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12-01-2010, 07:11 PM
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#21
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
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Most of my driving is the commute to/from the asylum. A vehicle with a range of about 25 miles, including a/c and the radio, and with capabilities of 45mph would do it for me. But I really don't want two vehicles, so it's a non-starter for me.
My subdivision is landlocked, so I have to use major streets to get about anywhere...
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12-02-2010, 04:49 AM
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#22
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,038
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If we were talking about a car that had a one gallon gas tank that could only go 35 MPH no one would ever buy one. Change that to electric with the same range and performance and now its a good thing?
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In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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12-02-2010, 07:16 AM
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#23
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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Lazarus,
Make that 45, and go about 100 miles on that gallon of gas, sell it for less than ten thousand and you might have a run away best seller. I have a Honda Ruckus scooter, 50cc engine, 80-100 mpg, 40 mph, and it cost two thousand. I use it for most of my trips to the mail box, 2.5 miles away, and such, not so much in the winter. I would pay a couple thousand more to get an enclosed vehicle. Trips are short, so AC, even here in Texas, would not be mandatory. Most folks here use their golf cart, and they go about 20 mph.
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12-04-2010, 07:17 AM
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#24
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,038
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You could be right. If I had an electric car with a solid 100 mile range that cost 10K I might be interested. I still would not pay more for an electric than a gas car unless the performance was compariable and there was a cost savings operating it.
__________________
In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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12-04-2010, 08:17 AM
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#25
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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The leaf has the range, but a $34,000 price tag is ridiculous! A Honda Fit will run you about $15,000, with the Leaf's gov. subsidy, it would be about $27,000. If you drove the 100 miles 5 day a week and your electricity was free, you would save $2,000 a year if gas was $3.00 a gallon. It would take you 6 years to make up the difference, not counting the time value of money, or the replacement of the battery pack that would be looming. Golf carts make since if you can use them in your neighborhood safely. There problem is speed. The fastest one in our neighborhood is about 22 mph.
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12-04-2010, 09:36 AM
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#26
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,304
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam
Thank god for that! Are you sure about 35? 35 seems high to me. 25mph would be more reasonable.
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Yes I'm sure, as I said in my post I was serious about buying an NEV and talked to city officials after I found the regs online. But the laws/regs may be different all over the country/world...
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12-07-2010, 07:02 PM
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#27
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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I came across this today.
GM to show EN-V mobility device at CES 2011 | The Car Tech blog - CNET Reviews
Built on the Segway technology. I found another article saying it would have a 25 mile range, and 35 miles an hr. Now if the price is cheap enough it would be a perfect vehicle for this area.
 
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12-07-2010, 09:39 PM
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#28
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 245
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While the EN-V is a beautiful looking vehicle it clearly suffers from a number of shortcomings. The main one I see is, in the summer, without AC, the inside would be a virtual sauna. Perhaps a model with a more open configuration might prove practical.
Rich
Stumbled on this after commenting on this thread. This appears to be the more practical version of the vehicle seen above.
http://www.ev.com/guides/electric-ca...2-seat-ev.html
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12-08-2010, 07:08 AM
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#29
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,038
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Electric vehicle for ER
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In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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12-08-2010, 07:47 AM
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#30
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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If you can get that thing in a two seat model and 35 mph, sign me up!
Rich,
I agree, however, I figured there had to be some sort of ventilation system, windows that go up or down. The one you posted would work for about 8 months out of the year around here, but it sure looks cold for winter! Maybe there are some removable panels we don't see. Still I'll bet they put a $15,000 price tag on it and wonder why it does not sell!
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12-08-2010, 09:13 AM
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#31
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,038
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Done! Probably can't do 35 though.
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In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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12-08-2010, 09:14 AM
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#32
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,038
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Here is the attachment.
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In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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12-08-2010, 10:18 AM
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#33
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,038
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MDI COMPRESSED AIR CAR | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
This type of vehicle could be a possible solution. With compressed air you don't have the problem with replacing the batteries. I saw a proto type car many years ago at an energy fair. I don't think they took off because the gas car has so much better range and speed. But compaired to electric they look pretty good.
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In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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12-08-2010, 11:51 AM
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#34
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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sure looks like the stress point on that thing might be exceeded! I guess you have to have the weight up front to counter the second seat!
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12-08-2010, 01:25 PM
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#35
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,895
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazarus
MDI COMPRESSED AIR CAR | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
This type of vehicle could be a possible solution. With compressed air you don't have the problem with replacing the batteries. I saw a proto type car many years ago at an energy fair. I don't think they took off because the gas car has so much better range and speed. But compaired to electric they look pretty good.
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On what basis? And if that was true, why isn't there more development on this, or product releases from Nissan, GM, Toyota, Honda?
I've been reading about MDI, but you never seem to be able to actually buy a car. Hmmm....
Motor Development International - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
according to wiki, they have basically been promising to go into production 'later this year', since 2000.
One of the problems with compressed air, is the air is heated as you compress it. Unless you can contain all that heat (think overnight charge in cool/cold weather), it is wasted energy. And then it gets very, very cold upon decompression, and you have freezing problems.
UPS or FedEx was doing a trial, using compressed air as the short term storage for regenerative braking. Same concept as a Prius, but with air in place of batteries. The air pushed oil through a hydraulic 'motor', and the oil cycled back & forth. Haven't read anything lately on it, might be worth a google.
-ERD50
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12-08-2010, 01:41 PM
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#36
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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From Edmunds inside line:
2010 MDI AIRPod First Drive on Inside Line
"As for the 2010 MDI AIRPod, it remains a promising work in progress. Improvements need to be made to drown out the engine din, cushion the ride and decrease the sauna effect in the cabin. Performance and range also need to be improved if customers are to use an air car for anything more than work duty or slow urban driving."
Does not sound like it is ready for prime time yet.
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12-08-2010, 01:52 PM
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#37
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,038
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Compressed air car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pretty well covers the pro's and con's of the technology. They say somewhat lower efficiency than electric cars.
However they don't have an economic comparison. My concern is the cost of replacement of the batteries. I do not think thats a problem with the air tanks.
It may well be that the total cost of ownership would be lower.
I have never seen anyone using an electric car in my life either.
Wonder if any homebuilt air cars are out there?
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In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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12-08-2010, 02:05 PM
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#38
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,038
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__________________
In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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12-08-2010, 02:07 PM
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#39
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,895
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazarus
Compressed air car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pretty well covers the pro's and con's of the technology. They say somewhat lower efficiency than electric cars.
However they don't have an economic comparison. My concern is the cost of replacement of the batteries. I do not think thats a problem with the air tanks.
It may well be that the total cost of ownership would be lower.
I have never seen anyone using an electric car in my life either.
Wonder if any homebuilt air cars are out there?
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I'll tell you one place that I think air engines might be a very good idea - lawn services.
They use these really dirty gas engines, no catalytic converter, etc. And they need a truck to take them from place to place. Mount a couple air tanks on the truck, fill them up overnight, and refill from a PTO from the truck engine. Or maybe just while driving, with a 'fifth wheel' on the trailer, so you wouldn't need to mess with the vehicle? Then you'd be refilling from a relatively clean source with all those pollution controls. Seems better than trying to clean up a million lawn tractors and weed trimmers (yuk - two cycle!) and leaf blowers. Overall efficiency probably isn't that big a deal, wrt the cleaner air.
IIRC ,pollution-wise, running a lawn mower one hour a week was worse than commuting with a car for the entire week.
-ERD50
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12-08-2010, 02:27 PM
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#40
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,038
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Here you go. Compressed air powered lawn mowers.
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In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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