EVcast #342: EV Myths

Great show. However, I think the second half of the voicemail caller's comments (Rick?) are incorrect. I've had to Prius vehicles from Toyota (1st and 2nd gen), which both use a generator in concert with the battery pack to power the electric motor. Granted, usually the Prius relies exclusively on the battery for electric propulsion, but the Prius is able to also generate and consume electricity on demand for the elec motor from the on-board generator.......usually when under heavy acceleration or climbing hills.

But, the Prius isn't a great example because its engine also can power the drivetrain directly and bypass the electric motor.

The Volt, however, is essentially an electric-diesel locomotive that has been shrunk into a gas hybrid car and has a battery pack as an add-on. The battery allows it go approx 40 miles and then the generator will kick-in to near-exclusively provide electricity to continue moving and operating the vehicle. From what I understand thru research and information, when the Volt's battery depletes and the car switches to the generator, the battery will not be able to fully recharge itself on the rest of the trip as a Prius normally does. The owner will have to recharge the battery thru the charging port once they get to a charging station. Please correct me if I am wrong on this.

So, Rick's comment that it would be impossible to have a generator to actually power the wheels of an electric car seems to be a completely flawed statement. Does he even know about the Volt? I am not dissing him, but I was really annoyed when I heard that comment. It'd be nice to have these facts verified so your listeners know the truth.

Great show btw, I've been listening to your other show 'Twooting' for a few months and am now catching up on the EVcast!

--Joe
Phoenix, AZ

PS I'm planning to buy a Leaf in 2012 when they are in mass-production.....hopefully I'll have it for a while before the whole universe implodes!!! lol

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I certainly agree with Joe about an ICE generator powering an electric motor. Rick may have missed some of the 400 and 500 hp cars that we have on the road today? Those engines seem to fit into the cars, and they coulud certainly power an electric motor to motivate the car. Yes, there would be a 10% (or so) conversion loss, but with so much extra power, there's little concern that the car would be underpowered. The problem today isn't that we can't fit powerful ICE's into cars - the problem is that they're already too powerful and wasteful. 

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Firstly TRAINWRECK of a podcast

Wait, you guy wanted to criticize the second part of Rick's feedback.  I logged on to criticize the first part.

Rick you laid the facts out very clearly for peak oil predictions, but I disagree with you letting this guy off the hook on predicting peak oil.  Of course raising prices is going to lead to demand destruction that should have been obvious to the casual observer.  People change their behavior.  Government's introduce new laws, this is all part of the prediction game and is, well, predictable.  People should know that.

It reminds me of a story of a few years ago.  Someone had the CBO (congressional budget office) make a prediction about how much addition revenue the government could get if 100% of income over $100,000  was taken as a tax. 

   The CBO made the calculations about the amount of money that would come in the first year and found that in the second year even more money would come it.  There is only one problem.  It is a static model, not a dynamic model.  By the second year, everyone will have changed their behavior to hide their income, or not push for raises, or take compensation in some other form.  The point being is that these are dynamic system and people need to predict them.

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Hi guys!  Always like the interview/panels y'all do- too bad about the sound, but it happens.  If I haven't said so in awhile, I do appreciate the shows you put on, and especially like the Video-cast available after each show now.

Glad you liked the pictures- the irony of the Solar Pumps is that the downtown Firestation was using Solar Panels to pump the gasoline for the Firetrucks- should have made that more clear;-)  Still, it is a start, and hopefully we'll have Solar Pumps for distrisbuting electrons rather than hydro-carbons in the near future.

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Hello Fellow EV People,

Well, I for one, am able to say that, I have experienced, Running out of Electric, in the road with people Blaring their Horns, and People, again Riding your bu7mper and honking, while you are doing 25 in a 35 zone.

So the Myths  prove up for my experience.

Slow, Limited Range, and A Pure Joy to Drive.

Sparky

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I have also run out of "juice" in my EV. Twice in ten years. And both times I "self rescued" in that I managed to drive home slowly and safely and plug in. Now... in those same ten years, somebody in my household has run out of GAS in their GASOLINE car four times. And could NOT self-rescue. they were stranded and had to pay lots of money to get somebody out there with a gas can. So does this bit of comparison make the myth "true" or not?

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