Electric Cars – Part 2

Who will buy one?

Considering the limitations on their use, namely their limited range and the purchase price I’m just wondering who will buy one of these first generation cars? I use the term first generation deliberately because although there have been electric cars for a while now, the 2011 cars are the first production models available in numbers to the public.

While it’s certainly true that the running costs per mile are miniscule compared to the cost of a normal petrol or diesel powered car, I’m not certain that this is sufficient reason for most motorists to buy an electric car.

If we just look at the Nissan Leaf which has been launched in Europe, USA and Japan and has been voted The Car of the Year 2010 in a recent European wide poll, how many people are going to buy this vehicle and who are they?

The launch of a mass-production electric car in the market has been a much heralded event and in spite of the lack of a large recharging network and the limited range, the Leaf represents a technical and commercial wager by Nissan. The car is built on an accepted formula of a conventional 4/5 door hatchback but underneath it’s powered by an electric motor. The rated range is 100miles which might be OK for a short daily commute but not for anything longer. The charge time is of the order of 8 hours.

Seen in this light the electric car is not a practical proposition but is still in the experimental stage. The object of an experiment is not to demonstrate something, but to see what happens, and the viability of the electric car can only be decided by putting it in the hands of normal users. So this is a pretty brave proposal by Nissan.

The second obvious criticism now is that the Leaf, like other Electric cars announced recently is pretty expensive. The UK on the road price is £28990 including the 20% VAT introduced in 2011. When the government grant of £5000 is deducted you are still going to be paying just short of £24000 for a vehicle which cannot take you from London to Birmingham.

So to return to the question: who is going to buy one of these? Several possibilities present themselves:

As a second car by people who can afford to make a statement about themselves. Whether it is for environmental reasons or on grounds of fashion.
By people who have accepted in their minds that the raison d’etre of motoring has changed and that we have entered a new age. The car is to be used for local short range motoring and only for that type of motoring. This does raise the secondary question of what happens when a long journey has to be undertaken.
Someone who has more money than they know what to do with.

To see if running costs can provide a reason to buy a Leaf let’s do a short comparison with a mid size competitor.

The running cost for the Leaf is quoted as around £1.80 per 100Km compared to £6.95 for a family 1.5Litre diesel. That is a pretty impressive saving by any standards.

Let’s use a 100Km per day usage – that’s ~62 miles – to receive a £4.15 saving on fuel. Imagine repeating this for 365 days a year which achieves a saving of £1514.75 over 22630 miles.

You can buy a new 1.6TDCi Ford Fiesta for £13500 on the road so it will take 8.9 years to recoup the extra cost of the Leaf, and that does not include the effect of inflation. I expect a calculation of discounted cash flow would be nearer 12 years although I’ve not actually done that calculation.

Now there are probably going to be other savings, for instance servicing might be lower with much fewer moving parts in the propulsion unit but it’s difficult to see those savings making the purchase of the Leaf a feasible decision on fuel savings alone. Wear and tear on tyres and transmission etc will be the same.

However the one item that will need replacement at some time is the battery pack. Nissan guarantee the pack for 5 years in Europe, although I understand that it’s 8 years in the USA for some bizarre reason. The cost of a new battery pack is estimated to be around £5-6000 which would immediately through the previous calculations out of the window.

Now – it might seem I’m picking on Nissan’s Leaf particularly but the same arguments exist for other electric cars available at similar prices. I still believe that electric Cars are the future but we are not there yet.

What is the Electric Car?

Price:

Electric Cars today (Part 1)

An electric car is, merely, an automobile that is driven by electricity.  An electric powered car has an electric motor and a controller for energising that electric motor.  The electricity is stored in its normal rechargeable power packs, which are re-energized by electric power. That the electric automobile is many years old may sound amazing, but electric powered cars predate automobiles with a an internal combustion engine. At first, the electric car was the  favorite, but at the time a battery did not exist that would permit a car to proceed with very much speed or over a long distance.  Having said that the electric car today still confronts the very same, basic challenges.

Electric cars are once again started coming to the top of the marketing talk and this time the technological know-how is far better and batteries are improving.  Electric motor vehicle, I am sure, will eventually serve as a viable alternative to conventional combustion-powered automobiles in the near future.  Quite how close up that “near future” is still wide open for debate.

Although electric car technology has vastly improved around the last two decades there are still two key sticking points blocking the wider use of electric cars:

1.    Battery technology, especially the capacity and recharging routine.
2.    Cost of purchase.

This article is an effort to address the first of these issues in a simple, easily understood fashion.

Battery Technology

 

Batteries store electric energy in a chemical form, inside a closed-energy system.
They can be re-charged and re-used as a power source in equipment or in our case; to power vehicles.

The technology of battery power has moved on from Lead Acid to Lithium Ion with its built
in benefits of Flexibility and higher voltage. There is an added benefit which is that they can be produced in a wide variety of shapes and sizes such that construction is easier
into an irregular volume that might be found in a car. The final benefit is that
they have no memory and no planned cycling is necessary to prolong the battery’s life.
Manufacturers are relentlessly boosting lithium-ion technology with new and superior chemical permutations. The disadvantages include the cost and availability of
Lithium and hence the batteries themselves, and also the life span of such batteries.

A new exciting development in battery technological innovation is the use of Carbon Nanotubes. These are sub microscopic structures. They are just billionths of a metre in diameter. Carbon Nanotubes resemble honeycombs. Scientists have been evaluating the attributes of these for some years and have found that Nanotube material can exhibit the property of a capacitor with extremely high energy density. Quite how long it will take for this to be converted into an available (and cheap) battery which can be utilised in an electric car is anybody’s guess.

The second related question concerning batteries is just how do we recharge them?

 

Because of the short range – less than 100 miles with current technology – and lack of recharging facilities the use of electric cars is automatically restricted. I believe that electrics will serve a niche sector for local driving by a few individuals. It won’t serve the needs for those with long travelling mileage or even local on-the-road workers.Whilst I might drive only 5 miles to work and back each day or 10 miles to the supermarket or the gym, visiting friends and family some distance away will be difficult. Moreover even if the expected range of my electric motor vehicle is 100 miles between recharges because of the lack of appropriate recharging points I would be hesitant to risk running out of energy before I could return home. As urbanization proceeds the electric car will be acceptable for city travel where distances are limited and where the range of an electronic car to be several times the day-to-day distance driven is achievable.

What is the solution? The technology to make an power car that could be recharged practically anywhere is undoubtedly here – it merely hasn’t made it to the marketplace.  The proposition to create “charging stations” seems to have missed the point. We need to just plug it into your household outlet and leave it overnight.

An additional answer which might be feasible in the short term as a method is the battery that can be changed out at “electric filling stops” Pull in like we do at petrol gas stops and the station attendant easily swaps out your battery pack for a recharged one. This could be the solution for long distance road travel although not ideal.

One final point to be considered is that this electricity is not free – it must be produced somewhere and at some cost. We will need additional power generation and wind, solar or other sustainable methods will be needed. Many want nuclear but although this is a very safe form of energy, it suffers from a number of drawbacks – but that is another topic for another day.

 

 

Battery Powered Ride On Motorcycle Trike For Kids Comes In Pink Too

• great gift
• really cute
• loads of fun

This awesome battery powered ride on electric motorcycle is great for kids. Features include, a rechargeable 6 volt battery, 3 wheels with treads, working lights, & a 6 Volt charger. Check out the awesome police style siren lights. Start cruising your house or block in style with this awesome battery powered ride on toy. Plus, it has plenty of power to get up concrete aprons and can ride on sidewalks too.
Features:
Brand new in box ready to ship immediately
Easy to operate, kids can work on it themselves after
first time showing by parents
Left, right, forward and backward function
Working spotlights and dynamo
Siren and music available
Rechargeable battery
Pedal control on the right foot side
Specially designed seat for extra comfort
Storage box in utility for kids to put some toys and feel like real traveling
Recommended for kids 3-8 years old
Can be loaded up to 66 lbs
Minor assembly required
Tricycles in pink also available
Specifications:
Speed: up to 1.5 mph
Battery output: 6V 4Ah
Charger output: 6V 500MA
Charging time: 10 hours
Utility time: 1 – 2 hours
Overall dimension: 30 “(L) x 12″(W) x 22″(H)

Accessories:
1 Ride On Battery Powered Motorcycle Trike
1 battery
1 charger
1 manual
Due to extremely high demand for these ride on cars, color choice will be preferenced, but cannot be guaranteed. Each of the colors looks very nice and we definitely do our best to send the color selected. If the color chosen is out of stock, then the next most popular color will be sent.

Price:

Are Electric Cars A Part Of Your Future?

It seems that not so long ago, electric cars were a very distant possibility. However, in today’s world, electric cars are becoming extremely popular and may very well be a large part of our not so distant future. Electric cars have been produced, tried, and tested by many manufacturers and consumers are excited about the prospect. Let us take a look at the many positives that can go with the future of electric cars and why we should consider it as a possibility in our own future.

Electric cars are all together cleaner and safer for our environment. By driving electric cars, our generation will virtually eliminate air pollution and make the air cleaner for future generations. Cleaner air to breathe is a necessity and electric cars can work to provide that.

Electric cars are more affordable than fuel powered cars. Studies on electric cars have shown that for a passenger vehicle it will cost less to run the electric cars, than filling your car up every week with gas. In fact, for about , electric cars can operate for one full month. With the price of fuel on the rise at a consistent speed, electric cars would offer our finances a nice break. Maintenance is more affordable as well; you will not have to worry about changing the oil, submitting your car for a smog check, or having a tune up performed on electric cars.

Noise pollution is something we all complain about, especially within the bigger cities. Electric cars provide a quieter environment for everyone concerned. The future of electric cars mean no more 3 AM wake up calls by our neighbor’s loud cars. Furthermore, those that live close to busy streets and highways will sleep and live easier without the extra noises from the cars driving down the streets.

One problem about electric cars is at the present time it cannot travel extremely far without needing a charge. 25 to 60 miles on one charge is about all you can expect at this point in time. However, some areas offer “charging stations”, for example those in California can stop at a charging station and charge their electric cars for longer trips. It takes about three hours to fully charge the electric cars before you are ready to go again. The technology of electric cars is still being manufactured and research; we can expect great things in the markets in the future.

In the end, we all live here on earth and are all responsible for its preservation. Everyone needs to do their part, however seemingly small that may be. Use of electric cars is only one possibility to consider in preserving quality of life on earth for ours and future generations.

Who Killed the WATER Car? Part 3 of 6

Oil company murdered family. A friend of mine bought a car from an old lady. She said she was selling because she was moving out of the country. Her son a Geologist, daughter in law, and baby were found murdered. She said they were killed because her son refused to falsify oil survey findings. Her son called her and told her he was in fear for his life. He and his family were killed shortly thereafter. She was so upset that she was becoming a missionary assistant and moving to the Philippines. Here are some clips that prove what she is saying. These clips are not directly related, but it shows how inventors are murdered or suppressed.

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Who Killed the WATER Car? Part 2 of 6

Oil company murdered family. A friend of mine bought a car from an old lady. She said she was selling because she was moving out of the country. Her son a Geologist, daughter in law, and baby were found murdered. She said they were killed because her son refused to falsify oil survey findings. He son called her and told her he was in fear for his life. He and his family were killed shortly thereafter. She was so upset that she was becoming a missionary assistant and moving to the Philippines. Here are some clips that prove what she is saying. These clips are not directly related, but it shows how inventors are murdered or suppressed.

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