Earthtalk: What Ever Happened to Electric Cars?
by on 07.28.06
Dear EarthTalk: I'm familiar with the hybrid cars now widely available, but what ever happened to the purely electric cars that were around 10 years ago? --Peter Zilly, Bellingham, WA
The main problem with the electric cars that reared their heads briefly a decade ago was their ability to only go so far on battery power. Charges lasted just 50 miles or so, so you were in trouble if you needed to go farther or ran out of juice somewhere in-between electric outlets. Hybrids, on the other hand, which have side-by-side electric and gas motors, never need to be plugged in and instead use the motions of their gas-powered engines (as well as those of the car’s wheels and brakes) to keep their batteries charged at all times. And with a huge infrastructure of gas stations, refueling is always as easy as pulling over to fill up.
Electric car advocates have long touted their alternative vehicles as primarily short-distance commuter cars. At a 50-mile range, most electric cars could make such short trips without the need for recharging. One need only plug their vehicle into an electric outlet in the garage overnight to charge up the battery for the morning commute, and if needed then plug it in at the office for the return trip later.
But most people want more from their cars than just the daily commute--and gassing up takes minutes whereas re-charging takes hours--so sufficient demand never materialized. Hybrids, though they do use gasoline, are as versatile as conventional cars--and the coming “plug-in hybrids” (covered previously in this column) promise to substantially increase efficiency, to perhaps 100 miles per gallon or more, by using the electric motor exclusively for short runs and commutes and the gas engine only for long trips.
Even though all-electric vehicles are not currently in vogue, innovative engineers are busy working to improve them. Technological advances in battery life and engine efficiency mean that electric vehicles may be able to roam farther than ever before. According to EVWorld.com, drivers looking to go electric will soon have a few options:
California-based Tesla Motors will soon be accepting deposits on orders for its Tesla Roadster, and plans its first deliveries for 2007. Tesla claims its car can go 250 miles on a charge, which can even be extended further through its “regenerative braking” technology, similar to that which is employed in the hybrids.
And Spokane, Washington’s Commuter Car Corporation is taking orders for its Tango 600 (a kit you have to assemble) and its Tango 100 and 200 models (fully assembled), with plans to deliver by 2007. Actor George Clooney was Commuter Car’s first customer. The Tango can only go 60-80 miles on a charge, but boasts of its ability to go zero to 60 in four seconds and attain a top speed of 150 miles per hour.
Elsewhere, California-based AC Propulsion is working with Toyota on a Scion electric conversion, and Cleanova, based in France, is developing an electric Renault Kangoo, a popular European car.
One consideration to keep in mind about electric vehicles is that, if your utility is a dirty coal-fired plant, tapping that power could mean creating more pollution than driving a gasoline powered car. But progress in renewable energies may well solve that problem and help usher in a new era for electric vehicles.
CONTACTS: EVWorld; Tesla Motors ; Commuter Car Corporation.
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Don't forget to see "Who Killed the Electric Car", playing in theaters now!
Using grid electricity produced by burning fossil fuels, i.e. coal or natural gas, shouldn't be a valid arguement against electric cars. It is usually much cleaner and more efficient to have power generated at the utility level, in a plant which is regulated and controlled for emissions, than to regulate and control thousands of individual cars. Think of it with the birth control analogy. It is much easier to regulate a woman's single egg than it is to regulate a man's thousands of sperm. Egg is the power plant. Sperm are the cars. Electric cars would keep us from having to go through SMOG checks on vehicles, and all the associated costs involved with that.
One final point: Burt Rutan was asked in Wired Magazine how long it takes to recharge an electric car. His answer puts a new perspective on it: "About 3 seconds." which is all the time it takes to put the plug into the outlet.
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editor note: Not to mention that even if ther's coal on the grid, that coal plants can't be shut down at night, and that most electric cars would be charged at that time. But as the grid would get cleaner, EVs would get cleaner too.
But I still think that plug-in hybrids are the way to go in the immediate future. They would basically be EVs with a much shorter range (cheaper) and have a small ICE to serve as electricity generator for longer trips (not a full-size ICE like the Prius, f.ex.).
I would like to raise an issue about how Public Transport, especially rail forms are considered so little. Across the US, Australia (especially Melbourne) and the UK, more pointless freeways are being built.
I'm kind of hoping to get people to pressure their federal and state governments for rail-based forms of public transport. In Melbourne (Australia), the largest environmental campaign is underway.
Many new urban areas, whilst being built sustainable, lack land reservations for rail lines. This means that it would be costly and inefficient for a railway or light-rail to be built. This main transportation link then usually becomes a freeway.
One point that is often left out in the arguement against electric vehicles is the issue of accounting. It would be much easier to account for the amount of pollution if they originated from centralizied sources (ie powerplants) versus hundreds of millions of internal combustion engines. It would also be more cost effective to improve air quality from a centralized source (both in political and economic capital).
I saw the "Who Killed the Electric Car" movie this weekend, and it definitely gives food for thought.
There was a segment in the movie about how NiMH batteries that had longer range than the batteries actually used by the auto manufacturers existed at that time. Interestingly, GM bought the controlling share of a company that had invented the more efficient batteries, and then sold that share to ChevronTexaco. "The batteries weren't good enough" is what we hear, but the EVs seemed to have gotten around 60 miles (and could have gotten much more) at a time, when the average driver only needs 29 per day. The NiMH batteries are said to get more mileage than 60, but it seems they were never installed in the EVs that actually went out into the streets.
The movie also shows clips of advertisements for EVs put out by the car companies during that time. I think it's best for people to see the movie and decide for themselves, but my impression was that those ads did not seem designed to sell electric cars. If you do see the movie, note how much of pace in the the ad the car actually takes up, compared to the scary imagery (inexplicable blotch on the sidewalk, ominous scarecrow in the field, etc.)
The car companies were smart -- they only leased the EVs -- which meant that at the end of the lease period, everyone had to give their cars back.
The problem with promoting the EV and other cars is definitely multifold: there seems to be less money to be made (right now, anyway) from these greener cars, so the car companies don't like them; EVs don't burn fossil fuels [directly], so the oil and gas industry doesn't like them; and consumers are too afraid that they will have to give up comfort (or range), so they are afraid to buy them.
It also doesn't help the cause when the people who loved their EVs seem to think the cars are almost alive -- they come off as a little kooky.
I just hope that more people see this movie and start thinking about what they need as opposed to what they think they need, or what they want, but don't need.
A shorter-range car is not for everybody, but for the people who could use it to commute and get around town, why not?