Getting an electric car soon.

[Mark Luper]

I would hold off buying until more car manufacturers start building Extended-Range Electric cars like the gm-volt.  If your commute is less than 40 miles a day you will use zero gas.  However if you need to go on a long trip or your commute is slightly over 40 miles it has internal combustible engine that will power the electric motor for extended range.  The internal combustible engine is also capable of running on other fuels besides gasoline. The gm-volt concept car is a win-win situation.  If you believe global warming is man made this car is a step in the right direction since it would produce zero emissions.  If you don't like sending OPEC money this car can help reduce dependency on foreign oil.

http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/?seo=goo
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gm_volt

Soda, it is an internal combustion engine. The one you mentioned wouldn't last because everytime you used it the internals would burn up 

Word

Mark

[Chalenge]

Did you know the car manufacturers are already prepard to give us whatever it is that is decided is the best option? Hydrogen/electric/LP it doesnt matter but someone needs to make a decision as to which direction to go because tooling up and going in any one direction and away from petroleum is going to be expensive. Throw into that the fact that GM and Ford claim to be in deep trouble and now might not be the time for a change.

HOWEVER you know Honda has a car that runs on natural gas already? Right now thats as close to zero emissions as anyone has gotten even beating electric (because of the emissions caused by generating electricity). AND this spring they launch the Honda Insight Hybrid which will be even better (in full ECON mode).

I expect Obama will legislate US manufacturers to tool over to green vehicles if he can get away with it.

Ford makes a car overseas that can get better then 70 mpg but US laws would not allow it on our roads.

[Wingnutt]

its not feasable in the short term to switch to an alternative fuel that cannot be delivered via the infrastructure in place..

current electrics are worse than gas due to the pollution created by the process of creating them.

Hydrogen is way out still..

forget solar.

my vote is still for bio fuel, more precisely Ethanol that derived by switchgrass.

It can be grown easly without using large amounts of fertalizer, it has a lower carbon footprint than even corn ethanol.

all the technology to use it is currently available.

and most importantly, it can be transported, and distributed by facilities already in place.


too bad Big Oil still has the government bought and paid for.

oh well, on the bright side, the Saudis can keep buying gold plated toilets.

[CAP1]

Soda, it is an internal combustion engine. The one you mentioned wouldn't last because everytime you used it the internals would burn up 

Word

Mark

i'm missing something here? every car on the road today runs on an internal combustion engine, yet they don't burn up?

[john9001]

i'm missing something here? every car on the road today runs on an internal combustion engine, yet they don't burn up?

yes you did, soda said "internal combustible engine".

[indy007]

Brand is brand, service is service.

It can be, depending on the brand. BMW, no problem. Tesla... big problem. You can't just go to Hi-Lo and order new brake pads for it. Without the major infrastructure of the large manufacturers, you're just a niche brand, which means ownership hassles.

There's a guy near where I live with a Smart Car. It's neat. It's efficient.... and you only have to drive 40 miles across town for service.

Now, for the half empty car in the garage, my mind goes again to an extra battery pack. Isn't that how the Tesla car works?

Somebody designed a battery pack that can run a car, costs so little you can have extras in your garage (electric & hybrid batteries run upwards of 10k USD), and can be quickly & easily swapped in and out by anybody from a 16 year old to a 80 year old woman, as fast as I can top off my tank with gas?

I've got a bridge you may be interested in purchasing....

[CAP1]

yes you did, soda said "internal combustible engine".

doh!!

pardon me whilst i go remove my foot from my mouth. 

[CAP1]

It can be, depending on the brand. BMW, no problem. Tesla... big problem. You can't just go to Hi-Lo and order new brake pads for it. Without the major infrastructure of the large manufacturers, you're just a niche brand, which means ownership hassles.

There's a guy near where I live with a Smart Car. It's neat. It's efficient.... and you only have to drive 40 miles across town for service.

Somebody designed a battery pack that can run a car, costs so little you can have extras in your garage (electric & hybrid batteries run upwards of 10k USD), and can be quickly & easily swapped in and out by anybody from a 16 year old to a 80 year old woman, as fast as I can top off my tank with gas?

I've got a bridge you may be interested in purchasing....

does anyonme realize that edison was messing with electric cars back in 1913?

[indy007]

does anyonme realize that edison was messing with electric cars back in 1913?

Jay Leno has several in his garage, and they still run.

They weren't exactly using high end, lithium ion batteries though

[CAP1]

Jay Leno has several in his garage, and they still run.

They weren't exactly using high end, lithium ion batteries though

ooo i know.......but i was going on the basis that if we haven't gotten one to work well in all this time, then it might be a clue to look somewhere else.

 on the other hand, i was watching the histor channel the other night......a show about nicola tesla came on. was good. only prob was i didn't make it all the way through. commercial came on, and suddenly, my alarm is going off. 

[33Vortex]

If you are serious about buying a electric or hybrid car, make sure you don't miss this one.

www.aptera.com

[texasmom]

Of all the things in the original post, the thing that stood out when I read it was that 95% of the driving y'all do is within 15 minutes of your home. Wow. That must be pretty nice.

Look forward to reading your follow-on posts after you make the purchase & start driving the thing around for a while.

[vorticon]

ooo i know.......but i was going on the basis that if we haven't gotten one to work well in all this time, then it might be a clue to look somewhere else.

technology has come a lonnng way since then, and until recently, there hasn't been any real incentive to apply it to vehicles.

[Nilsen]

Of all the things in the original post, the thing that stood out when I read it was that 95% of the driving y'all do is within 15 minutes of your home. Wow. That must be pretty nice.

Look forward to reading your follow-on posts after you make the purchase & start driving the thing around for a while.

Im retired and the missus works from home. All the driving we need to do is shopping in the city and to deliver the kid at kindergarden. Inlaws and my dad also lives within 15-20 mins 

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Very true UNLESS you need a new car in the first place. Im not doing it to save the enviroment though, only my wallet.

If electric/hybrid/whatever cars are going into the marketplace in a normal replacement cycle as an alternative to the "normal" cars, and NOT as an addition to them then the enviromental marketing as you call it is true.

It would be far more ecofriendly to extend the lifecycle of current cars by maintaining them longer. But the car industry must sell more cars every year in order to bring profits to the stock owners, therefore hybrid cars etc. are being marketed as ecofriendly and come with a price premium.

The global warming brings with it the scam of a century - ripping off consumers riding on ecological guilt. What's unprecedented is that it now happens on state level - taxation follows the lead. Very telling that instead of releasing ecological products and green tech development from tax they rise taxes on all 'bad' instead. Which leaves people with no alternative but continue using their old tech only paying a lot more tax for it.