Going Electric?

[bigfish528]

I would miss the V8 sound and feel in muscle cars and simulating the sound through speakers does not cut it for me.Economy cars I would not mind. Luxury cars I am up in the air about, trucks and suvs maybe. Not that I ever had one but I would also miss cars that have 12 cylinder engines like Rolls Royce, Bentley and the like ,they just go so well together.

[mc2hill]

I don`t know about the cost of battery replacement, but a year or two ago I did see a report where someone did study the savings on using an electric car. When the author compared the increase to his electric bill vs. their fuel bill for their other vehicles, they paid substantially less despite seeing a noticeable up-tick in their electric bill.

Right now, I don`t think the burden on the electrical companies is enough to really strain the grid. However in the future, when large metro areas (or countries) demand 100% electric vehicles, there are going to be big problems.

Costs for the free stations? My guess they are paid out of operating costs from the business/organization that owns the station. The ones in my area are all private and not paid for by a municipality or utility company.

That makes sense. We had something similar with the power outages from the hurricane - my mother-in-law has a NG whole-house generator that she ran for 4 days, and was surprised when her gas bill was over $300. I know we were spending $7 a day on gas for the generator to power a fridge and a fan - about the same amount we spend daily on electricity.
My point is it is cheaper for one big engine (the power plant) to create the power than lots of little ones. Kind of the same thought with electric cars vs. gas cars.

[JHL88]

sitting on the sidelines for now until they improve on battery longevity and performance. Even then, I wouldn`t solely have an electric car. I`d have to have a gasoline powered too. IMO driving wouldn`t be as engaged and fun anymore. Something about a turbo/sc`d cammed out v8

[Desertnate]

A comment made by the author reviewing the new Nissan Leaf triggered another thought I hadn`t considered for a while when discussing electric vehicles: cold weather range reduction.

I don`t live in an area that sees extremely cold weather, but it isn`t uncommon to go days or even a week or two at a time below freezing and overnight lows will hit the single digits in the depths of winter. However, even in that mild-ish winter climate a guy I worked with for a while noticed his fist gen Chevy Volt`s range decreased by 10~15 mile during the depths of winter. That`s rather considerable since the all-electric range was around 60 miles before the engine would kick in. I could see this being a significant issue for those living in the northern tier states or Canada where much colder weather is the norm.

The funny part of the story is the catch-22 my colleague would find himself. The cold weather causes the batteries to discharge faster, so Chevy created a system to heat the battery...which was powered by electricity from the battery. The very thing designed to counter the effects of the weather actually lead to the end result of range reduction.

[Dan]

Range reduction because of the cold isn`t just an issue with electric! Gas cars suffer it too. FWIW, the Leaf does not heat (or cool) its batteries. The nice thing about electrics in the winter is the heat, its like a hair dryer, instant! That`s primarily what kills the range though. For electrics with old school wire coils, you get at least a 10% loss. The cars with heat pumps do a little bit better.