Electric vs Oil

[cb7sk8rdude]

Since gas prices have been fluctuating up and down quite often for the past years more electric cars are being made. More electric cars are also being made to "clean up" the enviroment. Since there are so many companies jumping onto the electric wagon do you think there will be less cars produced that run on oil? Do you think some day more than 50% of the cars on the road now will become electric or more fuel efficient? This thought just popped into my head. What do you think will happen in the next 50 years or so with the automotive industry? Discuss

[Tippey764]

I don't think electric cars will ever rule the road

i believe we will use an alternative fuel source such as hydrogen

[cb7sk8rdude]

I don't think electric cars will ever rule the road

i believe we will use an alternative fuel source such as hydrogen

I was thinking about resources like that also, but could there be problems that we could run into when using different resources like hydrogen or algae or any other things that have been thought of?

[ferenza]

electric cars will never rule the road.even though the car doesnt make emissions,but the way we make the electric still pollutes(burning coal,nuclear power).They also have to go much farther than they do now on a charge also.Nobody wants to run out of juice in the middle of nowhere.Hydrogen may become the new thing but right now the big issue is the storage of mass quantity of a highly flammable gas and a easy way to pump it into the cars without incidents(dummy proofing).i think for the next 50 years hybrids will stand on top because its the best of both worlds.you can use electric in the city and gas on the highway.But they need to lighten up those battery packs up alot.the prius battery is about 100 pounds. if they can get that to about 40 -50 pounds they would be more efficient.But i dont like the whole drive by wire thing that the new cars have going on so i will be stuck in the 80's and 90's.

[deevergote]

Electric only stands a chance if solar power and battery technology advances significantly. If we can charge batteries by solar power, and have enough power to drive a respectable range, then electricity will make sense. Right now, that's no more than a fantasy.

[mtnbikaah]

Hydrogen cars ARE electric cars. Just clearing things up there... Basically hydrogen cars generate their own electricity. The only thing propelling the car is an electric motor.

The problem is generating the hydrogen. Once we can build the infrastructure to produce mass quantities of hydrogen using solar panels then we will have a solution.



In a hydrogen car, hydrogen acts as a liquid, refillable, battery.

also take a look here:
http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-cla...y-station.aspx

[Dr. Shuffles]

Once they invent the Battery That Doesn't Suck, electrics will rule the road.

Internal combustion is a horrible design. It puts out tons of waste heat, so it needs a heavy-duty cooling system to keep from melting down. It can't spin too fast, so it needs multiple gears to be useful for transportation. It can't spin too slow without stalling, so it needs a clutch. It can't even start up on its own - it needs an electric motor to get it going.

The ONE advantage it has over electric: storing a liquid (even an explosive liquid) is a hell of a lot easier than storing electricity.

[C1leader]

Very good points on this thread, I see electric vehicles being much more common place in the near future, but the thing that is killing the idea is the high costs, low range, and politics. Electric vehicles just aren’t popular in the US yet; just look at all the flak the Prius got, just for being a hybrid.

[SOHC-FTW]

I can see it now....

"Just installed my bisi lvl2 batteries/terminals/ and ground kit today waiting on NASA to have an open spot for a tuning session"

I'll stick with an engine ya'll can have your motors.

[ThatOneAccord]

electric cars will never rule the road.even though the car doesnt make emissions,but the way we make the electric still pollutes(burning coal,nuclear power).They also have to go much farther than they do now on a charge also.Nobody wants to run out of juice in the middle of nowhere.Hydrogen may become the new thing but right now the big issue is the storage of mass quantity of a highly flammable gas and a easy way to pump it into the cars without incidents(dummy proofing).i think for the next 50 years hybrids will stand on top because its the best of both worlds.you can use electric in the city and gas on the highway.But they need to lighten up those battery packs up alot.the prius battery is about 100 pounds. if they can get that to about 40 -50 pounds they would be more efficient.But i dont like the whole drive by wire thing that the new cars have going on so i will be stuck in the 80's and 90's.

Couldn't have said it better myself. A Toyota Prius will have a bigger carbon footprint than a Hummer (or any mid/full size) SUV would in 50yrs. Those batteries aren't recyclable, and nuclear power is still far from being anywhere near "eco-friendly".

The gov't is feeding us all these lies about how hybrids and electrics are better when they do the opposite of what they were made to do once they've become obsolete or when they just give up on you. Those replacement batteries aren't cheap either.

[JDMDriver]

Just a food for thought guys.

F1 = pinnacle if not near pinnacle of technology applied to automobiles

F1 answer for hybrid was not batteries but KERS

KERS = purely mechanical, no batteries, no acids, no replacements and can last the life of the vehicle.

Yet the focus for commercial hybrids are on batteries...

[Tippey764]

Hydrogen cars ARE electric cars. Just clearing things up there... Basically hydrogen cars generate their own electricity. The only thing propelling the car is an electric motor.

The problem is generating the hydrogen. Once we can build the infrastructure to produce mass quantities of hydrogen using solar panels then we will have a solution.



In a hydrogen car, hydrogen acts as a liquid, refillable, battery.

also take a look here:
http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-cla...y-station.aspx

Just because that particular car is setup that way doesn't mean they all will be

When i hear " electric car " i think of some silly thing with batteries that you plug in