Electric car question...?

Greg J

Why aren't they equipped with generators to charge the batteries while the car is in motion?
Nata T, That's what I was thinking. The batteries move the car which in turn move the wheels. Can't the turning of the wheels be used to operate the generator?
Querita Q, a list building website? Link makes no sense.

Answer
Because that is against the law. Not silly man made laws, it's against the laws of nature and the universe. A generator needs power to make it turn then producer power. So a generator on a cat needs an power source, that source would be an engine. The engine would be big enough to power the car and the generator would be twice as big and use twice the fuel. SORRY, THAT's a LOSER.

NOW, the hybrids get their extraordinary mileage because they do have generators that charge the batteries. The generator is connected to the wheels, when ask the car to stop, the generators are the brakes. Instead of using friction to stop the car, the generator kicks in and takes the energy in the cars motion and makes electrical energy. Look up REGENERATIVE BRAKING.

If you never use the brakes in a hybrid, then you'd get worse mileage than in a gasoline engine car that never uses it brakes too. The reason, the extra weight from the batteries and electric motor wastes fuel.

Electric car conversion?

Shana B

I would love to buy a converted electric car. My husband needs to drive 30-40 miles on the highway (speed limit 55mph) each way to work. We live in NY. Any suggestions, ideas?

He has an SUV right now and regular gas costs $4.19 by us now. He looked into a motorcycle b/c of the good gas mileage but I'm scared he'll get killed or hurt driving that.
I can't afford $100K for a Tesla :)

Answer
I will be converting my friend's 15 year old Honda Civic to be 100% electric in a few weeks. The total cost I figure is around $7000 as I'm not charging for my labor and he will be assisting me in the process. I put myself through school as a mechanic and now I work as an engineer for various companies so I have the skill and tools required for the job. Since there are only a handful of companies doing car conversions no two are alike.

Given the range your husband drives to work an electric car is a practical solution. You might try ebay for a converted car already for sale or if you're ambitious and skilled do it yourself.

You may find someone in your area willing to convert a car for you if you decide to take that route. I would suggest finding a good 'donor car' that is relatively lightweight and in good shape i.e.: no rust and since you live in NY that might be difficult to find without going out of state. After the Honda I'm planning on converting a 10 year old Volvo station wagon that has a burned up motor.

Either way let's shove it to the oil companies!

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what do hybrid electrics and natural gas vehicles have in common?

best electric mileage cars image

Justin M

What do hybrid electric cars and regular gasoline vehicles have in common? how are they different? thanks.

Answer
Hy brid cars make use of a small gasoline engine and an electric motor that runs at low speeds. A normal gasoline car just has an engine. To get the full benefit of a hybrid, you have to travel slow so that the electric motor will kick in which gets you better mileage

How much does electric cars cost to chg - how many miles can you drive?

Liberty

Does anyone have a electric car or a hybrid?

ELECTRIC CAR question

How much does it cost to charge an electric car?
How many miles can you drive before re-charging?
How much cost for each chg (electricity)?
How much did you pay for the electric car?

Please specify if your answer is for an electric car or a hybrid?

If you have a hybrid what is your gas mileage?

Answer
Yes, I have two. A very old electric car (a 1981 Jet Electra Van) and a new Chevy Volt. The Volt is a plug-in hybrid. It's a pure electric car for the first 25-50 miles, then it's a hybrid car running from gasoline.
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I have an off-peak rate from my electric company, that gets me a lower electric rate for charging overnight. This is a very good thing to get if you have an electric car. My overnight rate is 7 cents per kilowatt-hour.
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Both my cars can drive between 3 and 3.5 miles per KWH. That makes my cost-per-mile around 2 cents. A full charge, for me, is less than one dollar.
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the Volt has a very short electric range because it also can run on gasoline. Most other electric cars for sale advertise a range close to 100 miles, though this number will vary depending on speed and weather. So far, Tesla is the only electric car maker with models that can drive 200-300 miles on a charge. The extra range means bigger battery packs, and higher purchase prices.
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You can certainly spend a lot on an electric car. Tesla has models that sell for over $100,000. The least expensive EV from a major automaker is the Mitsubishi MiEV, which is around $21,000 after rebates.
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But it is possible to get an EV very cheaply. My old electric car came from eBay, where I won it for a bid of just $2000. In fact, here's a whole page of used electric cars - some available for very little money: http://www.evtradinpost.com/
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Believe it or not, even the Volt is not expensive if you get it the right way. It can be leased for just $349. The lease price can be seen here on Chevy's page:
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http://www.chevrolet.com/volt-electric-car/
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Next, consider that a typical driver can save between $100-$200 per month on fueling cost by driving Volt on electric miles. That makes the lease price very, very cheap compared to a conventional car.

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How much better are electric cars?

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Cody

How much better are electric cars For the environment? What advantages do they do for it?

Answer
If the entire US fleet of vehicles were electric they would require at most 30% of the electricity we presently use. However about 86% of those vehicles could be charged at night (off peak) with no additional generating equipment because we have at least that much excess capacity at night.

At the same time we would be saving about 6 kWh to 8kWh of energy (electricity and some other fuel sources) used to refine oil into each gallon of gasoline. The average electric car can go further on this much energy than the average petrol vehicle can go using the refined product.

We could easily run US vehicles on existing energy sources without the pollution of Oil.

And it is not just air pollution. Many will recall the months that it took to cap the BP oil well in the Gulf. Slightly more than 200 million gallons spilled in the worst ever ecological disaster? No Every year more than 200 million gallons of lubricating oil is drained from cars and improperly disposed of in the environment. Every Year. Petrol cars pollute more than just the air. Electric cars don't use lubricating fluids that need to be drained. http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/usedoil/oil.htm

Are you worried about US economic health? The trade deficit attributed to imported oil was 327 billion dollars in 2011. This is approximately equal to the trade deficit with China. To balance the books we need to stop importing oil. Electricity is primarily a domestic product.

The EPA has this to say about a petrol powered car: "Only about 14%â26% of the energy from the fuel you put in your tank gets used to move your car down the road." http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml Tesla measured their roadster at approximately 92% efficiency from battery to wheels. http://www.efficient-mileage.com/tesla-roadster.html

When we look at a petrol vehicle we necessarily must look at the vehicle plus pollution from transporting the fuel and refining it (although few do) because where else are you going to get gasoline. It doesn't fall from the sky. Those who attribute power plant pollution to electric vehicles assume that there are no other options than the electric grid to power the vehicle. They assume it is not possible to get electricity from your roof, or the wind. The electric car will never be as closely tied to a specific source of its fuel like the petrol vehicle.

Over time electric vehicles will change. Someday power may be transmitted to them leaving no battery pack to charge. At that time the vehicles will have unlimited range with no recharging times: http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/advanced-cars/the-allelectric-car-you-never-plug-in

How environmentally friendly is an electric car?

Dazed and

We are constantly told that the mass produced electric car will soon be with us and many people argue that this means zero pollution.
Clearly these people overlook the fact that as most of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuel we are merely moving the pollution from the actual vehicle to the power station.
Has anybody actually carried out any research into how environmentally friendly electric cars are when all factors are taken into consideration? I do not know the answer but my instant gut reaction is that electric cars are probably worse polluters that petrol or diesel cars; it must be less efficient to convert oil into electricity and send it round the country to charge batteries for cars than simply burning it within the vehicle.

Answer
The answer really only depends on the GGE mileage of a given electric vehicle. On average electric plants emit 1.341 lbm CO2/kWh. Since the GGE is 36.3kWh, a GGE of electricity would emit 40.66 lbm CO2. This is in comparison to 19.6 lbm CO2/gal for gasoline. Divide this by the average mileage of the gasoline cars (20.8) and you get 0.94 lbm CO2/mile. Now to do better than this an electric car would need to go more than 43.4 miles on a GGE. Some quick research turned up that most vehicles did do better than this, except the Ford Ranger EV at 39 MPGGE.

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Can our electric power grid really provide all the electric power needed?

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alwaysyode

for electric cars? The current heat wave is stressing the grid that has had blackouts in the past. I am trying to understand how it would be able to service all the electric cars the industry and government are moving towards.

Answer
It depends upon how it is done and who you ask. Our electric grid is not like a fuel pump. Fuel is produced according to demand. It can be produced 24/7 as it is in many refineries and the capacity of the refineries only have to match the total consumption.

It has not been economical to store our grid electricity. Consumption varies throughout the day. The peak consumption is typically from around 10 am up to around 9 pm. We have to have enough power to supply this peak demand and the number of power plants and their capacity is then sized to the peak load. This leaves a lot of unused capacity in the off peak hours.

If we were to charge electric vehicles in the off peak times estimates of our capacity to power a percentage of our present fleet with our existing power plants range from:

73% http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/?p=1782
to
84% http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2006/12/11/mileage-megawatts-enough-grid-capacity-charge-plug-vehicles

Plug in electric vehicles also have the capacity to make the entire grid more efficient by providing energy storage and "peak shaving:" http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/766804
http://www.udel.edu/V2G/ Owners of electric vehicles could conceivably use them as an income by having the vehicles charge with cheap off peak electricity and then sell the power back to the grid at peak rates. Electric cars then can effectively increase our peak power capacity without adding any new power plants.

what do hybrid electrics and natural gas vehicles have in common?

Justin M

What do hybrid electric cars and regular gasoline vehicles have in common? how are they different? thanks.

Answer
Hy brid cars make use of a small gasoline engine and an electric motor that runs at low speeds. A normal gasoline car just has an engine. To get the full benefit of a hybrid, you have to travel slow so that the electric motor will kick in which gets you better mileage

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