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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$5 per gallon? We’re paying well over $8!
I wonder how these others have jumped past the 40 mile range while the USA lags behind
The British “Lightning”
Lightning Electric Car promises to deliver performance rivalling anything currently on the market. The Lightning GT will boast 700+bhp and should completely erode any doubts about the performance capabilities of electric cars. Three versions of the GT are currently planned for a 2008 release, – a luxury model, a lightweight sports model capable of reaching 0-60mph in less than four seconds and an extended range model designed to travel up to 250 miles on a single 10 minute charge.
Or Tesla Motors
http://www.teslamotors.com/roadster/specs
promising 250 miles on a charge for the sport model and 300 for the new sedan
@Pull My Finger said:
Well, the issue with most hybrids is that they are half the size, twice the cost and less fuel efficient compared to my turbo diesel estate. Does a nice ~60mpg in mixed urban/country driving (admittedly real gallons, not those things you mess with in the States).
The Tesla is an impressive car, but it will sell about as many as the Dodge Viper since all it really is, is a high performance toy. A very cool toy, but still a toy.
948 CC’s of pure road terror! All managed by that dreaded SU electric fuel pump. What memories!
REPLY: I had the 1270cc, what a hot rod! – A
Electric cars haven’t made much progress over the last 100years.
“The Detroit Electric Car Company made more than 12,000 Electric cars between 1907 and 1939.
The original 1922 selling price was $2,985, which is equivalent to $38,000 in modern times.
This car has a top speed of 25 mph and a range of perhaps 60 miles.”
http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z17973/Detroit-Electric.aspx
also all this talk of using natural gas to power cars???HOW AM I GOING TO HEAT MY HOME/AT WHAT COST[ALL YOUR GOV ACTION HAVE EFFECTS ON THE PEOPLE]
Anthony,
You said: “I think mine is rather fun. With gas prices headed toward $5 a gallon, I’ll have even more fun.”
I like you Anthony but your logic left you temporarily. Where did your electricity come from that charged your batteries. As well you know it came from an outlet in your home that is powered by that same $5 a gallon gas or oil or equivalent.
So that being the case, how can driving it be fun for that reason?
You are still paying for propulsion… from the grid… through 2 energy exchanges.
That is not fun.
REPLY: Well it costs less than $2 to charge overnight at the night rates, so it isn’t a concern. I like the technology, the owning of a unique vehicle, and yes driving the car is in fact fun. – A
I absolutely agree Tom, was just stating the lesser of two evils (Hybrid vs Electric).
Tom says:
February 23, 2011 at 9:31 am
@Pull My Finger said:
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.
Well, the issue with most hybrids is that they are half the size, twice the cost and less fuel efficient compared to my turbo diesel estate. Does a nice ~60mpg in mixed urban/country driving (admittedly real gallons, not those things you mess with in the States).
Anthony where did you buy your car and roughly how much did it cost?
REPLY: I’ll have a future post on all that – A
Anthony,
14cent/KwH? Really? I seem to remember a post about your exhorbitant PG&E bill. I live down the road a bit from you and after you get past PG&E’s skimpy lifeline allowance, the marginal rates jump to 28 and 40 cents per KwH. And with AB32, I expect electricity rates will go up even further to offset all that dirty CO2 :). So given the laws of thermodynamics, which states that effeciency is lost as you transform one kind of energy to another, how is an electric car less polluting than a gasoline or modern diesel engine? Now if we were building nukes, I would have less an argument with the notion of electric vehicles. Finally, as bicylcle friendly as Chico is, wouldn’t a bike be even better?
Electrics are great … second cars … in the south, during the winter …
Hows the AC in that thing ? Or the heater ?
Would an electric scooter be just as useful ?
Ralph says:
“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.”
I agree. EVs will gain increasing market share. But due to arbitrage, the cost of electricity needed to power electric cars will necessarily rise as EV’s begin to number in the millions, so nuclear power will be required [unless the AGW insanity runs its course and more fossil fuel plants are built].
Gas and diesel powered vehicles have gotten much better over the past thirty years. I recently bought [and later sold] a car with a V-6 that got a combined 24 mpg [highway/city] with a 268 hp engine [!] and a six speed automatic transmission. The tires actually chirped when changing gears under full power. That kind of performance from a V-6 would have been unthinkable in the ’70’s.
I’m getting 47-50 UK mpg from my petrol hybrid, and at the moment cost of any extra cells seems to outweigh the benefit of trying to make it plug-in. The battery packs are scary power engineering too… A little over 100V, at 100A (which is not far off the main feed for a small house). The hybrid does have a value, it means I can get decent performance and excellent economy for my commute.
As an aside – Professor David Mackay has written an influential book called Renewable energy Without the Hot Air (also available free in pdf format, if you Google it). This book is very influential in the UK government and media, with many quotes from it.
In this book, Prof Mackay makes the highly misleading statement that electric cars are five times as efficient as fossil fuelled cars. This figure was obtained by comparing apples and oranges – lightweight electric vehicles vs the average US gas guzzler, and source fuel (petrol) vs electricity at a socket. I fail to see how a highly intelligent and rational professor could make such a misleading claim, without understanding the implications of this claim. This is prima face evidence, in my opinion, of deliberate deception.
This deliberately misleading figure (5x as efficient) has been quoted widely. However, after several complaints, Prof Mackay has qualified and withdrawn this statement, both to myself and to The Sunday Times. In actual fact, electric cars are less efficient than an equivalent European diesel, as I reported earlier.
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Prof Mackay also makes other dubious assertions, like we can run transport on renewables (mainly wind). However, the good professor completely fails to mention that the wind is intermittent, while I want to drive every day. During the December cold snap in the UK, wind power was non existent. Had we depended on wind for transport, the UK would have ground to a halt.
He also fails to mention the fact that to run electric vehicles for the whole nation, we would have to double or treble the number of power stations. Yes, that is how much energy we use in transport.
I am all for electric vehicles, but this is a policy that needs to be fully thought through, and not promoted by uber-Green activists who want to realise a rediculous pipe-dream (the good professor is an ultra-AGW supporter). Government needs all the facts, before implementing an energy policy, and not the deceptions, half-truths, and outright lies that are being promoted by the Green brigade.
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🙂 Its a roller skate. I think electric cars are probably quite fine if you live in a city and only do short jaunts. I bet you have a gas car sitting somewhere though, waiting for the long trips. I drive a 86 Subaru sedan.. I bought it for $600. That is about my car budget. Toys are great if you can afford them. But if the greens were really serious about getting more folks into their cars they would find a way to make them less expensive.
What is the model/make of that car? It looks pretty nice.
REPLY: I’ll have a future post on the vehicle – Anthony
Take away all the special tax breaks and government subsidies for all forms of energy production, and let the market decide. If an electric car makes sense then, go for it.
(Note in passing, a major power line in my area failed today and my home is currently without power. Funny that.)
I believe the solution is a natural gas powered Chevy Volt. Natural gas is at an all time discount to oil and it does not have to be imported. With the Volt there is no range anxiety. With a fifty mile range on the battery and say 150 miles from the natural gas tank there are no problems. Maybe we could even gas up at home.
Pisha! Americans only measure lawnmower engines in cc! The Trans Am comes with a lovely 6555 cc engine. (yes, I needed a conversion tool) 🙂 For being considerably heavier than those little brit rods it only sits very low to the ground.
Tom Bakewell says:
February 23, 2011 at 9:33 am
948 CC’s of pure road terror! All managed by that dreaded SU electric fuel pump. What memories!
REPLY: I had the 1270cc, what a hot rod! – A
I think the mindblock most people have against electrics is this:
The car is meant to be purchased in-addition to what you already have.
My wife drives the SUV family-mover, and 95% of the time, my car has an occupancy of one: myself. In case of emergencies and the occassional convenience, it is nice that my entire family will fit into my car, albeit not as comfortably as in the SUV.
If I were to get an electric car for commuting, it would need to either
a) be cheap enough that I could own / operate it in addition to the two cars we already have, or
b) be large enough to replace my current sedan, and accomodate myself and three passengers.
Right now, the only electric car that has my attention is the Nissan Leaf.
You might be saving on gasoline as it skyrockets, but watch your electric bill! It will be interesting to see which is actually cheaper, particularly when California hits rolling blackouts again due to electrical power shortages.
I would love a cheap, single seat, electric car for my 9 mile trip to work. Then I could leave my regular car at home for long trips. But, how are they in snow and cold? Is there a defroster? If its a fair weather car, I might as well stick to my 650 motorbike that averages 65 mpg.
Now, about peak lithium …
With 48% of all electricity generated from burning coal, one has to ask why we need a “coal-burning” automobile ?