Topic: the worlds quickest electric car

[fuzzybutt]

[Retro Rocket]

WOW    that thing is awesome...

Mick

[tramp]

something to find out
to charge a battery takes power
how much pollution is given out to charge a battery from a power plant
and is it more than a car puts out driving around

[Industrial Rat400f Killer]

something to find out
to charge a battery takes power
how much pollution is given out to charge a battery from a power plant
and is it more than a car puts out driving around

That is one point the electric motor promoters never mention. I'd also like to know what happens to the spent power cores from the batteries, Land fill?

Don't get me wrong I support the idea of electric powered vehicles, I just think they need to provide that information as well. If they don't they're hiding something.

Have you seen this?
http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-s.php

The price point is around $9k

There is a great video in Jay Leno's website showing the dirt bike. I hope the street bike performs well enough to see some out on the road.

[rbmgf7]

...but it has no soul. i hope in my lifetime we never go to electric powertrains. i think ethanol is a great median until we find a more efficient alt. fuel. if it's hydrogen, i hope it's combustion instead of electric. GM came to school a couple years ago and flashed their electric car design at us. it was horrible. all vehicles sat on the same exact platform (or chassis integrated with powertrain) and the only difference was what body sat on top. essentially it could be a car, truck, or minivan but the programming within is what made each vehicle different. boo on that.

[tramp]

60 to 70 miles is not a long time
and a 2 hour charge time
i think this stuff needs to evolve some more
it is a good start

[Industrial Rat400f Killer]

...but it has no soul. i hope in my lifetime we never go to electric powertrains. i think ethanol is a great median until we find a more efficient alt. fuel. if it's hydrogen, i hope it's combustion instead of electric. GM came to school a couple years ago and flashed their electric car design at us. it was horrible. all vehicles sat on the same exact platform (or chassis integrated with powertrain) and the only difference was what body sat on top. essentially it could be a car, truck, or minivan but the programming within is what made each vehicle different. boo on that.

I hear ya, I like my bike/car to be loud and mean. Electrics have neither IMO. I hard negatives about ethanol too. It's hard to imagine any fuel source that won't create some kind of negative, but I do like that there is all sorts of interest around trying.

[Industrial Rat400f Killer]

60 to 70 miles is not a long time
and a 2 hour charge time
i think this stuff needs to evolve some more
it is a good start

I checked into making my work van electric and the company I spoke with said I'd get:

cost would be $30,000

200 miles on an 8 hour charge
top speed was 55 mph unloaded

if I was loaded with material/tools and hit hills

85 miles
top speed 35 mph

The guy acted like I was an idiot when I said that would never work for me. I told him I would call him back when the electric conversion would match my gas engine in power/distance and cost 2/3 less.

[goon 1492]

The batterysdo get reclaimed, Haven't you been up to date on TLC's show's how its made, they show the whole process a battery goes through from grinding and separating to re-casting and reassembly. really is pretty cool and it would help start another industry. Alot of people forget one of the first things tought in science class, all things break bown in nature, how long it takes is another story. Believe me I think we will find a medium of electric and internal combustion.

Speaking of that who can describe to the rest of the class the difference of a motor and an engine? I know but do you?

[Gordon]

...but it has no soul. i hope in my lifetime we never go to electric powertrains. i think ethanol is a great median until we find a more efficient alt. fuel. if it's hydrogen, i hope it's combustion instead of electric. GM came to school a couple years ago and flashed their electric car design at us. it was horrible. all vehicles sat on the same exact platform (or chassis integrated with powertrain) and the only difference was what body sat on top. essentially it could be a car, truck, or minivan but the programming within is what made each vehicle different. boo on that.

If/when we switch to hydrogen, it's going to be used in the form of an electric fuel cell, not for internal combustion, since it's much more efficient to use it that way.  The problem right now with hydrogen is that the cheapest way to produce it is from fossil fuel, so that's where most of it comes from still.  The guys on Top Gear made a good point about the advent of commercially viable electric vehicles, though.  If we switch to mostly electric cars/trucks, that will leave the gas for the classic vehicle enthusiasts to use.   

[gerhed]

...but it has no soul. i hope in my lifetime we never go to electric powertrains. i think ethanol is a great median until we find a more efficient alt. fuel. if it's hydrogen, i hope it's combustion instead of electric. GM came to school a couple years ago and flashed their electric car design at us. it was horrible. all vehicles sat on the same exact platform (or chassis integrated with powertrain) and the only difference was what body sat on top. essentially it could be a car, truck, or minivan but the programming within is what made each vehicle different. boo on that.

Electric soul here !

[DanEarl]

have you seen what ethanol turns into if it sits for a while?  orange rubbery goo.  we have 10% in our gas in milwaukee and most of WI.  you always see lawnmowers and smowblowers at the curb at the start of the seasons and you just clean that garbage out of the carbs and they fire right up.  that stuff pollutes less but gets less mpg than gas.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Ethanol is a horrible gas alternative. Way worse than gasoline environmemntally speaking.

[tramp]

gerhed, what the hell is that?

[Industrial Rat400f Killer]

The batterysdo get reclaimed, Haven't you been up to date on TLC's show's how its made, they show the whole process a battery goes through from grinding and separating to re-casting and reassembly. really is pretty cool and it would help start another industry. Alot of people forget one of the first things tought in science class, all things break bown in nature, how long it takes is another story. Believe me I think we will find a medium of electric and internal combustion.

Speaking of that who can describe to the rest of the class the difference of a motor and an engine? I know but do you?

I haven't seen that episode. I know there is some recycling that can be down with batteries but what about how the electricity is made to charge them?

[gerhed]

gerhed, what the hell is that?

--My 48 volt tilting electric--proceeding down the National Mall

[333]

At the risk of getting into a rant...

How can you say that an electric car that can take on a Corvette and win in the 1/4 mile has no soul?

Or

How far IS your daily commute that 60 or 70 miles isn't enough?


The truth is that we must do something about getting off the oil treadmill.  That doesn't mean we won't still have gas for our classic and vintage cars.  But the money we send out of the country every day is killing us.  The green house gases we spew into the atmosphere is killing us.  If a majority of America can go electric, domestic oil production will be more than enough for us enthusiasts.

Nice one, Ger!

[DammitDan]

How can you say that an electric car that can take on a Corvette and win in the 1/4 mile has no soul?

I'm sure they said the same thing about the transition from horse and buggy to IC engines in the teens...

Cars have no soul compared to horses.  Horses have a beauty all their own.

I'm sure when the electric wave comes it will take some getting used to, but people will get used to it nonetheless.

[rbmgf7]

I too don't want to get into a rant since this subject doesn't have a right or wrong answer. Just purely my opinion.

Just think of all the power sports now replaced with electric motors instead of IC engines. To me that would be extremely lame. The fact that all of these individual working components which come together inside an IC engine makes it seem alive. What makes an electric car (I'm not 100% on this so don't bash me): motor, power source, controllers, a program...? Like I mentioned about the GM presentation, all vehicles were the same besides the body and programming.

Plus, I'd rather be turning a wrench with my hands covered in oil over using a soldering iron and multimeter.

I know whenever the media compares an electric car to an IC car, they compete the two with a drag race (of course, cause it's the American thing to do). What about oval track or circuit? Where's the off-road electric truck? Could you imagine watching a race with electric vehicles? It would be like giant RC cars.

I need noise, the vibrations, the smell of exhaust and burning tires.

I can totally agree on the independent energy and getting away from imported oil. That's why I said I think ethanol is a great median for the time being. Too bad it's not on a massive enough scale to export it. I don't think they can grow corn or soy beans in the desert  .

At the risk of getting into a rant...

How can you say that an electric car that can take on a Corvette and win in the 1/4 mile has no soul?

Or

How far IS your daily commute that 60 or 70 miles isn't enough?


The truth is that we must do something about getting off the oil treadmill.  That doesn't mean we won't still have gas for our classic and vintage cars.  But the money we send out of the country every day is killing us.  The green house gases we spew into the atmosphere is killing us.  If a majority of America can go electric, domestic oil production will be more than enough for us enthusiasts.

Nice one, Ger!

[masonryman]

I think it is a stupid and arrogant idea, the notion we have the right to burn our food as a fuel source in cars when 1/3 of the world has a food shortage.


BTW I feel as strongly about my old engines as some people feel about their guns, but food for gas?


Mark

[333]

First,

I need noise, the vibrations, the smell of exhaust and burning tires.

Of those 4 things, 2 are there and exactly the same.  The burning tires, and the vibrations.  And by vibrations, I assume you are referring to the feel of acceleration, the "Gs".  If not, you must have replaced your rubber engine mounts for solid metal ones.


But ethanol isn't a good fuel anyway you cut it.  It doesn't have the octane punch that gas does, it still spews green house gases, and while it's not as expensive as $4.00 per gal gas, it's certainly more costly that what gas is now.  And then there's the food thing.

Some of you young'ns aren't old enough to remember when emissions control devices started appearing on cars in the early 70s.  The government mandated that we attempt to clean up our act with cars, and enacted laws to make it happen.  All the nay-sayers said that it would kill fuel economy and power, and for a short time it did.  But then the American ingenuity kicked in and we got the power back, and then some.  We got fuel economy as well, but we seem to have become complacent and done a bit of a backslide.

[Industrial Rat400f Killer]

How far IS your daily commute that 60 or 70 miles isn't enough?

 I realize my day to day commute  might not be common but I do know a lot of other contractors that do that same thing I do.

I am a self employed contractor.
I don't get to buy a house near where I work because every job is in a new location.
I'm not sure if you are familiar with Seattle but we have a lot of hills and the traffic can be very blocked up and slow some times. It's very common for me to have to drive 30 miles on the highway loaded with tools and materials. The top speed when loaded, if electric, is 35 mph. That is not a fast enough speed to safely drive on our highways and it's illegal to go that slow in a 60 mph zone.
I'd have to take side roads where there is a lot of hills and instead of 30 miles to the job site it could now be 40-50 of stopping and going. According to the information I got about converting my work van I would run out of power 20 miles from home.
I also assume that the numbers the guy gave are when batteries are new, after a few months they won't be as efficient and the miles and distance will be less.

Don't even bother pointing out that I could charge at a clients house. It's hard enough to be competitive with bids already and telling people that I'm going to run their electric bill through the roof while I'm there isn't going to make it any easier.

Don't get me wrong. I checked into converting my van because I want do my part but the technology isn't far enough yet and I just don't make enough money to spend $30k on a $6k van.

[333]

I was in Seattle once.  For a long weekend.  Cool town, even if it did drizzle the whole time.  It was one of those places we said that we could easily relocate to.

I know nothing of this conversion you speak of.  But you're right, a 35 mph car is unsafe.  The only electrics I know of that are limited to that low speed are golf cart lookin' things that look very dangerous.  The first electric conversion (I assume a conversion.  Could have been home made) was a Volkswagon 311 square back wagon, 30 years ago.  It passed me on the highway at 60.  I knew it was electric by the sound it made, and by a sticker on the back that said it was electric.  And you do realize this thread was started about an electric car that does 110 in less than 11 seconds.

The Tesla also greatly exceeds the speed limit by a factor of 3 or 4, and claims a 200 mile range(although probably not at top speed).  The technology is here.  Maybe just here, but here none the less.  And it will only get better.

[Retro Rocket]

Ethanol is a horrible gas alternative. Way worse than gasoline environmentally speaking.

Would you like to explain that?

In Australia our biggest racing series "the V8 supercars" now have to run on 85% etanol, it produces less pollution and more power but worse fuel economy. We currently have E10 at our petrol stations {and normal fuel} and i think the fuel companies are about to raise that to 15 to 20%.

Mick

[Steve F]

Ethanol is a horrible gas alternative. Way worse than gasoline environmentally speaking.

Would you like to explain that?

In Australia our biggest racing series "the V8 supercars" now have to run on 85% etanol, it produces less pollution and more power but worse fuel economy. We currently have E10 at our petrol stations {and normal fuel} and i think the fuel companies are about to raise that to 15 to 20%.

Mick

Last week on Horsepower TV, they did a dyno run on a 383 stroker Chevy engine with a carburetor, first on regular gas and then did a conversion for the E85.  Lots of metering block changes and such things as gaskets that could handle the ethanol and larger jets.  They got better HP and torque, but at a 20-something%  increase in fuel consumption!!!  Yikes.