Hmm... its a long time since i have blogged. Well, remember almost half a year ago, i said that diesel cars were better than petrol in terms of both money and environment? well, forget about it. That was a long time ago and is now old news. Now, think electric cars. I know that there are some prejudice against electric cars. Thinking that they are slow with low range. But things have changed, technology is improving. Thanks to big name companies and electronic giants that produce your laptops and handphones, the cost of a control unit and lightweight high-capacity batteries are now getter not just better, but cheaper too. Below are some cars.
Ok, you should note that the electric cars that i have chosen to show are top of the range and are really expensive. But considering that they can accelerate as fast or faster than a ferrari or porche. I guess that a similar price range is acceptable. As a comparison, the Ferrari 360 Modena with a 3.6 litre V8 engine producing over 300 kW (400bhp) of power accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 4.3 secs. And the Porche Carrera GT is powered by an all-new 5.7 litre V10 engine producing 612 DIN (605 SAE) horsepower (450 kW) and Porsche claims it will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62.5 mph) in 3.9 seconds. Now compare:
AC propulsion Tzero
The Venturi Fetish0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds. a range of 220 miles a single charge.
Tesla Roadster0-60 mph (100 km/h) in about 4 seconds, able to travel more than 200 miles (322 km) on a single charge.
Wrightspeed X10-60 in 3.07 secs! The only production petrol car that can beat that timing is the 1000 horsepower, 16-cylinder, 4 turbochargers, 8 litre engined monster called the Bugatti Veyron at 2.46 secs. Another thing is that X1 is not yet a production car but is an experimental car. It is however just a conversion of an Ariel Atom sports car into an electric car. Probably an expensive 'home-built' project. Anyway its makers have started a company and a production model may come soon.
the pros are that sports car like performances are easily attainable, efficiency is great, electricity is a lot cheaper than petrol or diesel (a 150 km charge will cost you less than 3 bucks), little or no maintenance is required (no more 100 hour-servicing!!), of course with overnight charging, you need not spend time at the petrol station anymore ( its just plug and play!) and you do all that while saving the environment. On top of all that, electric cars are very simple compared to huge internal combustion engines, transmission, drive-train etc... in fact, its so simple that people (amateurs) are able the convert their everyday cars into electrics in their own backyard!! Thats why huge car companies should be afraid of electric cars. If amateurs can built their own cars, who needs huge expensive car companies to do it for them!
The cons are that despite their quick accelerations, their top speeds are usually lower than petrol cars at 150 mph or about 200 km/h (for top end electrics) while petrols can reach up to 200 mph and the bugatti veyron can reach 252 mph (400 km/h) which is faster than an F1 racer can go!!! Anyway, 200km/h is more than enough for you to get into jail. The range is shorter, but being able to charge overnight while you sleep, it is really a blessing in disguise. And although the cost of maintenance is very low, the initial cost is very high. Batteries are the culprit here but since the batteries uses everyday laptop-battery technology. There is already a market and economic push towards cheaper better batteries. The cost and performance of batteries will continue to improve.
Some people claim that electric do not reduce green house gases but only transfer them to the oil-burning power plants. However, you must note that power plants are a lot more efficient than car engines. Think about it: car engines are tuned and designed for both efficiency and more importantly, a good power-to-weight ratio. And as you know, there are weight limitations to a car engine that also limits its efficiency. However, power plants have no such weight limitations and efficiency is the most important factor here. Thermodynamic efficiencies for power plants (~80%) are about twice that of typical car engines (~45%). And thats not even considering renewable resources like hydro power from dams, wind and solar power etc...
Also, hydrogen fuel cell cars are hot technology. But i have my doubts. Firstly, fuel cells are complicated and thats why huge car companies want you to buy them... there is no way you can build a fuel cell car in your home garage. And unlike batteries which are common-place in laptops and so many other goods, fuel cells can only be applied to vehicles. So fuel cell prices will take longer to drop. more importantly, you will still have to find a hydrogen pump station to fill up your tanks, unlike the easy overnight charge of battery electrics. Also, no one said that hydrogen is going to be cheap. And one other point, hydrogen production requires large amount of electricity, so dun be fooled, its only as environmentally friendly as your battery electric car.
Anyway, the future is uncertain. Maybe it will be wrong to say that only one type of car will succeed the internal combustion engine. in the future, i believe that all types of cars, be it old-fashioned internal combustion engined, battery-electrics and fuel cell cars will co-exist on the roads... whatever the case, it will be exciting. And right now, battery-electrics seem the most promising to me, simply because in the long run... its cheaper. more so as oil prices rises. (not forgetting the environmental benefits too). Who knows, one day i might just follow the pioneers and build my own battery electric car. there are already many websites on how to do it. cool stuff... so building your own electric car is not new... and battery electric cars make a lot more sense in start-stop city driving conditions like in singapore. And i always wanted to build my own hobby car and its more possible now than ever before... the problem is time, money and space. Anyway, the future as always is exciting.
cheers.
2 comments:
Good article, but I must mention that although power plants are more efficient than cars, many power plants in the world use coal, so that in the end, it is arguably worse to use electric cars than normal cars. Thus, along with electric car technology, we also need to improve our power generation technologies.
Not to mention of course, that every time someone else jury rigs an electric car in their backyard, it is a powerful disincentive for the carmakers to produce an electric car..although this could be argued both ways.
haha... you are right... but i believe one coal power plant is still less pollution than 20,000 cars on the road. and its cheaper too. but i really dun know the real facts and figures... at least, environmentally, it leaves more options for greener power technology. anyway, economically, its cheaper.
yup, home built electrics are disincentives for carmakers, especially industry giants. but it is nice to know that most of the cars that i showed on the post are made by companies that started in a backyard... an exciting new future is dawning.
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