Will plug in hybrid and electric cars be cost effective?

Prota5

With cars like the Chevy Volt, Fisker Karma, Tesla Model S etc. on the horizon do you believe they are destined to fail or do they have a fighting chance? Would the cost to maintain them overshadow their benefits? It's not as though they could be taken to your local mechanic for repairs. I've also read that Lithium ion batteries would have to be replaced every 5 years or 100k miles. I would imagine that being quite expensive to do. I'm really hopeful for cars like these...just worried about maintenance.

Answer
Electric cars cost LESS to maintain than regular cars.

Remember electric cars have a motor that drives an axle directly, because an electric motor can exert max torque starting at 0 RPM. It does NOT need a multispeed gear-shifting transmission, clutch or fluid-coupling torque converter. Those are parts that need regular servicing on a regular car.

Electric cars also use regenerative braking to slow down the car-- They do not rely solely on friction brakes, so their friction brakes last MUCH longer-- We are talking 100,000+ miles between brake pad changes.

Electric cars also don't have elaborate radiator systems that require yearly fluid changes, because its "engine" does not generate the kind of heat an internal combustion engine does.

And there are no alternator, timing belt, starter motor or solenoid to go bad in an electric car and need replacement.

Plus there is no exhaust system to cause trouble and make the car fail a State Emissions Inspection.

The only real question mark in regard to electric cars is the battery. That's the only achilles heel in electric cars, because nobody has successfully made a deep-discharge battery that does not wear out after a number of full-charge-then-full-rundown cycles.

Only when a reliable deep-discharge battery that is cheap to manufacture becomes available will EVs become cost effective.

In contrast, non-plug-in hybrids don't have a significant battery wear-out problem because they are not deep-discharge batteries-- A hybrid like the Prius always keeps its battery charged between 60%-80%, where its service life can be 20+ years. Until they solve the deep-discharge battery problem, a non-plug-in hybrid will be more practical than a full electric car.

Hybrid/Electric Cars Having Alternators To Charge Battery?

David Clar

Do these cars havre alternators as well for charging batterires just as standard cars?

Answer
There are several types of Hybrid electric vehicles. The most successful use the gasoline engine and the electric motor to power the vehicle directly, in pair or one or the other. The Honda Insight is powered by a 1 liter gasoline engine and when extra power is needed the electric motor kicks in. To the best of my knowledge, the electric motor, when not needed for extra power, can reverse current to charge the battery. the second type is like my best friend's new Toyota Prius. It operates mainly on electric and the gasoline engine kicks in when more power is needed. It does have regenerative braking, so I know the motor can become a generator, and I'm assuming that's how it charges the batteries at highway speed. Since an alternator can not operate as a motor, these first two examples use a motor/generator. The last example does use an alternator. It is a full electric, with a motor to drive the wheels, that has a generator on board to extend the range of the vehicle. GM made these and, as I understand, leased them in Arizona as a test trial. At the end of the trial, all the vehicles were returned to GM and they destroyed them. My understanding is that the last type is the least successful because the performance is limited to the output of the electric motor by itself, and the gas engine is single purpose in charging batteries only, not adding to acceleration.

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Is Hybrid Car and Electric Cars are really going to be Future as Success Story?

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Electric cars and hybrid cars are need by us, but can they compete today's cars like in Speed, Power, Comfort, Looks?

Answer
That's the whole point of hybrids and electrics. It's easy to make an electric vehicles fast and powerful, just difficult for it to have range. The first cars to reach 60mph were electric cars. You could easily put in a thousand horsepower electric motor into a car but the batteries would be depleted very quickly. We've been able to make gas cars with 50mpg plus back in 1982 which is still better than what the modern hybrids get but they lacked speed and power, the addition of an electric motor making the efficient cars hybrids is what gives the power and performance that the consumer wants.

We really don't need hybrids and electric cars. We don't even need so many cars. If we were willing to accept the lackluster performance of the 1982 econoboxes then why enhance the performance with an electric motor? If we want the flexibility to change the fuel source from fossil to something clean like solar by using electric vehicles then why don't we just synthesize gasoline from CO2 and H2O with solar power? Synthesized fuels could even be carbon negative whilst an electric vehicle with solar generated electricity is at best carbon neutral

Ultimately, Hybrid and electric will be seen for what they are, marketing to create an additional market niche for new cars just like model years, tail fins, station wagons, minivans, SUV's and Flex Fuel cars. Measures that would actually make a difference such as changing how we make the gasoline just doesn't make the auto manufacturers any money.

What are the the issues with alternative fuels?

Sridhar

Nuclear energy sounds good, but can it be made safe enough to convince everybody?
Can Wind or Solar provide enough energy to fulfill our needs?

What needs to be done to make solar more cost-effective?
What's the fate of electric/hybrid cars?

Answer
Nuclear Energy is NOT good. it may not emit CO2 but it uses radioactive Uranium which you can't really get rid of safely. it gets stored somewhere and then it pollutes that area.

Alternative Energies are mostly too expensive, as not as efficient as normal fuels. but if you take the whole production of alternatives like solar energy into a desert, and build a massive plant, you will be able to push the price of its electricity down. but as the lobbyists dont want that energey to be produced on large scale, it wont be in the near future that we will get pure green energy.


If you're interested in that, pay a visit to www.desertec.org it is very interesting :)

Also, there isnt just Solar and Wind power... Think of Geothermal, Wave, Bio-mass Energy :)

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What are the the issues with alternative fuels?

best electric or hybrid cars image

Sridhar

Nuclear energy sounds good, but can it be made safe enough to convince everybody?
Can Wind or Solar provide enough energy to fulfill our needs?

What needs to be done to make solar more cost-effective?
What's the fate of electric/hybrid cars?

Answer
Nuclear Energy is NOT good. it may not emit CO2 but it uses radioactive Uranium which you can't really get rid of safely. it gets stored somewhere and then it pollutes that area.

Alternative Energies are mostly too expensive, as not as efficient as normal fuels. but if you take the whole production of alternatives like solar energy into a desert, and build a massive plant, you will be able to push the price of its electricity down. but as the lobbyists dont want that energey to be produced on large scale, it wont be in the near future that we will get pure green energy.


If you're interested in that, pay a visit to www.desertec.org it is very interesting :)

Also, there isnt just Solar and Wind power... Think of Geothermal, Wave, Bio-mass Energy :)

I am planing to built a electric hybrid car for my final year engineering project.?

Siddharth

I am planing to built a electric hybrid car for my final year engineering project, so want to know which type of electric motor should i use (I mean the specs of the motor)????

Answer
A big one ..

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How many miles can a gas engine car go before refueling? _______An electric car?_____ A hybrid car?______?

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HONG

How many miles can a gas engine car go before refueling? _______An electric car?_____ A hybrid car?______

Answer
it depends on the design.
the larger the gas tank or batteries the farther it will go,
some tractor trailer trucks can go 3000 miles without a refill.
most gas cars are 200 to 300 miles
most electrics are 20 to 500 miles
hybrid car, no clue. but there is only about 5 on the market right now, should be possible to look up.

How far can a electric car go...?

Kiki

Is a electric hybrid car good for roadtrips? Also when do you think we cam finally stop relying on gas and start using a better source of clean sources that don't effect the earth?

Answer
They can go a couple of miles for every kilowatt hour of energy the batteries hold. I is practical for a car with a LiFePo battery pack to have a 100 mile range. That gives you the best balance of range, efficiency and performance. With lead acid batteries, 40 miles gives you the best balance. The Tesla Roadster has some more expensive batteries (somewhat ahead of it's time), and it has a good balance with a 200 mile range.

They are not good for road trips unless you bring some kind of generator along with you, temporarily making your electric car into a series hybrid.

Batteries will replace gas when it's obvious to most people that they are better and more convenient. This will happen when charge time is cut down by about 75% and price comes down on those batteries with the energy density of the Tesla's batteries, probably within a few decades.

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