What is the best electric car on the market? And why are they still unpopular for the customer?

Sil

Answer
Tesla has been doing remarkable things with electric cars. As a result they have changed the automotive industry. But their plan has been to start building the most expensive cars first and then cheaper ones as technology and their experience improves.

So if by "best" you are thinking of the technology and the package then it is not surprising that the most expensive car is "best." But if you also want to consider a vehicle that is "affordable" then the Nissan Leaf is very reasonable as a $200 lease option.

The Tesla S has a range of over 200 miles on a charge but the Leaf can go between 70 and 100 miles at less than half the price. There are other electric cars on the market but these are the two best sellers.

Like many other consumer products modern electric cars are slowly achieving popularity. Cell phones have existed for over 30 years but have only become popular within the last 15 years.

Affordable electric cars?

Alan Clark

I wondered if there were any affordable electric cars out there in the market, or second hand ones.

I've tried looking but can't seem to find any. Do you reckon I'll have to wait a few years before I can find one second hand for a few grand?

Answer
I drive an electric car I found on eBay for just $2000. I invested another $4000 for batteries and repairs. Picture of it here:
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http://evalbum.com/775
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Aside from eBay, a good place to find used EVs is here:
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http://www.evtradinpost.com/
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An old electric car will probably have old battery technology. The bad news is that lead-acid batteries have to be replaced more often. The good news is that this type of battery has gotten much cheaper.
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I replace the 17 golf-cart-style batteries in my car about every 20,000 miles. But it only costs me about $800 to swap them. The best price I've found (for 6V flooded deep-cycle golf cart batteries) is at Sam's Club.
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$800 for 20,000 miles works out to about 4 cents per mile. The electricity to drive costs about 2 to 4 cents per mile (depending where you live.) So your total driving cost in an old EV is 6 to 8 cents per mile - much, much cheaper than gasoline.

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What's new on the market for electric cars?

Q. So it's jully of 2010 what's new on the show floors or
going to be available very soon as far as 100% EV? Tesla roadster has been out there for a while but with a price tag of 100k most all of us will
just skip past. Let's look at some cars for anywhere less than 40k.

So the question is: what EV are going or expected to go for less than 40,000$ within the next year?links and pics are always helpful.

Answer
The Nissan Leaf will be out soon, with a starting price tag of $32,500. Of course at tax time you get a $7,500 credit back, so Nissan is advertising that will cost $25,500. Government is talking about taking the $7,500 credit and moving it to $9500, so the Leaf will be the cheapest, plus it sounds really cool. It has an IT solution to it to manage the batteries so you do not have to. Pretty much plug and drive. It also has a GPS system that will tell you if the car will make it before you go, and is said that will eventually be tied into a network of chargers so the car will tell you when and where to stop to get a fast charge that is estimated to be from 15 to 45 minutes to get anywhere from 65% to 90% charge.

The Chevy Volt is coming out as well, as technically a series hybrid, or what a lay person would call a backup gas generator. With the government credit, you will be just under $40k with the Volt.

I believe all the car makers are coming out with an electric version of some sort, if not just a hybrid version.

The sports car people are just needing some small advancements in storage, and the sports cars will be faster than any gas car could go, including dragsters.

Electric car controversy?

Q. Do you think it is a conspiracy? Why or why not?

Answer
There was some talk about a conspiracy to keep electric cars out of the market after the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car" came out a few years ago. The movie shows the story, in the late 90's and early 2000s, of California's attempt to clean up their air by requiring automakers to build cleaner cars.
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So several manufacturers - Ford, GM, Toyota, and Honda - made electric cars and leased them to California drivers. According to the movie, and other accounts from that era, carmakers were not eager to do this, and tried to put as few electric cars into the marketplace as possible.
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Despite this attitude, the few drivers who did get ahold of these cars were very happy with them.
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Now for the conspiracy part - eventually, California's initiative was gutted, and the carmakers took the cars back from drivers, and destroyed them. With few exceptions, drivers were not allowed to buy their cars, and had to watch them being crushed.
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Then GM, whose research partner had developed an exciting new NIMH battery - sold the patents to an oil company. That company refused to sell any NIMH EV batteries to electric car manufacturers for many years.
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So is this a conspiracy? There are elements to a conspiracy here - but nobody can control the entire automotive market - it's too huge. The news that Japanese auto company Nissan was working on a full electric car project (the Leaf) around new lithium battery technology has forced almost every car manufacturer in the world to start designing their own lithium battery electric cars. So if there was a conspiracy, it has finally been broken.

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Who killed the electric car?

best electric cars on the market image

Venturer

It's been said that the electric car will not return to the market. Engineers have failed to develop a good running electric car capable of meeting today's driving standards. Also they have failed to properly sell the right amount of electric cars to get it goin'. Is there more to the death of the electric car than we think?

Answer
All those Nissan dealers will be upset when they hear about this since they all sell an all electric car called the Nissan Leaf. Also Ford is just introducing the Focus Electric this fall.

You are misinformed. The electric car, although not exactly taking the world by storm, is far from dead, in fact it's on the increase.

Is there an international standard for size, form factor, etc. for electric car batteries?

Jake

I am wondering if a standards document has been established for electric car batteries. Are there any working groups, ISO, etc., currently working on this? It seems to me that if electric cars are to get any traction in the market place, the batteries that power them need to be inter-changeable between different makes and models.

Thanks.

Answer
Not yet. Even batteries for your existing car are not perfectly standardized.

It makes no sense to specify a battery size and shape if in 5 years batteries can be 1/4 the size and weight. Or maybe we will switch from using batteries entirely to either ultra capacitors or powering directly from roadways. At this point, even the charging port is not standardized internationally. In the US we do have a standard charging port configuration but where it is located on a vehicle is still subject to debate. (Europeans have another and the idea of induction charging (EV1) has not completely died.)

Standardized batteries would be one requirement for any system that swaps the batteries out instead of having them charged in the vehicle. It may be that one company will come to dominate the market and others will conform in order to make replacement parts. An industry standard could evolve in this way without regulation.

Electric car technology is very new with an almost a 200 year history.

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Can you get an 85kwh battery on an electric car other than a tesla?

best electric cars on the market image

Lane

I don't understand why if there's this big worry with electric cars about range anxiety, is why they all don't just use the 85kwh batteries used on tesla cars to achieve around 300 miles of range. It would give EV's the kick start they need. If one were to pay big bucks could they have those types of batteries installed into say a leaf or a rav4 ev to get better range? Thanks!

Answer
At the moment, only Tesla offers such large battery packs. Yes, other electric cars could do this, and also offer the 300-mile driving ranges Tesla does.
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The other pure electric cars (Mitsubishi MiEV, Nissan Leaf, Toyota RAV4 EV) are focusing on a compromise between affordability and driving range. This is a marketing decision. Tesla's approach is no-compromise range and performance, and so they market to more upscale customers. Their extended range EVs sell for $60,000 to over $100,000, and feature very long driving ranges, super-fast charging and sportscar-like performance.
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Mitsubishi's i-MiEV sells for around $21,000 after rebates, but has a driving range of less than 70 miles. Mitsubishi probably thinks this will appeal to more consumers, despite the much poorer driving range.
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Time will fix this problem. Tesla shows us the technology exists today for long-range battery packs, and fast battery charging. Eventually, prices for these features will fall, as happens with nearly all new technology.

Who killed the electric car?

Venturer

It's been said that the electric car will not return to the market. Engineers have failed to develop a good running electric car capable of meeting today's driving standards. Also they have failed to properly sell the right amount of electric cars to get it goin'. Is there more to the death of the electric car than we think?

Answer
All those Nissan dealers will be upset when they hear about this since they all sell an all electric car called the Nissan Leaf. Also Ford is just introducing the Focus Electric this fall.

You are misinformed. The electric car, although not exactly taking the world by storm, is far from dead, in fact it's on the increase.

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Is it possible to have a manual transmission in an electric car?

best electric cars on the market image

whatever_n

I know that electric cars don't need a transmission at all, but that would take a lot of the fun out of driving it. Would it be possible to have a manual transmission in an electric car?

Answer
It is possible to as you said, make an electric car without a transmission. Perhaps the best configuration for this is a 4 wheel drive electric vehicle with hub motors. But with even one motor a transmission is not required.

However most conversions from an internal combustion engine to an electric motor will keep the transmission and rear axle. Although this adds a lot of unnecessary weight is makes the conversion process a lot easier. Manual transmissions may even keep their clutch but it may not be necessary or desirable to use it.

I usually drive an automatic transmission but for the last week I was in rural Georgia driving a Mazda Miata (1) on country roads. It was a fun car to drive. I enjoyed the manual transmission and steering for this small car. But back in a big northeastern city, traffic, snow, and just needing to get where I am going easily makes me grateful for the simplicity of an automatic.

Electric cars will not initially be for everyone. They may offer the most advantages for commuters who have a garage or other place to charge them. But in an interesting development, electric vehicles are being offered to niche markets at first: You have the NEV (2), the neighborhood electric vehicle for that quiet little vehicle that can give you a short hop with little fuss and no fuel. Then there is the much publicized Tesla Roadster (3) that has a two speed transmission. And last is another unique "commuter" vehicle, the Tango, (4) this is among a new class of vehicle that has been called "Narrow track vehicles" (5: interesting viewing) This last video suggests vehicles that might be considered fun to drive with or without a transmission.

What's the difference between an electric plug-in car, electric car, and hybrid car?

Rudolf

I find it all very confusing, I mean, an electric car obviously runs on batteries, but how do you charge it? So aren't there only two types? Hybrid (batteries and gas) and Electric plug-in (speaks for itself) because how else would you charge an electric only car? It must be either a hybrid or plug-in. So why still the term electric cars?

Thanks!

Answer
An "electric car" does not necessarily run on batteries and is not necessarily able to be "plugged- in." This is a common misconception based upon shorthands in speech and marketing. Electricity can be produced on the vehicle, transmitted to the vehicle or stored on the vehicle.

Electric Vehicles are defined by the electric (or other) motors that move them, but because these motors usually only are able to operate on one fuel we commonly refer to them by the fuel and not the motor. This is inaccurate and is the source of some confusion. There are two major types of electric motors. The first is the conventional type that produce a rotational movement that we can use to move tires and there is a type of linear electric motor that is used to suspend and move mag-lev trains.

The electricity for an electric motor can be:

1 produced on the vehicle using fuel cells, atomic batteries, internal combustion engines, external combustion engines or solar panels. When we are using fuel cells we might call the vehicle a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) or Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) for short. When we are using some other engine to produce electricity (through a generator) that then powers the electric motor we can call the vehicle a Series hybrid electric vehicle. Often we describe these vehicles by the fuel that is used even though it is the motors that also define the hybrid vehicles. For example we might speak about a Diesel / electric locomotive which is a type of series hybrid electric vehicle without batteries that is never plugged in. The earliest atomic submarines were series hybrid electric vehicles. When the electricity is produced by solar panels we can refer to the vehicle as a solar electric car or a solar car for short.

All these vehicles might have some batteries that might or might not be able to be plugged in. The important thing is not the plug but the type of motors and the primary source of energy. The range for these vehicles is limited by the energy provided to the primary electricity generator. A solar car is limited by the sunlight.

There is another catagory of hybrid car where the fueled engine powers the vehicle along with providing power for the electric motor. These vehicles may or might not be plugged in. These are parallel hybrids. The Prius is a parallel hybrid. Earlier ones could not be plugged in. Recent ones can be plugged in but all of them don't need the plug to operate. The Volt is a mostly series hybrid electric vehicle but at top speed will become a parallel hybrid. The manufacturer has decided to call it an "extended range electric vehicle" It will not charge the relatively small batteries in the vehicle. You plug the vehicle in to charge batteries and run the vehicle about 40 miles. From that point the gasoline engine provides the power to a generator that provides electricity for the traction motor. You don't need to plug in a Volt for it to run but after about 40 miles from a full charge it needs gasoline.

2. An electric vehicle can have electricity transmitted to the vehicle through wires like trolleys, subways or trams. There is experimentation with transmitting power to electric vehicles wirelessly using tuned capacitors. Essentially these vehicles are always "plugged in" and have unlimited range. The very largest Earth tunneling machines are "electric vehicles" that usually have the electricity transmitted to them.

3. An electric vehicle can store power on the vehilce using batteries, caqpacitors, or flywheels. I in this case the vehicle can be plugged in so that the energy "charge" can be built up in the vehicle. These vehicles are only plugged in when charging the batteries, but like any vehicle that stores energy on the vehicle (fuel or electricity) they will eventually run out. These vehicles might also have the charge built up without a plug. There are wireless electrical chargers and flywheels can be spun up magnetically without wires. The Nissan Leaf and the Mitsubishi I are Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) which is often shortened to just "Electric Vehicle." This is probably misleading to some.

4. There is another catagory of "electric vehicles" that are indirectly run by electric motors. This would include cable cars, elevators, escallators and In this case electricity is transmitted to a stationary electric motor and then a cable from the electric motor moves the car.

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