Re: [DMCForum] Going totally electric powered

[Christopher Mack <christopher_mack@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ryan,
  
  I don't buy the "problems with battery technology" excuse that GM gives  for not making a pure EV.  Lithium ion battteries can allow an EV1  to go 300 miles on a single charge.  I think GM doesn't liike the  EV because there is no maintenance and the car uses no gas.  If  you haven't seen "who killed the electric car" I would highly recommend  it.  The movie is showing on the stars movie channle ofer the next  few days I think and if you can't watch it there you can rent it from  blockbuster.
  
  -Chris

Ryan Wright <ryanpwright@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:  Chris,

On 6/17/07, Christopher Mack  wrote:
>
> It's interesting the timing of this and all.  I recently saw who  killed the electric car on DVD a few
> weekds back and talked with Dave  about it (and an electric DMC) last weekend.  I even met a
> few  lucky DeLorean owners in california and arizona who got to drive the GM  EV1 in the late
> 90's.  Me, I only saw a green one on the road in  Davis, CA (near sacramento) back in 1997.

I'm pretty hyped up about EVs and have been for awhile. I would buy an
EV1 or similar today if someone would make one. Unfortunately, all of
the commercially available electric cars right now are either way too
expensive (Tesla, Commuter Cars) or toy golf cart like (or worse)
things (Corbin, Gem).

GM has said it will produce the Chevy Volt concept. They claim they
can't do it today due to problems with battery technology (that's a
whole different rant alltogether - batteries aren't good enough to
power a hybrid for 40 miles? But the EV-1 got 100+ miles? What
happened to that battery technology? Oh yeah, that's right, you sold
it to Texaco.). Still, I have hope. So-called "plug-in" hybrids make
good sense. ~40 miles pure EV, then ~600 on gas after that getting
50+mpg. That rocks; people won't need to buy two cars, one to commute
and one to go out of town. Better, the Volt is a sweet looking car,
though you know they will tame it for market (unfortunately). Oh, and
under $30k. Woo Hoo!

If GM doesn't come through with the Volt in 2010-2012 (their target
date), Toyota will. They've apparently claimed a 100+mpg Prius in '09.
Now, the only way they're doing that is with a plug-in hybrid (another
side rant: Commercial plug-in hybrid backers like to claim huge mpg
estimates, but they do it all wrong. The claim is if you go 50 miles
"free", and another 50 miles at 50mpg, well then you got 100 miles to
the gallon. That screams of lies and trickery to me. Your "100mpg"
will drop off substantially if you go for a 500 mile drive.). Still, a
commercial plug-in hybrid available to purchase in a little more than
year is cool.

As soon as one of these goes on the market, I'm buying. Chances are
I'll buy an '09 Prius if Toyota delivers as expected, then give that
to my wife and upgrade to a Volt somewhere beween 2010 and 2012 when
GM makes one. Or, maybe I'll fall in love with the Prius and just keep
it, letting GM lose for being late to the market yet again.

In either case, I'll probably keep my DeLorean and convert it from
daily driver status over to weekend / fun toy. Maybe. Converting it to
electric might be fun, but only if it were an electric hot rod. If
this car had better performance I'd like it a lot more.

-Ryan


 
Yahoo! Groups Links






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DMCForum/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DMCForum/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:DMCForum-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    mailto:DMCForum-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    DMCForum-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/