| Would you drive an electric car or truck?
Posted: 7/2/2008 8:58:52 PM | It is somewhat puzzling to me why any electric car would cost more than what we have now. The industry could use slightly modified current models.
The storage of fuel cells may require some re-designing of the car shape, nothing auto manufactures are not already doing.
The electric motor is relatively simple when compared to our modern gas or diesel engines and it would possibly cheaper to build and take less space, break systems, lights, steering climate control etc would need little adjustments and interior designs could remain the same. Just MHO. | |
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| Would you drive an electric car or truck?
Posted: 7/3/2008 2:26:29 AM | I have an 85 KM round trip commute daily. I drive a Firefly, and it gets about 50mpg.
It is costing me about $45 to fill now, and I drive over 100 km usually per day.
I just bought a Sun Tadpole recumbent trike. It has a 500w electric motor, and will do 50kph on the flat using just the motor.
I am gearing it up for the commute on sunny days, and will be sharing the road with rigs doing double my speed on #10.
Saving money? Not yet. I have almost $2500 invested. It's more about avoiding paying this unreasonable money for tax. All the money I pay for electricity goes into transporting me. My company will pay to charge my batteries on the way home.
It shouldn't be long before it becomes a money saver. Especially with this rising cost of fuel, and the taxes on it.
...unless I get flattened before then. ;o( | |
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| Would you drive an electric car or truck?
Posted: 7/3/2008 8:35:56 AM | | Until the reality of owning a descent electric car is in hand I plan to buy one of them electric bikes I have seen. There are some good ones out there that don't cost really all that much when you consider the savings after a few weeks of not driving....... hmm this is starting to sound like the kind of talk the gov. is pushing us into with the high price of fuel. | |
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| Would you drive an electric car or truck?
Posted: 7/3/2008 10:15:46 AM | ^^^ now why would you think the government is pushing us???
If they had any serious interests in the environmental issues they would certainly have legislated auto manufactures to produce "clean" vehicles and not drain the public with more taxes. | |
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| Would you drive an electric car or truck?
Posted: 7/3/2008 6:39:59 PM | See a movie called Who Killed The Electric Car.
It is a stark reminder of why government is limited in its power over auto industry. Just as the tobacco industry is being slowly punished with higher taxes driving the prices up and public opinion is changing to show the negative effects of the tobacco industry we can se the same thing happening in the oil industry. Taxation is driving prices up and OPEC seems to be unregulated and it's own power that answers to no nation or higher authority. Public opinion is also showing that our reliance on fossil fuels is harmful to environment so in order for the government to appear its doing its part is to hit the public directly with initiatives directed at transportation yet leaves the largest polluters in the industrial industry alone for now.
The Gov. is more than happy to tax fuel and line its pockets while offering no real solution to weening ourselves from dependancy from it just as they have done with tobacco, they tax the hell out of it but refuse to eliminate it "Don't kill your cash cow".
So when they hear us talk about going green it shows public they are "doing their part" which is what they want to hear.
The technology is there and we all know it but manufacturers are stalling for as long as they can to keep us reliant on fuel. Even if fuel was half the cost it would still be benificial to drive electric. World speed records will fall soon enough to electric power trust me on that. | |
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