Should I buy an electric car?

Q. I heard it cost only 3 cents to drive it than 16 cents on a gasoline car...might not seem much but in this economy? *Sigh* every penny counts.

Answer
Long time electric car driver here. You will hear a lot of negative information about electric cars - do not despair. Most of the negative arguments against electric cars are badly out of date, exaggerated, or even just made-up. Examples:
*
OUTDATED: The coal argument. Most electricity is NOT made from coal anymore, in the US. Just a third of our electricity was made from coal in 2012 (source: US Energy Information Administration). And it was all baseload power - this means the coal plants all run at 100% output already - they can't run any harder, or make any more pollution if you plug in an EV. (Other types of plants come on line instead.)
*
OUTDATED: The battery argument. Old technology batteries needed replacement every 5 years. New technology batteries don't. Hybrid cars, for example, use updated battery technology. Some of the earliest hybrid cars today have up to 400,000 miles on their original battery packs.
*
You are right about the low cost of fuel for an electric car. The 13 cents/mile savings you point out adds up fast. In a year of driving (15,000 miles), you would save about $2000.
*
After just five years of ownership, you've saved $10,000. So if you bought a Mitsubishi i-MiEV, or a Nissan Leaf (both cost about $21,000 after tax credit), it's like getting a new car for $11,000. Or if you bought an electric Smart car ($17,500 after tax credit) it's like spending just $7,500 for a new car.

Can we expect a gas-electric hybrid car by 2012?

Mac Rowlin

I am really thrilled with this question that is constantly striking my mind. I would really love to see this kind of a car running on the roads. Do you know any automaker who can roll out such a car.

Answer
>Can we expect a gas-electric hybrid car by 2012<

LOL!! Where have you been?

There have been gas electric hybrids in the United States since 2001. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

How Many Years Does the Battery in a Prius Last?

best electric cars for 2012 image

Dave

I'm really considering buying a Prius because me and my family have been scraping pennies to put gas in the tank these days. My moms Ford Taurus just ran out of gas the other day and that was the last straw for me. We are dumping around 30 bucks a week of our hard earned cash into that car, and enough is enough. I don't know much about hybrids or electric cars so I want to know how many years can I get out of the battery in the Prius before it needs to be replaced? Especially since i'm looking at a few used 2010 Prius' with around 37-47k miles on them. Are they low maintenance? What kind of gas savings can I expect to get? I just need reliable, low cost transportation back and forth to school.
And I know there is an 8 year/100,000 mile warranty but will the battery last longer than that? I don't want to be replacing a battery every 8 years.

Answer
The mean time between failures for the 2004+ Prius traction battery isn't really known because not enough Prius have reached 300,000 to 400,000 miles yet. There are Prius owners with over 400,000 miles on the original battery. For Prius owners, the traction battery is a non-issue, similar to how an automatic transmission is a non-issue to old fashioned car drivers. The replacement price isn't that high and has been going down every years. It's under $2000 plus $500 installation for a new battery.

http://www.trademotion.com/parts/2012/TOYOTA/PRIUS/?siteid=213747&vehicleid=1503615&section=HYBRID%20COMPONENTS

Or you can get rebuilt batteries from companies like http://www.re-involt.com/ (Though right now they really only do 2001-2003 Prius batteries because there haven't been enough 2004+ batteries fail. Note that the 2001-2003 use the older style batteries which don't dissipate heat as evenly). Over half the 2001-2003 Prius with the older style battery are still on the original battery, so I wouldn't put all that much faith in statements like "only lasts ten years". Also GM doesn't use the same chemistry as Toyota. GM uses LiOn while Toyota uses NiMH. (Toyota does use LiOn but only in the plug-in-prius).

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/hybrids-prove-very-reliable-1.599754

You can also obtain a battery from a newer wreck for about $500. So, just like an automatic transmission, there are many choices should it fail.

Battery life also depends on environmental conditions.

The Prius also has a small 12V auxiliary battery which lasts about five years.

2004 Prius MPG from the logbook. (Complete years only):
2003-2004 -- 50.8 mpg 17,628 miles
2005 -- 52.6 mpg 14,688 miles
2006 -- 56.3 mpg 16,174 miles
2007 -- 57.3 mpg 18,384 miles
2008 -- 59.9 mpg 21,755 miles
2009 -- 61.4 mpg 16,177 miles
2010 -- 65.2 mpg 12,134 miles
2011 -- 66.9 mpg 11,272 miles

Are fully electric cars really the solution to high gas prices?

Carlos

Supposedly, half of the fuel spent during an electric vehicle's life span is spent constructing the vehicle. As gas prices rise, so will the cost of an electric vehicle.

Answer
You raise a good point but these things are never simple. Cars get old and will be replaced in any event. No one is suggesting that you take your 2011 Lexis scrap it and buy a 2012 electric car. The value that is in the lexis is sold to someone else and they avoid the fuel cost involved in a new car.

If you are in the habit of buying a new car every 1 to 3 years then there is energy that goes into either an electric or an ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle. When we take a look at the specific vehicles we find that an ICE and its associated transmission can have up to 700 moving parts. This is in addition to the thousands of non moving parts used to support motion. The EV can have as few as 5 moving parts. They are far simpler vehicles.

While I have not seen stats on this, one has to assume that more parts equals more transportation for parts to be assembled. More transportation equals more fuel (and of course the resulting pollution.)

While electric vehicles assembly will become more expensive over time so also will ICE vehicles and we might expect more so. As renewable energy becomes a greater part of our electric production long term costs will be reduced. Petrol fuel costs will never be reduced but only rise.

Once the cars are assembled and operating the ICE vehicle is only about 15% efficient at the wheels. That means 85% of the fuel is wasted to inefficiency rather than motion. The EV on the other hand can be more than 90% efficient from battery to wheels. So here is a tremendous fuel saving that starts from the first day of operation.

Finally there is the issue of subsidies. Fossil fuel costs are presently subsidized about 12 times more than renewable energy costs. Because of subsidies the connection between cost and efficiency is broken. The electric vehicle has the potential of using renewable energy for fuel that is not an option for the petrol fueled vehicle. If subsidies were to disappear or be adversely affected by an embargo or a war the EV could remain cheaper to operate, in addition to being more efficient, while the petrol vehicle could be priced to extinction.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

I need some advice from people with Electric-Gasoline cars?

best electric cars for 2012 image

Jerseygirl

I'm interested in purchasing a 2012 Honda CR-Z. However, I don't know anyone in my circle of friends or family who own an electric car, or even an electric-gasoline. I was wondering what it's like and what should I expect. Is charging the car going to raise my electric bill exponentially? Will I be able to just run the car on gas if needed? How and where will I be able to charge the battery? I would really appreciate anyone with an experience with one.

Answer
You need to know a bit more about such vehicles. There are battery electric cars like the Mitsubishi I MiEV, the Nissan Leaf and Tesla vehicles, the roadster, and the new model S. And then there are hybrids that can never be plugged in like most Toyota Prius, and your 2012 Honda CR-Z ( 1 ) and then there are cars that can be plugged in or use gasoline.

Only the battery electrics allow and require a different approach to charging the vehicle.2

How much should I ask for a electric club car golf cart?

Remmington

How much should I ask for for a gray electric club car? It has really nice wheels, a back seat that folds down and a whole light system installed. Just wondering what it would be worth.

Answer
This is all relevant to the year of the cart......also you have not mentioned if the batteries are in working condition. If you have good working batteries its one price and if you have new batteries its another usually at least a 500-700 dollar price difference. If you can include the items above the year and battery condition I can give you an accurate price for your golf cart. New, the Club Car goes arround 8000 and here I am talking about a 2012 Model. Also is this carts a 2 - 4 - 6 - 8 Passenger golf cart? That makes a very big difference as well in the price of a Club Car Golf Cart. The price I have quoted you for your Club Car is for a 2 Passenger Cart this link will help you with getting prices for your cart http://lsvcarts.com/clubcars.html

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

Will the electric car ever make it big?

best electric cars for 2012 image

D-man

In fall the Nissan leaf will be released along with 4 other models of electric cars made by variouse companies in 2012, will they sell? will people be interested? will are world finnaly convert from gas to electric powered vehicles?

Answer
When petrol vehicles were first being developed they were a poor 3ed choice behind steam and electric cars. Poor roads, flat tires, and little available fuel made their range severely limited. At an average of 10 to 20 miles per hour they were little faster than horses. Steam vehicles were 4 to 5 times faster. In part the success of the petrol vehicle was due to the infrastructure of roads and petrol stations to increase their range.

Electric vehicles with a wireless electrified roadway could do everything a petrol vehicle could ... better: unlimited range, no refueling required, a fraction of the cost, and the possibility to put more vehicles on the same roadways: http://www.iav.com/us/index.php?we_objectID=15760 Most of the complaints you may hear about today are really a matter of the infrastructure surrounding the vehicles and not a drawback of the vehicles themselves. So it then becomes a matter of the direction we wish to take, our willingness to marshal around a common goal and our need for a better future.

I need some advice from people with Electric-Gasoline cars?

Jerseygirl

I'm interested in purchasing a 2012 Honda CR-Z. However, I don't know anyone in my circle of friends or family who own an electric car, or even an electric-gasoline. I was wondering what it's like and what should I expect. Is charging the car going to raise my electric bill exponentially? Will I be able to just run the car on gas if needed? How and where will I be able to charge the battery? I would really appreciate anyone with an experience with one.

Answer
You need to know a bit more about such vehicles. There are battery electric cars like the Mitsubishi I MiEV, the Nissan Leaf and Tesla vehicles, the roadster, and the new model S. And then there are hybrids that can never be plugged in like most Toyota Prius, and your 2012 Honda CR-Z ( 1 ) and then there are cars that can be plugged in or use gasoline.

Only the battery electrics allow and require a different approach to charging the vehicle.2

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

How much fossil fuel would it take to generate the electricity used to power an electric car?

best electric cars for 2012 image

Dr Robert

Electricity is generated by other means (wind, nuclear, etc.). I'm sure any fossil fuel used to generate the electricity for a green car would be less than burning it directly. But does anyone know what the comparison is? Say for 100 miles?

Answer
I happen to remember that it takes around 1 pound of coal to make a kilowatt-hour of electricity for end use (taking transmission efficiencies into account.) A typical electric car gets around 4 miles to the kilowatt-hour (this number takes into account all the various efficiencies of the electric motor, battery and electronics), so 100 miles would require about 25 pounds of coal.
*
Let's compare to gasoline. Electricity (plus other fossil fuel energy) is also used to refine oil into gasoline. The US Energy Information Administration estimates around 6 kilowatt-hours is used to refine each gallon of gasoline.
*
So, assuming the same coal-powered electricity, refining one gallon of gas would require 6 pounds of coal. A 25-MPG car, then, would require 24 pounds of coal plus 4 gallons of gasoline (33 pounds of gasoline) to drive the same 100 miles (57 total pounds of fossil fuel.) Diesel is more efficient (less refining energy, and higher MPG), but the total weight figure would only change by a few pounds.
*
The above assumes 100% coal is used for electricity, which is not the case of course. Energy Information Administration figures from 2012 show that coal use has fallen to about a third of electricity generated.

When will electric cars be the only car?

Cody

Instead of gas cars? If all cars were electric it would help the environment a lot. It would make the air healthier for humans and animals to breathe. It would also help plants and trees grow better and healthier.
So do you think that anytime soon electric cars electrically charged will be mainstream soon? I've seen pics of futuristic electric cars that will eventually look very good and they will look very cool. So it would be nice. What do you think?

Answer
Maybe 30 or 40 years. You do know the electricity it takes to charge an electric car comes from coal burning electric power plants which creates pollution right.

No matter how main stream electric cars become, there's always going to be some amount of gasoline. I can assure you of this because my '69 Camaro doesn't run on electricity and the other 30 million classic car enthusiasts sure the heck aren't going to just park there cars and take up a new hobby. Not to mention all the other uses for gasoline.

Check out BIGFOOT #20. The worlds first all electric powered Monster truck---> http://bigfoot4x4.com/2012/1113_bf20.html

Powered by Yahoo! Answers