alternative energy
September 2008 
Who Will Save the Electric Car?
~C4Chaos
Like I said, I'm not too crazy about biofuels. I'm holding out for the resurrection of the electric car. I'm also looking forward to the documentary Who Saved the Elecrtic Car?
Thanks to the hot image of the Tesla Roadster, electric cars have never looked more promising. Hopefully, my 11-year old car would not crap out on until I could afford a plugin hybrid or a fully electric vehicle (EV). This means that the economies of scale would have to tip in favor of electric cars in less than a decade.
In the meantime we need to constantly remind ourselves of the usual suspects who would push back against electric vehicles. Check out this PBS NOW interview with Chris Paine, director of the documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?
So, who will save the electric car? Us.
Access: Public
Electric cars will be pretty sweet when they can become affordable. In the meantime, don't rule out the in-betweens. My current favorite is the MDI Air Car. It's still a concept, but they got a pretty big boost from their Tata investment (that is, their investment from Tata).
So, a quick detail on their car that is supposed to hit American roads in 2010: Powered by compressed air; under 35mph, no emissions; over 35mph combustion engine kicks in to help expand the air quickly (at 106mpg). And the best part?? The price: $18,000. If (and I don't know how big that if is) they pull it off, this would be a great, affordable car to get us from here to cheap, totally sustainable alternatives.
Check out http://zeropollutionmotors.us for more.
~M
excellent point. i'm rooting for the Air Car as well, especially if they could bring down the cost some more for developing nations (like China and India). if it becomes available before the electric car, i'd probably buy one. but the Air Car is not as clean as the electric car.
“At speeds over 35mph the Compressed Air Vehicle uses small amounts of fuel–either gasoline, propane, ethanol or bio fuels–to heat air inside a heating chamber as it enters the engine. This process produces emissions of only 0.141lbs of CO2 per mile. That is up to 4 times less than the average vehicle and more than two times less than the cleanest vehicle available today.”
so this may not appeal to the typical American consumer the way an affordable Tesla Roadster would. then again, the Air Car would probably be much cheaper should developing countries adopt them first.
but my whole point is, we need to leapfrog over fossil fuels or even biofuels, and soon. what we need is political will, economies of scale, and consumer awareness.
~C
The cost of the air car in India is only like $5,000 but it's not as snazzy as the one they're bringing here.
“what we need is political will, economies of scale, and consumer awareness.”
And we need the price of batteries to drop dramatically.
Also, the Air Car is only not as clean as the electric car at speeds higher than 35mph. But it's a heck of a lot cheaper and 106mpg above 35mph is nothing to scoff at… especially at that cheeeeap price tag!
thanks for riffing on this topic. i just posted a follow up :)
A Race Between Air and Electric
~C