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Technology Stocks : The Electric Car, or MPG "what me worry?" -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (601)	12/4/2008 11:18:03 AM
From: Eric	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17476

The big problem of this story is the recharge time. The Tesla's battery has almost three times the electrical storage capacity of the EV1 and the Tesla can be fully recharged at home in about 3 1/2 hours after a full discharge. It requires a 70 amp 240 volt service. That is available in most new homes without an extra drop from the pole. The problem with the EV1 was with it's "charge acceptance rate" with the design of the car in the early 90's being the problem. Edit: Most homes in the EV1 trials used a conventional 120 volt 15 amp circuit to charge the car. Your outlets in your home are rated at 15 or 20 amps per circuit protected by a breaker of that rating.

To: TimF who wrote (601)	12/4/2008 3:44:44 PM
From: Fishfinder	Respond to of 17476

Well I disagree with most of what your post stated and I'm sure so would most of the folks who where in the movie. WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR. I don't know much about the facts behind the EV1 but the whole notion that electric commuter cars would not play an important role in transportation I believe is not true. And anyway we are going to have to do something, SO WHAT IS IT. The EV1 was only expensive because it was a test vehicle (not mass produced) I believe that the idea of having one electric commuter car and one hybrid or petrol driven car in the family driveway is perfect for todays society. YOu use the commuter to flit around town for work shopping golf what have you. And if need be the family also has a petrol car for the long hauls and or work related requirements. As I mentioned many times on here, there is no need for hi tech when it comes to the batteries. The charging system needs a very small amount of computer power to organize and charge the 6-12 pack golf cart batteries in order to charge them individually. There isn't a charger out there that works on 15 amps that will charge the batteries all at once. But all you need is a cheap relay system to charge them one or two at a time. From personal experience it only takes 2-3 hrs to charge 2/ 6volt golf cart batteries in series. Say you have 5 sets of 2 sixes, It would take 15 hrs to charge them using a cheap home handy man battery charger and a 15 am service. So now of course we will tech it up a bit by installing a dedicated 30am service at the home and place other metered ones out here in the world in parking lots etc.. So add to this a better charging system (under the hood)that goes around and charges the 5 sets of batteries individually. Also you could put a small Honda style generator in the truck or some where and if you are going a long way simple push a button that starts the little petrol generator and you increase your driving distance by a ton. I could make an excellent car right at home out of plywood and bicycle wheels. And there you have it. And thats how many other people who have electric vehicles do it. Its not rocket science unless you are a member of the North American idiotic automobile industry. THe following are folks that do it themselves and they work just fine. zenncars.com canada.com globeauto.com Anyhow I gotta go and get packing for our snowbird trip. In the spring I'm going to build you an electric car in my shop. Its gotta be done. scott