Real electric car. What do you think?

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franktiregod

franktiregod

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There was a really good write up about this car in this months Mopar Collectors Guide. I wish I could cut and paste the article because it is really good.

The short of it is these people have invented an electric car that uses NO fuel, has a/c, and rides comfortably all with ZERO funds from the government! (i.e. taxpayers)

It goes 120 miles in between charges.
I think a car like this would be awesome for commuters like myself who drive 100 miles

According to MCG, the price will be about 35 grand but has offsets from the govt for buying an electric car. So it ends up costing about 28-30.

I agree that it is a start up and you have to be careful. I sure wouldnt run out to buy the first one. But that is where the evil rich come in. They buy products like this and if they are feasible, the price will drop due to demand. Just like VCR's when they came out.

Read about it here:

http://www.codaautomotive.com/
 
Someone told me that if it was any good it would be bought out by the Big 3 but I said this.
I wouldnt be too excited about it being bought out by one of the big guys.

If you ever saw the movie Tucker, you know the big 3 killed his "car of the future".
If you arent familar with it, I would suggest you rent the movie. It is pretty good.
There is a Tucker in the antique car museum at Stome Mountain park in Georgia.

As far as I know, this car isnt being built with union labor so they have a reason to kill it.
It isnt being built by the govt so they have a reason to kill it. (Especially since they own 2 of the big ones)
And think of all the engine, transmission, and parts suppliers who would lose money if something like this worked.

It will be interesting to watch for sure.


Here are some more interesting things from the story in MCG.

1. Car has six air bags.

2. Motor produces 134 horsepower and weighs only 90 pounds.

3. Has a Borg Warner single speed transmission.

4. For emergency charge, you can plug into a 110 outlet.

5. It has power steering, power brakes, air condtioning, and optional sunroof.

6. 8 year/100,000 mile warranty on the battery.
(I would like to know the battery replacement cost)

7. It costs approximately 3 bucks to drive 100 miles.


Again, it will be interesting to see if this is a good thing.
 
NO FUEL IS FREE!!!!! Battery cost is probably 46% of purchess price. Wonder how it would act pulling mountains and how much extra that would drain the battery?
 
Electric cars are great for commuting to work and back with a stop or 2 on the way. Anything more than that is a huge pain.
With my work, sometimes I drive 9 miles each way 5 days a week. Some days I have to go to Brunswick, Ga (65 miles) or several stops around the city (85 miles total) and I have to go right now, I can't wait on a battery recharge or drive home to get the Mustang.
And electricity costs money and the manufacture of electricity costs money.
And don't ask me about a Prius or a Volt...you can't tow anything with them.
 
Well I really don't care for the look of the car at all (but thats just me). Have any of you noticed that ALL the electirc cars (minus a Lotus?) are all 4 doors. If I'm getting a eletric car I'm going for this one right here. I think this is HOT and on to something.
 
1970Duster said:
Well I really don't care for the look of the car at all (but thats just me). Have any of you noticed that ALL the electirc cars (minus a Lotus?) are all 4 doors. If I'm getting a eletric car I'm going for this one right here. I think this is HOT and on to something.
Click to expand...

If that's an electric car, I'm in. But I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those "bug/turtle-looking" things. Would be cool if a kit car manufacturer came up with an electric-powered, muscle car-styled vehicle. THAT I'd buy.
 
Yeah the people who make that car also make the Karma (its a 4 door) the company name is Fisker Automotive
 
One of the reasons the EV-1 didn't catch on was the price, and another was the distance you could drive on a charge. Both of these problems were caused by adding stuff like hundreds of pounds of sound deadiner, stereo, power windows, power seats, power this, power that. People have been doing conversions since the '80's (or earlier), changing a normal "ICE" car into electric, and they used to be called hippies. S-10 and Probes were popular for this swap. I have also wondered why no one ever did this to, say, an S-10, then plopped a cool fiberglass body on it. Seems like a no-brainer for someone with the brains to do the swap in the first place!
 
the biggest problem with electric vehicles is they pollute more than gasoline powered vehicles unless you are charging them with wind or solar, otherwise you are burning a lot of COAL to charge those batteries
 
At the initial purchase price, what's the cost over a life time of the vehicle, say, over a fuel efficient gas 4 cyl. at half the cost? I know it says "$3 a day," but is that based on national average for electric rates? What are the rates that's figured at? Is that including routine maintenance? What is the routine maintenance? Will it need a specialized shop for repairs that will cost more per hour in labor? More for parts?

I don't necessarily agree with the analogy to VCR's. This analogy usually does affect household items more than large ticket items. Cars have a tendency to either maintain initial buy in price or increase in price. The Prius is more of an analogy and those definitely have not seen a price drop from the initial run.
 
ramenth said:
What is the routine maintenance? Will it need a specialized shop for repairs that will cost more per hour in labor? More for parts?

.
Click to expand...

On these new electric cars, I'm sure the maint will be astronomical - imagine having to go to a Tesla dealer for anything! But on the at-home swaps the vehicle maint is cut down to almost nothing. Brake pads, windshield washer fluid and motor-brush changes (after like 500,000 miles!). For a while I really wanted to do an ICE to electric swap and end up with a rat rod or salt flats look. Did some research on it, doable, but still a big project. If you want to save the environment and still crank the tunes and run the A/C, you're better off in a 4-banger.
 
But if you want a fast car for short trips that produces maximum torque at zero rpms go electric!!
 
caferacerx said:
the biggest problem with electric vehicles is they pollute more than gasoline powered vehicles unless you are charging them with wind or solar, otherwise you are burning a lot of COAL to charge those batteries
Click to expand...

Screw the environmental aspect. We've GOT coal. And the Saudis don't.
 
I'm all for alternative fuel cars - as long as it doesn't put an end to performance, stlye, and choice. Furthermore, I hope it doesn't put an end to our hobby if gasoline is eventually phased out - although, with the millions of gas-powered cars on the road - I'll probably be long dead before gasoline is unavalable to the public.

anyway, my biggest concern, and one that I don't hear mentioned by the advocates for alternative fuel vehicles - is what happens to the toxic waste the the batteries produce when they need to be replaced. Batteries only take so many charges, so if you put hundreds of thousnads of these vehicles on the road, that has potential to be as big a problem as emissions are now. If the goal is to completely replace the gas engine - you're looking at MILLIONS of vehicles on the road at any given time.
 
I would love to have one of those, my wife never goes more than 30 miles an outting so that baby would save us alot.
 
If I remember correctly, VW did a bit of a study on cars, making cars & pollution.
What they found was that more pollution was made in making the car, than all the pollution the car would make in it's lifetime. I don't recall how long the "lifetime" was.
You think about it...the machinery that digs up the raw materials to make the car, then the various processes to make raw materials into useable materials, then production of the car....all the coal burnt to make electricity to run lathes/CNC machines, casting mould packers, plastics, non-ferrous metals....etc.
Electric cars are crap....till they can make them do 1000 miles between charging......yeah...thats gunna happen.....:)
 
What a hoot about electric cars..our province still burns coal to produce electricity...so, in fact, these cars are making the province burn more..we live in a large, rather unpopulated province..100 miles w/o a charge..no good around here.

i was listening to CBC radio and this dude that they were putting up on a pedestal said he had gone green and has gotten away from those nasty oil companies by burning wood for heat.. DUH ??? ..head shake..

If they could figure out how to dispose of the waste, nuc is the way to go..other ways are still not commercially viable..

I still want the carb that will give my RAM 200 MPH..

Grassy
 
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