Electric Cars
August 08, 08 by roSolar cars are stupid -
The concept is flawed. What is the point of using the roof of your car to generate electricity, when you can easily place 10 times as many panels on the roof of your house and access the power through infrastructure known as “the power grid”. For all that extra cost and technology you add a mere 5 km to distance travelled. This is given the fact you dont park your car in the shade.
Hydrogen cars are a distraction -
Even through using hydrogen to generate electricity has been perfected these days, the real “greeness” of this has to be questioned. How much energy does it take to produce hydrogen?
The general public have to be aware that this hydrogen technology still ties consumers to the bowser. It is simply getting you to switch from one addictive substance, to another (more dangerous) one.
The complexity and cost of hydrogen cars is enourmous. Even if prices were to decrease in the next 20 or so years, consumers would be paying through the nose to maintain these cars. Not many mechanics would know how to deal with a hydrogen engine I’m betting.
You essentially have the same problem with Biodesiel - Burning anything is bad, regardless of the emissions we’re just not awesome enough as a species to capture the energy release of an explosion efficiently yet.
No, the real solution is electric engines, electric drive. I’ll accept that we need hybrids, at least temporarily to get people to adapt to this change. In the long run I see battery technology improving at an alarming rate - so much so that we wont need to rely on petrol based engines for range.
Even with todays technology we can design cars that reach 180km/h and have a working range of 250 miles. Which is more than enough for 99% of people - those who primarily use their cars to commute from home to work to the pub and back home (yes you).
Electric cars have none of the losses experienced in modern combustion engine (little heat, virtually no noise) - resulting in high efficiencies 88 - 95% vs the 30% of the most efficient combustion engines.
Check out my thesis project: www.therevproject.com.
Poojie Says: 08.08.08 at 9:48 pm
I agree with you - solar panels should be placed on house roofs. That way the house hold is solar powered too.
My only question (due to lack of knowledge in the field of solar technology) is what the green solution to international travel and large scale industry is. The mining industry, for instance, requires large, energy guzzling vehicles to run for long periods of time - in remote locations. Perhaps panels on these behemoths would be more appropriate?
ro Says: 08.08.08 at 9:57 pm
There are a number of questions being asked. I can’t claim to know what a “green” solution is - I dont think anyone can until someone does a decent (and detailed) cost of life analysis of the production of such things.
While efficient, environmentally sustainable international transport doesnt seem visible in the near future, we attempt one hurdle at a time.
Of-course, solar panels on bigger and bigger moving objects is not the answer - it would take a LONG time for a dump truck to recharge from the sun. The same argument applies really. Why not position the panels somewhere where there is sun and charge the trucks from batteries?
The specific implementation would dictate the source of power, but in the long term everything will be electric.