Quote:
Originally Posted by RawAlex
It is a nice documentary, but it is a bit loaded on one side.
What really killed (and continues to kill) the electric car is a combination of:
1) Poor battery life, long recharge times,
2) That pesky problem that americans want to drive more than 30 miles per day
3) That pesky problem that americans sometimes want to drive to another state, to the beach, or whatever on an occassional basis.
4) The current electric power grid isn't up to handling millions of cars getting plugged in every night.
5) Americans live in places with extreme cold and other issues that make an electric car all but useless.
Mass production of electric cars just wouldn't be happening. Until battery technology improves dramatically, the rest is pretty much a moot point.
Just remember too: in many states, the electricity is generated by burning either coal, natural gas, or oil based products. As much as a plug in electric car would be a nice thing from a personal responsibly point of view, the reality is in those areas, it would actually take more oil per mile driven with an electric car than with a current car.
An interesting documentary, yes... but a little short on showing both sides of the issue.
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Where did 30 miles come in? The EV1 with todays batteries could go 300 miles on a charge. Hybrid cars of today are supposed to have I think it's a 7 year battery life. Most people don't own a new car 7 years.
I also don't think the newer batteries have the same issue with cold as older lead based batteries. However I'm not 100% on that. I agree with the power grid issue and the travel out of state aspect but over time the power grid issue would be updated. The long distance traveling is the only major disadvantage I can see with them.