I own an electric car (on my second one now) that I use for around town. It’s fine for short jaunts, which is the majority of driving. However the limiting factor is of course the battery and the range associated with it. While I can get about 40 miles of city driving, I could probably double that with a lighter, more efficient battery. While I know some people pooh-pooh electric cars, I think mine is rather fun. With gas prices headed toward $5 a gallon, I’ll have even more fun.
My electric car, shown above – a bit like a “smart car”, but slightly larger. My first was little more than a glorified golf cart. This one is full featured.
From the American Chemical Society
New high-performance lithium-ion battery ‘top candidate’ for electric cars
Scientists are reporting development of an advanced lithium-ion battery that is ideal for powering the electric vehicles now making their way into dealer showrooms. The new battery can store large amounts of energy in a small space and has a high rate capacity, meaning it can provide current even in extreme temperatures. A report on this innovation appears in ACS’ Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Bruno Scrosati, Yang-Kook Sun, and colleagues point out that consumers have a great desire for electric vehicles, given the shortage and expense of petroleum. But a typical hybrid car can only go short distances on electricity alone, and they hold less charge in very hot or very cold temperatures. With the government push to have one million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015, the pressure to solve these problems is high. To make electric vehicles a more realistic alternative to gas-powered automobiles, the researchers realized that an improved battery was needed.
The scientists developed a high-capacity, nanostructured, tin-carbon anode, or positive electrode, and a high-voltage, lithium-ion cathode, the negative electrode. When the two parts are put together, the result is a high-performance battery with a high energy density and rate capacity. “On the basis of the performance demonstrated here, this battery is a top candidate for powering sustainable vehicles,” the researchers say.
The authors acknowledge funding from WCU (World Class University) program through the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation.
ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE “An Advanced Lithium Ion Battery Based on High Performance Electrode Materials”
DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/ja110522x
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This is a cute toy of people that actually live in towns.
I’m rural, it’s 40 miles just to get to a town that has anything…………
…and when I do go, I need to be able to actually haul something
when you come around the bend and see my 11,000 pound dump truck//tell me how you feel????OH WAIT you will ban that and i’ll be out of work???
REPLY: And your point is….? My electric car is about the same size of a gas powered VW bug. I’m sure VW owners will feel just as intimidated by other large vehicles. My very first car was an Austin Healey Sprite. Now that’s an intimidating ride, especially when you are always worried about Lucas, “The Prince of Darkness”, in the back of your mind.
I live about 2 miles from my office. The car does just fine co-existing with other traffic in the city. – Anthony
Sorry, Anthony, but you’ve just ruined your image as a shill for Evil Big Oil….as suggested by some of your detractors.
There’s an electric car club here in Reno, in case you’re interested, and some members have some pretty interesting hardware, and the expertise to go with it. One member I worked with (we’ve both retired) has several EV’s, and that’s all he drives except for long trips.
Email me if you’d like some contact info.
I have seen some of those cars here in Wyoming and I’m amazed that they can stay on all four wheels, with the wind the way it is around here. Must be some pretty heavy batteries.
REPLY: A low center of gravity is always a plus, that’s one advantage. You never have to worry about a bunch of kids tipping over your car. – A
Don’t lithium based batteries lose charge in cold weather? What happens when it is 30 below? Also, does your electric car have heat, and if so, how much?
Electric cars are a bit like nuclear fusion reactors – always one step away from success.
Firstly, “Duh”. The inability to produce batteries with a range longer than that of a riding lawnmower has always been the problem. And from what I’ve read they haven’t got much better in the last 15-20 years since the EV1 but cars continue to get heavier due to more safety regulations.
Secondly, the charge time of these things is prohibitively long, even if there were charging stations at every gas station in america they would still be impractical.
Third, how many times can you recharge these batteries before they become useless? If it is like every laptop battery I’ve owned, the answer is “not too damn long”.
There is nothing inherently wrong with electric cars, but they are entirely impractical for use outside an urban environment at this point. “Come on kids, into the Smart Car with all your luggage for a trip to Disney World!.. uh wait…”
What is the issue with Hybrids? They actually work but no one seems to be really embracing that technology. Not devoted enough to Gaia I’m guessing.
Have spent several years working with Li-Ion batteries in portable GPS devices.
Virtually all Li-Ion batteries are made in China. Not so much for the labor cost, but because of the EPA. Making these batteries is a major environmental disaster. And mining the raw materials is also a problem.
But just as the green crowd ignores where the electricity for charging these batteries comes from (mostly coal), they prefer to ignore the environmental problems in battery manufacture. Mostly, I guess, because it’s not in their back yard.
It is not just the battery – it is also about the power source.
The majority of electrical power is still fossil fuelled, and so an electric car is still putting out pollution of all kinds. The only difference, is that it is putting them into the countryside, instead of the town. So you eat the pollution, rather than breathing it.
However, electric cars are LESS efficient than a European diesel, in terms of fossil fuel consumed. This is because a diesel drives the wheels. An electric car needs to create electricity ar 45% efficiency, transmit it, store it in a battery, and them turn it into motive power.
My 5 yr old Citroen C5 will do 48 mpg on mixed driving (UK gallons). An electric car of the same size and weight will do about 40 mpg.
Don’t get me wrong, I think electric cars are great. One day they will rule the world. But we need a better battery, and we need nuclear power to generate the electricity.
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Keep us informed, Anthony, as the technology changes.
I’ve two questions. What does a complete recharge cost, and how is space heating provided?
Thanks.
So what happens when they decide to hit you with road tax? I live in a rural setting up north where I suspect a lot of the raw resources to build your car oringinates from. In a rural setting one has to drive long distances so why am I penalized with road taxes and you are not.
Rural areas supply the raw resources for the goods civilization craves and we are being penalized for it.
Oh I am not against electric cars, maybe fine in a warm non snowy urban setting but just pay your fair share of taxes.
Anthony does the greens keeper at the golf course allow you to use your car on the course? :>)
REPLY: I don’t play golf, and no it is too wide. – Anthony
Additionally no one seems to really look at the huge strides gas engines have made in the last 40 years. I have a 1970 Trans Am, pre-emissions control, that gets about 10 mpg and has 360hp from a 6.6L engine. Five year later a 7.0+ engine was getting half that horsepower and worse gas milage due to emission controls. Go from 1975 to 2005 with even more restrictive controls, much heavier weights overall (safety, AC, AWD, power everything, etc) and a 2.0L engine with a turbo can get 300hp and 24-27 mpg. There are plenty of perfectly decent very small engines under 2.0L that put out well over 100hp naturally aspirated, and could get well over 40mpg if they were powering cars like the first gen Fiestas, Beetles, Civics, etc. But no one wants tin cans of death with no AC, crank windows and optional AM radio.
Gas engines are not the problem, the expectations of our cars as an extension of our homes is the problem.
$5.00 a Gallon how does that compare to 60 (to 80) cents a kilowatt electricity to charge your car, that’s what we are paying for solar power and 23 cents (and up) a kilowatt for wind or Bio-power in Ontario.
P.S. what’s he total cost of powering an electric vehicle, I presume the electricity you charge your car from is generated by coal. What if your generating station is natural gas isn’t it more efficient simply to run your vehicle on natural gas? My brother in-law works for Enbridge and they have dual fueled vehicle, gas or natural gas.
REPLY: I pay about 14 cents a KW/H so not an issue – A
Thats not a Smart? If its Chinese, then I would guess that they will never sell that thing in Europe ie Germany as long Mercedes Benz produces and sells the Smart here. Wasn´t there even some copyright lawsuit?
I think hybrids are the best way forward especially if governments want to save fossil fuels. However you look at it the battery needs charging – I believe that it’s better to do it on the move rather than when you run out of volts. I wouldn’t want to rely on all those wind turbines to have capacity to cover the upside if we all went to electric vehicles 😉
I agree with your usage scenario – a lot of people in cities could benefit from the use of smaller EVs, however, it only works if they are cheaper (or same price) as petrol equivalents – that is definitely not the case today in the UK.
All I know is… I have shares in tesla motors because I think the model s will sell like hula-hoops. 300 mile range, 0-60mph in <5 seconds. What's not to love?
Just read a comment from chuck – my mate has a hybrid Lexus and he has noticed that the consumption (fuel mileage) is worse in winter than it is in summer – due specifically to the engine cutting in earlier because the battery is colder.
A low center of gravity is always a plus, that’s one advantage. You never have to worry about a bunch of kids tipping over your car. –
Like this?
Ahttp://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/new-dutch-sport-smart-car-tossing.php#
REPLY: Sure with a gas engine, you can do that, you can also tip over VW bugs. But not an electric with a bunch of batteries – A
all this talk of smaller&electric//how are you going to get 8000lbs of top soil delivered to your house 35 miles out of town??every year in Mass. they increase my registration fee /inspection fee etc…pretty soon it will just now be worth working….THEN YOU CAN HALL ALL YOUR STUFF IN YOUR E.V.???????
REPLY: You are completely missing the point, though I think you just like to rant. You need a bumper sticker that says “MY OTHER CAR IS A DUMP TRUCK” or “MY OTHER CAR IS A PICKUP TRUCK”
You wouldn’t buy a VW to haul topsoil, would you? You don’t buy an electric car to replace a pickup or dump truck. You buy it for local commuting. – Anthony
@ur momisugly ew-3
There are lithium deposits in The USA also. Panasonic is the cutting edge company for most EV batteries. Panasonic is a Japanese company. The batteries can be recycled. Other types even more efficient batteries will hopefully take thier place with R&D. There’s a Moore’s Law for batteries of about 8% per year according to Elon Musk.
It was an MG Midget for me – after that all cars seem big. It was huge fun and I survived it okay, even the many times I had to beat on the mechanical fuel pump with the back end of a screwdriver.
We had 5 Midgets at my University and 4 gas caps. The first thing you did after class was find another Midget and steal the gas cap. The second thing was beat on the pump.
It was so low you could turn almost anywhere at almost any speed and there is an element of safety in that. But I do have to admit the earlier point that the smaller cars get, the less safe.
The overall carbon emissions associated with battery vehicles is highly dependent on the source of electricity and the efficiency of conversion of grid power to battery power. California is blessed with very low grid average power, but other parts of the US have much, much higher carbon intensity for power production. You can look up your local carbon intensity for power at: http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/how-clean.html
So, California ARB (CARB) calculated the carbon intensity for electric vehciles and found that they are only about 40% lower than gasoline vehicles on a CO2/mile basis. With California grid average CO2 emissions l/3 to 1/2 those of other locations, when you take an EV out of California, the carbon emissions become nearly double that of gasoline vehicles. This is the real silly part of regulating CO2 when what we need to be more concerned with is dependence on imported fuel. We have lots of coal for power production and could use that coal to produce transportation fuels and power that would decreasee the demand for imported crude and fuel.
To help stabilize our economy, we need to develop all resourcers available and minimize the use of those resources as best possible to save them for future generations. We don’t need to chase issues like CO2 emissions which many lead us to do stupid things like trying to capture CO2 from a power plant and store it underground. This will take 30% of the power plant output and accomplish nothing but burn more fuel to make the same net power.
This is probably a topic for a very good discussion
“My very first car was an Austin Healey Sprite. Now that’s an intimidating ride…”
Golly. Yeah, I had an MG about that time. I’d be on the freeway and look over and see a truck whose wheels were way higher than the MG. For all its faults, no car has been as much fun since.
I really can’t see the logic for an electric car. The batteries don’t have the energy density of fossil fuels and take huge amounts of power to produce. The plug-in prius produces more co2 per mile on electric than it does on petrol (from the UK grid) – and on petrol it still has to drag the battery around. The short range means it will never be used anywhere near full range and so the rest of the battery pack is wasted. Batteries lose power when not being used, and so energy is wasted on trickle charge. Batteries degrade with time, and the next generation makes the last generation worthless. The only reason why they would be anywhere near financially viable nowadays is because governments charge far more tax on fossil fuels for transportation than they do on electricity generation. It is hard to take seriously the argument that funding them will bring the technology closer because batteries and motors are in such high demand anyhow. If there were to be a case for electric cars it would be where the battery was cycled regularly and in stop start conditions. Taxis or public transport. Even if they do eventually charge fast enough with long enough range to be used as general family transportation they are decades off being used for heavy goods vehicles so are a solution to such a tiny sliver of fossil fuel consumption they are meaningless. They do shift electricity usage from the daytime to the night – when there may be excess available power – but that could be achieved by using the batteries without the car (which would show how inefficient they are compared to the power required to make the batteries) saving the whole issue of transporting such a low energy density medium around. The power required to charge the next generation will be far larger than the current generation (to allow faster charging) so any investment in grids are likely to need updating – and can you imagine the size of the power generator next to a motorway service station if we ever get electric cars and 5 minute charging?