in terms of performance and cost- much easier and cheaper to maintain. Ethanol is just a continuation of the same type of engine/car technology.
And good luck on your RAV4 Conversion, Tim! One of our other listeners, Gav from New Zealand, chronicled his own EV conversion- you might consider doing something similar- or at least keep us here up to date;-) Gav's site is: http://www.kiwiev.com/
And, now that I think about it, there is a Charlie Rickman from this site also doing an EV conversion- his site is: http://mcrickman.com/
Nice show.
I truly see supercapacitors possibly replacing batteries and I am not talking about EESTOR, but JEOL in Japan. The numbers below exceed the capacity of lead acid and even nimh considering you can use 100% of the battery. The expected life is over 10 years, possibly 20 years or more. Charge control is much simpler as you only need to control the voltage of the entire pack.
JEOL Ltd. (Gon’emon Kurihara, President) and Advanced Capacitor Technologies Inc. (ACT; Toru Usami, President) will begin commercial production of the Premlis series supercapacitors with improved features including internal resistance in November 2008.
ACT has been distributing samples of Premlis with an effective energy density of 15 Wh/kg on a cell basis since the company announced the product in September 2006 to explore its applications. During this period, ACT continued improving the cell energy density of 20 Wh/kg to 30 Wh/kg, and received a number of favorable reviews and requests for volume production.
I truly see not only electric cars being replaced but airplanes too. Using supermagnets or maglev and evacuated tubes trains, you could theoretically go from point A to point B using no energy. Also you could transport distilled glacier water in Canada to the Imperial Valley in California generating electricity on the way.
BGauto group is expected to have a full speed vehicle in 2009.
I created an entire list of these very items on my site. See it here:
http://evnut.com/docs/evs-wont_work.doc
