The electric car renaissance - NOT!
I would love an electric car -- most of my driving is two miles from my home to the post office and the store. A perfect application.
The idea of driving for more than 10-20 miles would give me the willies though -- especially in cold weather.
Any monies spent developing an electric car are monies dumped down a rathole.
Case in point -- from
Business Insider:
The Electric Car Is Dead All Over Again
The dream of an electric car that's both affordable and practical has eluded automakers, and will likely do so for another decade.
The problem is a lack of cheap, powerful battery technology that keeps ranges limited, charge times long, and prices high.
A much better battery is the "holy grail," says Jack Nerad, executive editorial director and market analyst at Kelley Blue Book. While lots of parties are working on it, "nobody's got there yet."
Until someone does, the story of the electric car in the United States will continue to be one of high expectations and consistent letdowns.
Fisker, a startup funded in part by nearly $200 million from the Department of Energy, just fired three quarters of its workforce and is in the process of imploding. It has not produced a single Atlantic, the model designed to be the "volume car that begins to build growth."
It is a simple matter of not being able to circumvent the basic laws of physics.
From here:
Energy Fundamentals (PDF) -- please note. Yes, this was written in 2002 but again, the basic laws of Physics do not change.
Page two, right column:
One liter of Gasoline has 9,000 Watt/Hours (a Watt/Hour is a unit of delivered work).
One liter of Lead/Acid batteries has 40 Watt/Hours.
One liter of Lithium batteries has 250 Watt/Hours.
So a vehicle with a 20 gallon gasoline tank will require 720 gallons of Lithium batteries to have an equivalent range (all other things being equal). That is 96.25 cubic feet or a box slightly larger than four feet by four feet by six feet.
Yes, the new crop of Lithium batteries are better then the ones in 2002 but only by 20% at best.
Electric cars -- great for villages, golf courses and under ten mile round-trip commutes. Anything else? Not so much. For our present government to "invest" in these shows that a large central government can not pick and choose winners, they can only pick losers. It is the job of the marketplace to pick winners. It is as simple as that...
Posted by DaveH at April 8, 2013 8:32 PM