32 replies to this topic

[catnap]

I saw one of the new Chevy Volts this weekend, and they seem great...94 MPG and much better for the environment.

BUT...it costs $40,000 (32k after the tax credit)!! Link

i just cannot see myself spending so much for a car, and can't even imagine the car payment....yikes. I do hope in time these types of vehicles become more affordable.

Does anyone here have an electric car? Do you think they are worth paying this much?

[Hayden]

I like the interior a lot better than the exterior. Yes pricing is very high but compared to the Nissan Leaf and Toyota prius plugin you get a lot more car for the money. Chevy should have made an electric powered version of the sonic: http://www.chevrolet.com/sonic-family/ That would have been less than $32k for sure.

[Jkility]

Well to be honest with electric cars, they are a waste of money and time, first of they are very expensive, more than a normal conventional vehicle, which means more people are going to buy the petrol/diesal version over electric, and secondly,

To charge your car you need a plug , which needs electricity , which comes from the national grid, which comes from the refinerys , which comes from oil...... It has been worked out that once the final product has been completed its like 5x less eco friendly than a conventional car because of the places it is sent all around the world for parts ot be fitted on it....

[catnap]

Jkility, on 28 September 2011 - 12:03 AM, said:

It has been worked out that once the final product has been completed its like 5x less eco friendly than a conventional car because of the places it is sent all around the world for parts ot be fitted on it....

Wow...I didn't know all this, I guess the hype over these cars is rather deceptive.

Hayden, on 27 September 2011 - 11:33 PM, said:

I like the interior a lot better than the exterior. Yes pricing is very high but compared to the Nissan Leaf and Toyota prius plugin you get a lot more car for the money. Chevy should have made an electric powered version of the sonic: http://www.chevrolet.com/sonic-family/ That would have been less than $32k for sure.

I agree. Most electric cars are kinda goofy looking, companies should just make electric versions of their existing cars.

.

[Jkility]

Well think about it, it was on topgear several months ago and they said that its got to be sent all over the world to have things like the battery put in , its gotta have the battery made which from some minerals which is dug out the ground, then sent somewhere else etc etc

[zararina]

There are also electric jeepney and electric tricycle here in our country. But as the usual problem for much greener options, it is much expensive compared to the usual/common vehicles out there releasing smokes in the environment. Better if conventional vehicles will be well maintained so that it will not release too much pollution on air. I could agree that the electricity it will use will still come from fuel oils that is processed releasing bad effects to the environment. But electric vehicles are more "air" friendly.

[Bababooey]

I read about a company that's been trying to manufacture something called the Air Car, which runs on compressed air. There is an electric component to it, in that it would need to be plugged in, but it essentially runs in the same way a balloon propels itself forward when air is released. Interesting concept, but so far they haven't been able to come up with a viable prototype, and the technology seems to need a lot of work.

[Don]

Ford has a new Focus electric coming out for the 2012 model year that looks good. Plus, you can choose to purchase a solar panel from Ford with the car that you mount on your roof. That way, you don't have to tap into your home's power grid. It has a 100-mile range, so essentially your fuel use with the car goes down to nil. I did a review of the car last week. Check it out!

2012 Ford Focus Electric

[Mon-Jes]

I was about to ask how apartment dwellers would plug in an electric car (really long cord up the stairway might be a safety hazard). Ford lists a charging station, but I'm not sure if they mean a bolted-into-the-concrete-type station, or something else.... Anyway, I can't find anything about the panels on the Ford website?

[Germs]

Seems pretty expensive, if this is ever going to be a serious choice for people then the price is going to have to be significantly lower.

[Mon-Jes]

Technology does come down in price if it becomes popular enough and there's enough demand. Getting more demand for something *that* expensive, though, could be troublesome.

[Promo]

Ever since I watched that Top Gear UK episode where the trio decided to take a electric car ride and when they ran out of "fuel," I observed that the electric cars aren't up to standards, since there aren't very many charging stations to be found (they found one in a college, but it took hours to charge) and there has to be a solution to charge faster. Until then electric cars in my eyes are in their fledgling stage and not viable for the consumer market ( perhaps a niche?).

[Hydrotopia]

_{I saw this electric car parked in a nearby driveway and wanted to rave about it but then found it is only meant to replace those local golf cart-type EV's. It only goes 25mph max:}

[mariaandrea]

The thing about price is, though, it can be made attractive to a certain set of people while it's still expensive. Other types of people like to emulate the people with money and demand for the car will go up and costs will go down until it's in the realm of reasonable for middle class people. My brother-in-law spends a lot more than that for a vehicle and he leases his cars and gets a new one every year or two. There are an awful lot of people like that. It's easy to forget sometimes because we move in completely different circles. ;)

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Like all the other e-gadgets (computers, big screen tv's) prices are high at first, then come down as
more people buy them.
Batteries are not perfected yet, the grid is old and has to be updated, and the plug in is still coming
from coal or oil.
Still, it's a step in the right direction, albeit a small, slow step.
Rare earth's are an issue too, but that's another thread.

[SpiroFlo]

mariaandrea, on 12 December 2011 - 10:47 PM, said:

The thing about price is, though, it can be made attractive to a certain set of people while it's still expensive. Other types of people like to emulate the people with money and demand for the car will go up and costs will go down until it's in the realm of reasonable for middle class people. My brother-in-law spends a lot more than that for a vehicle and he leases his cars and gets a new one every year or two. There are an awful lot of people like that. It's easy to forget sometimes because we move in completely different circles. ;)

Agreed. That always throws me as I drive my cars into the ground. I feel ripped off if I don't have a car payment for many years. Another thing that has held me back is that I don't know how much it costs when something breaks in an electrical car and how often I have to replace parts. It's going to take more years and research for a dude like me to be satisfied there. Oh, and if they could knock off that whole 'car of the future' look that'd be cool, too.

Jkility, on 28 September 2011 - 12:03 AM, said:

Well to be honest with electric cars, they are a waste of money and time, first of they are very expensive, more than a normal conventional vehicle, which means more people are going to buy the petrol/diesal version over electric, and secondly,

To charge your car you need a plug , which needs electricity , which comes from the national grid, which comes from the refinerys , which comes from oil...... It has been worked out that once the final product has been completed its like 5x less eco friendly than a conventional car because of the places it is sent all around the world for parts ot be fitted on it....

Sounds like the standard criticism against alternative fuels, period. Corn ethanol got blasted for -- well, many reasons -- still using fossil fuel plants to process their alternative fuel. It's an easy bomb to throw at alternative energy sources.

[joeldgreat]

More and more are shifting to it now. But for the common people, its high price is mostly unfordable. I'm just curious, do fuel producing countries had something to do with the high price of these electric cars. Or is it really the cost of technology of producing one? I'm sure one way or another, there's no way that it will remain that high.

[Green Thumb]

Why can’t they make it to be a hybrid car? Solar and electric. Or the electric charging station deriving their energy from renewable energy. They are thinking out-of-the-box anyway.

As for the price… I guess it’s hard to sell economically when the product, however useful, is still striving at the top of the list. They are propelling substitute for the recent transportation that are run by oil. Would the transportation industry submit that easily? Not if they would earn from it. Anyhow, the costs of electric cars and gas cars are not at all different except that how it will affect the user and the environment. Besides, do you still need an electric car if you are feeding your gas car with biofuel already? Oh yeah, why can’t they also have services to turn an existing car to an electric car or to simply install electric engine. I mean, like sanitary landfills, let’s also think of car junk yards jamming. I’m sure they can also apply reusing and recycling cars for better and beneficial usage.

[artistry]

The Chevy Volt had some problems with the wires melting on the cars. They promised a full refund, it their customers wanted. At forty-thousand dollars a pop, please have better wiring.

[sculptor]

I use a 1995 diesel 4x4 extended cab 3/4 ton pickup
if i drive near peak torque= 58-60 mph, i get 20mpg (i grew up in an era when big block V8s made us all want to drive at twice the posted speed limit, so getting used to hanging out in the right lane while darned near everyone was passing me was a bit of a challenge--------but, even i learned to accept this)
today i hauled 2 cords of firewood about 3750lbs(1600kilos)/cord = 7500 lbs, in 2 loads----the most noticeable change was in braking not accelerating
the thing cost me $25000 16 years ago, and i hope to get another 9 years out of it

I really hope that there will be an affordable 4 wheel drive heavy(3/4 ton) diesel-electric replacement

my dream truck would have 4 motors(one on each wheel) with centrifical clutches, and an electronic traction sensor that would power 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 wheels depending on traction, load and acceleration
under the hood would be a small diesel running a generator which would charge a bank of batteries slung under the body of the beast, and power the wheel motors--------------add in a charge kill switch so i could let the batteries drain on my way home, then plug it in for a full charge
, and an over ride traction control so i could choose to run in 4x4 when the roads or terrain seemed to warrant the caution

barring that,
gee,
maybe i'll try'n keep this one repaired till i'm too old to drive