Originally Posted by grantv

Currently only a select few can afford electric cars. And they are quick. I love the sound of gas internal combustion motors (not diesel), but am not blind to the fact that electric cars are coming full force. I'd think sooner than 10 years we'll see a huge increase.

Originally Posted by C5Dobie

I will reiterate, if even 50% of all cars on the road today were fully electric, someone w/ knowledge on the subject tell me where/how all the power needed to charge these vehicles on a continuous basis will come from? (answer - there is no answer - not unless we start building more nuclear plants)

Ever wonder what LA/NY/Boston/Chicago/Dallas etc etc traffic would be like if/"when" ALL cars are electric & even 5% (I think that is being generous) dying in big city traffic due to lack of charge? This WILL occur.

Fully electric vehicles are a nifty carnival trick, but are not even close to being practical without a MASSIVE overhaul of our current power grid/transportation network. Hybrids? Now there's something that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Gxpz06

like Rob said this is suppose to be about drag racing,. which makes your point VERY relevant .... the electric car is doomed and we racers will get into racing them because it wont be useful for anything else cool down time is just re-charging time

For the expense, and if your commute is not planned out right,. Its just nothing compared realiable transportation to what we have had for century now,. sure we got spoiled and all bells and whisttles as made the cars heavy and consume more fuel then we should ,. but electric is NOT the answer by any stretch of imagination..

Ofcourse no offense Rob your Wifes car is nice But it seems you like it even better (racing) then her

Originally Posted by grampi50

What's next, diesel pickups faster than C5s?

Originally Posted by midnight01

your check engine light is on as well as ABS, I would get that checked before catastrophe

Originally Posted by C5Dobie

Doubtful between the oil industry (OPEC & N. America) & our nation's unwillingness to seek nuclear power as our main source for powering our grid. This electric vehicle thing is such a ruse its really ridiculous. What do you think would happen to regional power grids if all of a sudden 50 million E-cars started getting plugged in every night?

But they're "greener" right? No emissions. Hmmm...where do you think most of the electricity comes from in the USA? Hydro power? Nope...only accounts for maybe 4-5% of all power generation. Those nifty solar/windmill farms? Nah, that's only about 4-5% too (oh, and lets not get into the environmental devastation required to open up enough space to get any significant generation by them).....about 70% of all US power is generated through burning of fossil fuels, and more than a 1/3 by coal alone.

Then there's the whole issue of not being able to recycle the batteries that power these E-cars - compared to a traditional lead acid car battery or a Ni-MH (nickel metal hybrid batteries) the LI batteries are much more complex, heavier, larger, way more difficult to recycle on mass scale (lead batteries are literally shredded up whole & the entire recycling process is 100% sustainable & all byproducts are put to use) & are not easily removed from vehicles as well. In addition LI battery composition can vary greatly between manufacturers - something that probably won't change as its tied directly to a vehicles designed use/performance etc. - in particular the materials used to make up the cathodes in the battery can be cobalt based (majority) or AL, or MN, or NI etc. These heavy metals cannot be easily mechanically separated either as they're sprayed like a powdery adhesive onto a metal foil (usually AL) - without getting into very boring details lets just say the only feasible/economical way to separate these heavy metals in a recycling setting is not good for the environment (in fact its VERY bad). Lastly, @ the end of the day regardless of whether its good or bad for the planet recycling is a business & if recycling a certain product is too difficult, costly, or generally unprofitable guess what? It won't happen on its own. So what does that mean? That the US govt will most likely force people (businesses) into ensuring these batteries are recycled in a safe manner more than likely resulting in increased costs to the auto manufacturer, and a likely coinciding subsidy to battery recyclers to help offset the bad business case of recycling them & give an incentive instead.

Guess who's pocket these subsidies & increased manufacturing costs come out of? You guessed it - US TAXPAYERS!!!

Think about all of this before you buy an E-car or as you claim your tesla tax credit bahahahhahaha

Hybrid vehicles? Hell yes we have something there, the batteries are smaller & can be standardized & since the vehicle has a tradiotional AL motor/tranny it still has the normal recycling incentives as part of its intrinsic value. Hybrid cars make sense on many many levels.

Lastly, I'll give you a little food for thought on AL bodied cars - again the sensible business case is similar to the hybrid idea & is GM's approach - use a combo of multiple materials to hedge your material costs/risk while also meeting the same end goal, lower weight better mpg. The little lie/missing piece of information on AL cars? Well Aluminum sheet is much MUCH more energy intensive/costly to produce vs. traditional high strength steel. I've read a number of articles analysing this trend & the proposed environmental benefits & the gist of it is this: despite an AL vehicles lower weight & supposed better mpg like the F-150, even taking that into consideration in order to offset the total additional carbon emissions generated during the production of the AL used to make the truck you would need to own it a minimum of 10.5 years averaging 15,000 miles/year.

Its a joke.

Originally Posted by grampi50

What's next, diesel pickups faster than C5s?

Originally Posted by Phanni

Really?

I just bet 100.000 on LIT ( a lithium ETF)

Every single auto manufacturer is betting on batteries, and lithium ion is the currently best way to go.