Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

[speedtek]

Is there anyone else here interested in Electric Cars or owns one? I am shifting my focus from Fossil Fuel eating cars to electric performance cars. A few of my engineer friends are teaming up to build some cars in the near future.

[Composite 2992]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

I drive a hybrid. I'm halfway there! :-)

I was just reading something about electric recumbent bikes and was considering what it would take to engineer a fully-faired one that was very lightweight.

Maybe build the frame from carbon fiber and the outer shell from a composite foam/unidirectional glass/epoxy combination.

Pedal power combined with a motor for hills and acceleration.

[blueyecicle]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

We have electric car dealers here in Oregon and they have a new bio diesel gas station about 10 minutes from me, seems like it is all over this area.

[tikiyaki]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

Anything that enables the US NOT to have to deal with the Middle East and our dependence on their oil is fine by me...be it electric, bio diesel, ethanol, vegetable oil (my personal fave). Tho, electric invlolves using oil to generate electricity.

Besides we are hitting peak oil right now

[blueyecicle]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

Anything that enables the US NOT to have to deal with the Middle East and our dependence on their oil is fine by me...be it electric, bio diesel, ethanol, vegetable oil (my personal fave). Tho, electric invlolves using oil to generate electricity.

Besides we are hitting peak oil right now

They just had a DIRTY JOBS show on bio-diesel. We are lucky to have local stations here. Although I can't use it but hey if I want to it's here!
These are the ZEBRA cars...electric! I have seen a couple around town.

http://www.zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=3804
http://www.zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=390

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

Anything that enables the US NOT to have to deal with the Middle East and our dependence on their oil is fine by me...be it electric, bio diesel, ethanol, vegetable oil (my personal fave). Tho, electric invlolves using oil to generate electricity.

Besides we are hitting peak oil right now

Well here in Hawaii we don't deal with the Middle East as we get our supplies from the Far East. Working for The Gas Company years back, we would get our product from Malaysia. Remember The Gas Company aka Pacific Resources Inc aka BHP aka Tesoro?

[speedtek]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

The good thing about electric cars is you can use Solar Panels to charge them. If you are unable to charge in the daytime then you can have backup batteries take the charge. The battery technology is zooming along. They have new Lithium Ion Polymer batteries that can be charged in under 5 minutes and the EV's that can go 180 miles per charge (MPC).

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

The good thing about electric cars is you can use Solar Panels to charge them. If you are unable to charge in the daytime then you can have backup batteries take the charge. The battery technology is zooming along. They have new Lithium Ion Polymer batteries that can be charged in under 5 minutes and the EV's that can go 180 miles per charge (MPC).

Except for them overcast days like here in Hilo

[Pretender]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

Slightly off topic, but I really liked this movie I recently rented from Netflix, "Who Killed the Electric Car", website is here:http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/

Kinda sad story, but good in that it gets the word out on the possibilities of non-fossil fuel transportation.

[zff]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

Is there anyone else here interested in Electric Cars or owns one? I am shifting my focus from Fossil Fuel eating cars to electric performance cars. A few of my engineer friends are teaming up to build some cars in the near future.

Interested in electric performance cars in what way? To design? To build? To buy?

Either way, I'd probably qualify. I've been facinated by gas/electric hybrids since I first read about them in the 80s. I've been interested in all-electric cars for almost as long. I've always thought that with regenerative braking, hybrids and electrics would be excellent platforms for an all-conquering road racer or an eco-friendly sports car with performance to rival the all-gas sports cars of today.

The problem for a performance car nut like me is that for a long time, any talk of electric cars or hybrid cars have been about saving gas and the environment. Those are excellent reasons obviously, but until recently, it seemed no one realized the technologies could also be applied to build a serious performance car.

What kind of car are you and your friends building? I'm very curious to hear more. Anything you're willing to share publically here? If not, could you PM me? I'm intriguied.

[zff]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

I just saw your other thread on the same subject.

To discuss the topic further.... You probably already know about these, but maybe some of the other folks here might find them facinating.

The first serious all-electric sports car I heard of was the T-Zero. Maybe they were a bit too ahead of their time or maybe the car just looked too goofy, but they abandoned the project 3 years ago. Still, the motor they developed for the T-Zero is very small, very light, and puts out over 200hp. It's far smaller and lighter than any 200hp gas engine.

A company called Wrightspeed took one of these T-Zero motors and stuck it in an Ariel Atom. The car they ended up with can outrun a Porsche Carrera GT! This all-electric Atom is just the prototype for an electric sports car they're planning to sell in the future. They say the car they eventually sell will be much better than this prototype. The prototype is so good, that's hard to imagine.

Then there's Tesla Motors. They actually build and sell an all-electric sports car, but it's ridiculously expensive and they don't support it in Hawaii anyway. They're also sold out until 2008.

I find this all very exciting. I can't wait to own my first electric sports car.

[speedtek]

Re: Anyone interested in Electric Cars?

The system in the T-zero and the Tesla are both made by AC Propulsion. They are making a conversion called a eBox which is a Scion Xb converted to electric for $55k plus you need a donor Xb. It is a Three-phase AC motor that powers all these cars as well as the EV-1, Ford Ranger and Chevy S-10 Electric cars. The eBox accelerates 0-60mph in under 7 seconds, which is faster than its gas counterpart! It also has a range of 120 to 150miles and that is with the AC on. (I called to confirm this)

I feel we have enough people resources in Hawaii to build EV's locally. I know Enova Systems is here. I plan to go see them next week. Hopefully someone will notice what we are doing and hook us up with a battery deal since that is the biggest cost besides the motor controller.

since all of my "friends" are all racers we want to build a car with performance to go drifting and auto-x. This will hopefully open everyones eyes to EV's.

As for a donor car we are still deciding.