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The Race For The Electric Car

October 5, 2008 4:00 PM

Lesley Stahl reports on the race to develop and produce a viable electric car being waged between Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Detroit auto executives.

The Race For The Electric Car
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by nelshaun May 13, 2011 2:09 AM EDT
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by neileaque01 November 25, 2010 12:44 AM EST
Its a fantastic video for watching electric car race.
Its awesome race for electric car.
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by neileaque01 November 25, 2010 12:41 AM EST
Its a fantastic video for watching electric car race.
Its awesome race for electric car.
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by EV-lover July 1, 2009 12:32 PM EDT
If anyone is interested in learning more about this topic, there is an excellent book recently published which argues for the electric car and scrutinizes hybrids, hydrogen-based vehicles, and the automotive and oil industries as well as the government for their neglect of the electric vehicle as as viable alternative. It's called "Two Cents Per Mile" and it's a great starting point to understand the mechanics, history, and possibilities of the electric car. You can get it on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Two-Cents-per-Mile-President/dp/0615293913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#38;s=books&#38;qid=1246464373&#38;sr=8-1
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by electrabishi October 9, 2008 7:36 AM EDT
To the commenter who wondered about the lower to middle class...drive what I drive...an electric Pinto, heh heh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMGomFODHk0 I admit mine costs slightly less than what the Volt is tagged at but its a race car. Convert your old Pinto (or any well cared for used car) for about $10k. You''ll save enough on gas every year to buy a new set of batteries that often. However you''ll probably get longer than that on a set. But in the upper $3 to $4 range a year is about the break even point on either paying for gas or replacing batteries. Batteries are 99+% recyclable. Even charged from coal fired power plants the emissions are still significantly less. And with the tax credits now offered for alternative energy for your home you could probably get set up with a solar/wind system and charge for free. Yes there is such a thing as free energy. It lands on the earth every day to the tune of 1000 watts per square meter :-)
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by hamster17 October 8, 2008 10:23 PM EDT
@sfranciosa

&quot;How much electricity in Kwh ( killowatt hours) would be needed to obtain a fully charged vehicle?&quot;

Depends on the design, and depends on how many batteries the manufacturer puts into the vehicle.

Tesla has a 53 kWh battery and supposedly a 250 mile range on one charge. So it would cost you $10 to go 250 miles. About a quarter of what it would cost to drive the same distance in a comparable gasoline sports car.

Aptera is supposed to be more efficient. Their original specs were 10 kwh and 100 miles on one charge (at 65 mph). $1.75 for 100 miles.

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by mkspence October 8, 2008 7:58 PM EDT
The best electric car technology is not in Silicon Valley nor in Detroit; it''s in Japan.

The batteries for all the world''s electric cars are made in Japan by Sanyo, Panasonic, or Sony.

The auto manufacturer with the best electric vehicle technology is Toyota; if Toyota can''t make a practical electric car, then nobody can.
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by frepi-2009 October 8, 2008 5:57 PM EDT
It is much easier to build a 109 000 $ electric car than a 40 000 $ car. And the people buying the Tesla will never have only one car so they won''t be stuck when the Tesla''s batteries go up in flames
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by Dsuupr October 7, 2008 2:11 PM EDT
Going Electric or Hybrid sounds like a great idea until one considers that 20% of American families make less than $20,000 a year, about = what a new Volt is expected to cost and less than a new Toyota Prius. Families in this lower income rely on well cared for used cars costing less than $5000. That means buying used cars with 120,000 to 200,000 miles on them, the exact time that any hybrid or electric vehicle would need new batteries. Replacing batteries at a cost of $4000 to $10,000 is not an option for these families. Going %u201Cgreen%u201D is just not an option for these families.

So what kind of vehicle could these people buy that would allow us to reduce the amount of CO2 we put in the environment and reduce our dependence on oil? Used vehicles in good condition that run on Ethanol with 70,000 to 150,000 miles can be bought for less than $5000 at any local retailer. When fueling the vehicle with Cellulosic or Algae ethanol, these vehicles use less oil and pollute less than a Toyota Prius and most are able to run for more than 200,000 miles without any major repairs.

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by Dsuupr October 7, 2008 2:10 PM EDT
Going Electric or Hybrid sounds like a great idea until one considers that 20% of American families make less than $20,000 a year, about = what a new Volt is expected to cost and less than a new Toyota Prius. Families in this lower income rely on well cared for used cars costing less than $5000. That means buying used cars with 120,000 to 200,000 miles on them, the exact time that any hybrid or electric vehicle would need new batteries. Replacing batteries at a cost of $4000 to $10,000 is not an option for these families. Going %u201Cgreen%u201D is just not an option for these families.

So what kind of vehicle could these people buy that would allow us to reduce the amount of CO2 we put in the environment and reduce our dependence on oil? Used vehicles in good condition that run on Ethanol with 70,000 to 150,000 miles can be bought for less than $5000 at any local retailer. When fueling the vehicle with Cellulosic or Algae ethanol, these vehicles use less oil and pollute less than a Toyota Prius and most are able to run for more than 200,000 miles without any major repairs.

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