Electric Cars

Amaroo Park · 17 Mar 2002, 09:40 (Ref:237229)

I know a person who is in the process of convering a Suzuki Carry ute in to an Electric Vehicle. Looking at all the work he is putting into it it seems like an absoult waste of time. What do you think of Electric Vehicles and do you know anyone whos has tried to build one?????

Morris 1100 · 17 Mar 2002, 10:05 (Ref:237279)

Yeah I know a bloke with an electric car but he is saving up to buy some batteries!
But there have been some success stories!

Bomn · 17 Mar 2002, 10:20 (Ref:237298)

That would be a bugger to unload the boot to get out the spare tyre.

DavyboyLT1 · 17 Mar 2002, 10:50 (Ref:237330)

I wonder how the front/rear weight ratio would affect handling....

A few more technological breakthroughs are needed before electric cars can compare to the good old internal combustion ones.

Morris 1100 · 17 Mar 2002, 11:27 (Ref:237364)

Quote:

Originally posted by Bomn
That would be a bugger to unload the boot to get out the spare tyre.

With the range you get from electric cars you don't need to carry a spare wheel.......... you can just walk back to your garage and get it!

Morris 1100 · 17 Mar 2002, 11:31 (Ref:237369)

Quote:

Originally posted by DavyboyLT1
A few more technological breakthroughs are needed before electric cars can compare to the good old internal combustion ones.

How about this for a major technological breakthrough the automatic charger connector, you just drive up and it plugs straight in (thus saving you the effort of doing it every 20 minutes)

Bluebottle · 17 Mar 2002, 11:34 (Ref:237372)

Canada plays host to an electric Dutton Phaeton (there was a link to the relavent site on the Dutton O.C. web page, but it's gone now- I'll go searching...) I also recently found a site with an electric Triumph Spitfire which was built by students and used for autotesting events.
Electric cars are still a long way from being a viable alternative but there are one ore two reasonable city cars around such as the Ford Think which has an almost useable rangeand a top speed of 50 mph.
My wife has an electric bike with a range of 25 miles and a legaly regulated top speed of 17 mph, it's got enough power to drag you up hills without pedal assistance and is quite entertaining to ride!

Bluebottle · 17 Mar 2002, 11:53 (Ref:237388)

Here's the electric Dutton:-
www.canadiandriver.com/articles/slm/electric.htm

Bluebottle · 17 Mar 2002, 12:03 (Ref:237394)

Looks like that site needs recharging- sorry!

DAVID PATERSON · 19 Mar 2002, 04:08 (Ref:238961)

I don't understand why anyone would want to develop an elecric car. They are NOT green, eco friendly cars!

Where the bloody hell do you think the electricity comes from. Either a nuclear power station, a hydroelectric dam or most probably from burning coal.

DavyboyLT1 · 19 Mar 2002, 05:01 (Ref:238996)

Let's not forget the total lack of excitement with electric cars.

I'll stick with my 5.7L V8 - I'm not ready to drive around like the Jetsons!

matty_lee · 23 Mar 2002, 20:31 (Ref:242506)

I can remember seeing a Peugeot 106 Electric car on Top Gear once. It had the amazing top speed of 28 MPH, with the foot flat to the floor.

Amaroo Park · 6 Apr 2002, 04:18 (Ref:253159)

I was informed today of the price of the batteries for and Elec car and to be able to justify $10,000 on batteries you would have to be alittle soft in the head to say the least

Amaroo Park · 7 Jun 2002, 09:11 (Ref:307155)

Quote:

Originally posted by colinbond
I was informed today of the price of the batteries for and Elec car and to be able to justify $10,000 on batteries you would have to be alittle soft in the head to say the least

Lets build an electric car and then not be able to afford the batteries

Crash Test · 7 Jun 2002, 11:30 (Ref:307262)

$10K? Pffftttt.... that's nothing. 2-3 tanks of gas these days...

Bomn · 7 Jun 2002, 11:35 (Ref:307263)

You could buy 10km of extension cord at supercheap for $10000

Morris 1100 · 7 Jun 2002, 11:39 (Ref:307267)

$10K .... he has spent that on inlet manifolds this year!

Amaroo Park · 7 Jun 2002, 11:49 (Ref:307271)

Quote:

Originally posted by Morris 1100
$10K .... he has spent that on inlet manifolds this year!

Surely someone of your intelligence could see they are worth it

Hodge · 1 Jul 2002, 11:00 (Ref:325029)

Quote:

Originally posted by colinbond

Surely someone of your intelligence could see they are worth it

Just get a long extension lead

Neil C · 1 Jul 2002, 21:25 (Ref:325427)

Every year in the US there is a cross country race of cars running on solar electric power. These are built by University engineering students and sponsored by the Society of Automobile Engineers. That form of electric power is very green, but still very inefficient.

Most bets these days are on fuel cells or internal combustion/fuel cell hybreds rather than AC/DC.

StuiE · 4 Jul 2002, 11:35 (Ref:326984)

I cant see why car companys are trying to delvelop hydrogen cars, when nitromethane is man-made and therefore wont run out (not for a long while anyway) and it isnt that bad for the environment - and oh yeah, POWER!

3state · 24 Jul 2002, 12:07 (Ref:341508)

Recently I saw a Toyota Prius - i was fairly impressed: they compare favourably in power and speed to a small car, and the range is far in excess of anything on the road. There's the matter of cost, but that will improve with time. I think electric cars do have a future, particularly the hybrid car in the immediate future. They're only in their early stages of development and will eventually compare to combustion cars (obviously you'll never have the sound of a V8!). The advantage of an electric car is the torque, its almost instantaneous. Hydrogen also has a future.

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