In article ,
BobR wrote:
On Nov 25, 4:34 pm, wrote:
Electric cars are not an unrealistic space age creation. Electric
cars were created way back in the 1900s when gasoline was so expensive
that consumers could not afford to fill their vehicles. Sound
familiar? During this time period there were more electric cars on
the road than gas powered cars. Unfortunately, research into creating
electric cars as the mainstream vehicle was pushed aside when cheaper
ways to produce oil were found. So where can a consumer go to create
their own electric car? There are electric car conversion companies
willing to assist in this pursuit. Discount Auto Partshttp://www.behot.us

Before we jump from the frying pan into the fire how about some
analysis on rather an electric car is really efficient. Somehow I
can't believe it is more efficient and less poluting to generate the
electricity, transmit it long distances, store it and convert it back
to energy to drive a car than use direct conversion of gasoline to
energy. That doesn't even consider the long term enviromental impact
of dealing with the chemicals and heavy metals used in batteries.


To start with, an internal combustion engine is dreadfully inefficient
in and of itself. _Theoretical_ best for a gasoline engine is around 45%.
(real-world practical is 5-10% lower) Diesels do somewhat better with a
theoretical max at 56% (real-world in the high 40s)

'external' combustion, as used at large generating facilities hits over
90%, to the drive-shaft. 90-95% efficiency in the generator, plus 10-20%
losses in distribution. call it 85% in battery charging and 90% for the
drive motor. Taking all that into consideration, you're getting 50+% of
the energy of the generator plant fuel _to_the_wheels_ of the electric car.

This compares very favorably with auto gas engines, and is on a par with
the *best* diesels running at optimum -- which, in automotive applications
is -not- anywhere near 100% of the time.

Thus, electric gives a _relative_ 25-50% more power to the wheels than
internal combustion from the same amount of fuel.

This is somewhat offset by the greater weight of the batteries/motor(s)
vs the engine and gas tank of the IC vehicle.

All that said 20-33% more "system" efficiency for 'electric' -is- not an
unreasonable claim.`

There are major 'practical' issues of getting enough battery capacity to
have decent 'range', the length of time it takes to recharge, and the
power levels needed to recharge in a relatively short time.

There's an electric "sports car" on the market at the moment that needs
70A @240V for a quick-charge (a few hours) of it's batteries.

With typical house service being 100A @240v, that means you can't run
an electric stove, _or_ the air-conditioning while the car is charging.