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Who Killed the Electric Car?

Ogami

Ogami

New member
For now, gas will be champ
Updated 8/7/2006 9:08 PM ET
By Gary Witzenburg

Every time I hear of a promising new electric vehicle (EV) or a "breakthrough" battery, my eyes roll back in my head. The cars are either hugely expensive or tiny, slow and impractical. Their claimed ranges are either double-digit small at neighborhood speeds or ridiculously optimistic at highway speeds. The batteries are typically single-cell wonders in a lab, many years and dollars away from vehicle size. Their eager but inexperienced makers are always searching for funding to see their dreams through.

Widespread acceptance of battery-powered EVs will not happen until someone develops battery technology competitive with a tank of gas (or diesel) in every way. It must be absolutely safe, long-term durable, capable of operating reliably in extreme weather and temperatures, mass-producible at low cost, able to carry comparable energy in a package of comparable size and weight, and able to be quickly recharged. None comes remotely close.

As manager of testing and development for GM's Advanced Technology Vehicles from 1991 to 2000, I was intimately involved with the ultra-high-tech car called EV1.

We knew the market for an expensive two-seater with very limited range would not be strong, but we reasoned that multi-vehicle households could happily embrace one small, short-range car. We also knew that long-term success would depend on battery technology.

We worked hard to prepare our 1999-model EV1 for optional nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries that nearly doubled its range. But the lithium-polymer chemistry then being developed by the 3M company and others, which promised gas-competitive cost and range, never panned out.

Relatively affordable lead-acid is bulky and heavy, slow to recharge, lethargic in cold weather, carries little energy per pound and lives a fairly short life. NiMH holds roughly double the energy but adds a lot of cost. Lithium-ion, apparently nearly ready for vehicle duty but more expensive still — or something else further down the road — may be the answer to battery-powered EV acceptability in business-sustaining volume. But I'll believe it when I see it.

Auto writer Gary Witzenburg is a former automotive engineer who worked on the EV1.
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-08-07-oppose_x.htm
 
Not only do power and range concerns kill the electric car, the people who design electric cars are keeping it dead.

Human beings are, let's face it, superficial beings, shallow and vain. Stop designing EVs that look like golf carts or preschoolers' toys -- in other words, design an EV that people will want -- and people will... well... want them.

And when people want them, there will be a market. When there's demand, the forces that will drive supply will come into line.
 
Classic post that wonderfully demostrates the conservative prospective. In case you need it, I'll translate for you.
The Question said:
Not only do power and range concerns kill the electric car, the green peace loving freedom hating commies who design electric cars are keeping it dead.

Real non-panty sucking red blooded human beings are, let's face it, superficial beings, shallow and vain like me. Stop designing EVs that look like golf carts or preschoolers' toys -- in other words, design an EV that is huge and dangerous looking and gives me wood.

And when people want them, there will be a market. When there's demand, the forces that will drive supply will come into line, you commie gun hating terrorist supporting tards.
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Hambil said:
Classic post that wonderfully demostrates the conservative prospective. In case you didn't actually read it, I'll lie about its content and hope that you'll be taken in by my distortion.
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You really must not hold the folks here in terribly high regard, barn-rat.
 
Seriously, Hambil, what part of making progress by giving people what they want is beyond your comprehension? Are people supposed to buy EVs because they feel some responsibility to the environment? Not gonna happen. And you know that's not gonna happen.

The only way you can get people to buy something is convince them that they want it, not that they need it.
 
The Question said:
Seriously, Hambil, what part of making progress by giving people what they want is beyond your comprehension? Are people supposed to buy EVs because they feel some responsibility to the environment? Not gonna happen. And you know that's not gonna happen.

The only way you can get people to buy something is convince them that they want it, not that they need it.
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It's what people want that concerns me.
 
The Question wrote:

And when people want them, there will be a market. When there's demand, the forces that will drive supply will come into line.

Exactly. It's a buyer-driven market, unless they force people to buy them. What amazes me is that gas could hit $5 a gallon, and people would still be running out to buy those ridiculous SUVs.

That film of the same name missed the point: The free market determines whether electric cars will sell. So far, they haven't. SUVs have.

-Ogami
 
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