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Electric Car Conversion Companies: Alternatives To Gas Powered Cars
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 Parts http://www.behot.us |
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Electric Car Conversion Companies: Alternatives To Gas PoweredCars
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. |
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Electric Car Conversion Companies: Alternatives To Gas Powered Cars
"IO-540" wrote in message ... On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:34:48 -0800 (PST), 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 Parts http://www.behot.us I saw something on TV about that, they showed this guy who took older small cars like Triumph Spitfires, and converted them to electric. And they were nothing fancy, just glorified golf carts with more speed and batteries. I'd love one for just getting around my area, especially since I don't have to travel that far. I wonder how much it would cost to charge one up after the batteries were depleted? I'll bet it's cheaper than the gas would cost. It would doubt take a large bank of deep cycle marine type batteries, which aren't cheap, but not all that expensive either. They have them at Walmart for about the same as start batteries for cars. Before trying a DIY car conversion, try a motorcycle. Converting a motorcycle to electric is much easier, cheaper and generally more successful. Bill D |
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Electric Car Conversion Companies: Alternatives To Gas PoweredCars
On Nov 26, 7:43 am, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:
"IO-540" wrote in message ... On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:34:48 -0800 (PST), 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 I saw something on TV about that, they showed this guy who took older small cars like Triumph Spitfires, and converted them to electric. And they were nothing fancy, just glorified golf carts with more speed and batteries. I'd love one for just getting around my area, especially since I don't have to travel that far. I wonder how much it would cost to charge one up after the batteries were depleted? I'll bet it's cheaper than the gas would cost. It would doubt take a large bank of deep cycle marine type batteries, which aren't cheap, but not all that expensive either. They have them at Walmart for about the same as start batteries for cars. Before trying a DIY car conversion, try a motorcycle. Converting a motorcycle to electric is much easier, cheaper and generally more successful. Bill D- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - When it comes to practical transporation, a motorcycle, scooter, etc. ranks only slightly better than a bike. Maybe in the south where year- round use is possible (although not comfortable in the winter) and if you don't want to carry anything sizeable. Harry K |
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Electric Car Conversion Companies: Alternatives To Gas Powered Cars
"Harry K" wrote in message ... On Nov 26, 7:43 am, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote: "IO-540" wrote in message ... On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:34:48 -0800 (PST), 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 I saw something on TV about that, they showed this guy who took older small cars like Triumph Spitfires, and converted them to electric. And they were nothing fancy, just glorified golf carts with more speed and batteries. I'd love one for just getting around my area, especially since I don't have to travel that far. I wonder how much it would cost to charge one up after the batteries were depleted? I'll bet it's cheaper than the gas would cost. It would doubt take a large bank of deep cycle marine type batteries, which aren't cheap, but not all that expensive either. They have them at Walmart for about the same as start batteries for cars. Before trying a DIY car conversion, try a motorcycle. Converting a motorcycle to electric is much easier, cheaper and generally more successful. Bill D- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - When it comes to practical transporation, a motorcycle, scooter, etc. ranks only slightly better than a bike. Maybe in the south where year- round use is possible (although not comfortable in the winter) and if you don't want to carry anything sizeable. Harry K Somewhat overstated, Harry. I ride a 1000cc Kawasaki Concours sport touring bike in Colorado. It's 28 degrees outside right now and I plan to ride it to lunch adding only a flight jacket and helmet. Any temperature above freezing is comfortable once the engine warms up since the engine heat is captured in a bubble behind the fairing. My feet stay downright toasty. It's actually less comfortable in mid summer. The two huge hardside luggage boxes easily hold a weeks clothing. I do 99% of my shopping with the bike. My SUV rarely gets used. My average is 60 MPG and with 7.5 gallons in the tank, that's a long ways between fillups. Of course at 80 mph on the interstates, it's more like 47MPG. I'd buy an electric motorcycle like the Vectrix Thrust in a heartbeat. See:Http://www.bsmotoring.com/bsm/wcms/e...07-071123.html (scroll down near the bottom of the page) Bill D |
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Electric Car Conversion Companies: Alternatives To Gas PoweredCars
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. |
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Electric Car Conversion Companies: Alternatives To Gas Powered Cars
"Robert Bonomi" wrote 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. Where do you live? Around here, a 200 amp service is minimum, by code, and has been for years. That leaves plenty of power for the house. -- Jim in NC |
#9
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Electric Car Conversion Companies: Alternatives To Gas PoweredCars
Morgans wrote:
"Robert Bonomi" wrote 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. Where do you live? Around here, a 200 amp service is minimum, by code, and has been for years. That leaves plenty of power for the house. I think 200 amp has been common since the 70's, 100amp since the 50's and 60 amp before that. You would be surprised at how many homes are out there with the old A-base style meters and sub 100amp service..... |
#10
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Electric Car Conversion Companies: Alternatives To Gas Powered Cars
On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 16:40:15 -0800 (PST), 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. Electric cars are more efficient than the regular variety, but... and it's a big but. The all electrics are short range and not practical for most of us, but for those with short drives they do have sufficient range. So far, they are Expensive compared to regular cars. Very expensive. Although they are efficient. The motors are more like 95% which is great and even taking into account all the losses in power generation and transmission they are more efficient than the gas powered car, BUT (there's another one of those buts) even with that increased efficiency they probably create considerably more pollution than gas powered cars as most electricity is generated by coal fired plants. Those plants release a lot of particulates, sulphur, CO2, and Mercury through tall stacks that send the results to cities and states down wind. In the end that power to power the electric car is more polluting than the gas powered cars, or more so than most of them. OTOH if most of the cars in our major cities were electric we'd see a marked increase of air quality in those cities. OTOH if those cars were small hybrids we'd also see an increase in the air quality. Then there is the problem of getting electricity to the end user as well as cost. Simply stated; we currently do not have the grid capacity even in off hours to handle a substantial number of all electric cars. So what happens if a lot of people go for the electric car and we are short on grid capacity. Distributed power generation using solar, wind, or what ever can help in many geographic areas, but without more grid capacity those too are limited. Real time metering and control of demand is on its way. Some areas already have it, but with a continuing high demand you can expect to see rates get much higher. Her in Michigan they run about 10 cents per KWh with all charges while in California they peak around 38 cents. At 38 cents per KWh it would be difficult to save money over the cost of running an efficient hybrid. On top of this are the batteries needed. Enough lead acid batteries to give a reasonable range (just from the suburbs into town to shop) would be expensive, very heavy, take up a lot of space, and are a hazard on the roads due to transporting sulphuric acid. How long will one heavy duty, deep cycle marine battery run a starter? Now kick that up to moving the car and it's going to take a lot of batteries. Even good high capacity battery packs such as Nickel Metal Hydride (which also makes a good Hydrogen sponge) is expensive and no light weight. Typical MiMH packs used in hybrids today run on the order of $4,000 plus and they are sufficient only when used in conjunction with a small gas engine. It's possible, but doubtful two packs ($8,000) would manage 40 miles even in city driving. Then there is the new Lithium family of batteries. They are powerful, compact and lighter weight with reasonable life, but they are *really* expensive. BUT (had to say it again) the new technology batteries present a disposal and/or recycling problem in addition to all the pollution from the coal fired power plants.. They are not environmental friendly but they haven't been around long enough to really see how this is going to fly. Also as soon as the technology becomes widespread the price of electricity will raise enough for the all electric car to lose any cost advantage. First in and First out (FIFO to borrow a computer term) could save a lot if they weren't so expensive to implement. Unfortunately when they drive up the price it will be a higher price we all have to pay just to turn on the lights. The side effects of many going to all electric would probably have a greater effect on the cost of living then using a lot of corn to make alcohol will on the food chain. Hydrogen takes even more energy to produce. All-in-all there is no one technology that can have much more than a small effect as far as helping the economy and environment. Like the energy efficient home that uses a mix of active and passive solar energy along with the power mains/natural gas and even uses the gray water instead of dumping it down the sewer, we are going to have to combine technologies along with learning how to conserve. Currently the best answer by far is the hybrid and learning how to conserve. Roger (K8RI) |
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