Quote from lizardfolk :

Also, the average American drives 60 miles a day. The longest NASCAR race is the Cola 600 (600 fricking miles). Why would any regular American consumer based electric car, nay ANY CAR, need to push the 800 miles mark? As long as they can go over 200 miles (which is the max that I drove in my trip from New York to the South in one day without stopping) then they are considered reasonable. (And electric cars can go even beyond that limit with lithium ion battery tech). Electric car may not be the answer to all of our problems. But they sure as hell beat the giant Hummers and SUV option....

I will not waste my time charging up my car every night. That is extremely inconvenient (not to mention it will wreak hell on the power grid)

Quote from obsolum :

The only real difference - as far as racing is concerned - would be the sound of the car The rest would be pretty much the same. So while I certainly understand your statement, if you think about it it's not really based on any valid arguments.

I can't speak for all modern performance electric cars, but the Tesla's handling is supposedly crap on account of its excessive weight. No thanks.

Quote from BigPeBe :

Plus does electric cars even have a proper manual gearbox?

The Tesla, specifically, doesn't have a gearbox. It only has one gear.

Quote from lizardfolk :

The best idea is solar but right now we dont have the technology to reasonably apply it to vehicles so that's out the window for now

Speak for yourself, Solar is extremely hazardous to produce, and extremely inefficient and fragile. It will simply not work for everyday use.

Quote from NightShift :

Regarding the Prius TCO issue, manufacturing cars is indeed very energy intensive but I wouldn't be so sure that the Prius is significantly worse than a less efficient vehicle. That however wouldn't address the problem with public health costs soaring because of high pollution (and noise) levels in urban centers.

No, but it won't solve pollution in those urban centres, either. Not only that, but it will create devastating environmental issues in other places, too.

Quote from ZORER :

We should be clever and use free&clean energy like Geothermal, Wave&tide or sunlight.

Geothermal is not available for the whole world, and would be very difficult to implement into personal transportation. Same goes for tidal. Sunlight has already been addressed, all will not work.

Quote :

But offcourse it won't happen. Otherwise how the hell would great oil companies get greater and wealthier and provide us better and cleaner fuel to use in our cars.

Wow, you're a conspiracy theorist, eh?

Quote :

The electric cars on the market today are really "a new hope" for a less-polluted earth. While it's only the beginning of their evolution, everyone should support at least the idea. More the people talk about electric cars, higher the pressure on companies about finding a way to produce cheap electric.

An electric motor in a car is a fine idea... so long as it is not powered by the power grid and does not run on a plethora of batteries. A Hydrogran fuel cell-powered electric is the best solution to the problem at this point in time. It's clean, it has minimal effect (zero) on the power grid, and the infrastructre to keep fuel cells filled is practically already in place (gas stations. Some retrofitting needed, but still). Electric cars kill the environment to be produced, as well as to charge.


Most power stations on the planet are coal. These plants will need to produce more power to meet the energy demand for cars. Needless to say, these powerplants kill the environment, too. Additionally, the power grid will NOT handle everyone plugging in their cars every night so that they can run out for a jug of milk in the morning. The entire powergrid in every single country would need a complete and total overhaul - which is extremely expensive and time-consuming. Add to that the fact that most rural areas in most countries are not on the powergrid. The fact that not one person has mentioned any of this in this thread is alarming. None of you are looking at the whole picture, only a select portion of it - that is why we don't yet have a concrete solution (or even a plan) for this issue.

I would rather see effort towards new tracks of course, but this would be a neat car to see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYTkg4OFRW8


At 2723 pounds its a bit heavy for its size but once the Lithium-Ion batteries are replaced for a lighter more effective alternative(nanosafe used for the upcoming lightning GTS?) this car will be insanely quick. After all this is the first production year for tesla if I'm not mistaken. Think where they might be 5-10 years from now. A move to hub mounted motors perhaps?

Quote from red7 :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYTkg4OFRW8

So he only got 55 Miles out of a full charge while thrashing it around a track all day? I've never heard them mention any MPG values during their usual track test. And then they even faked a scene where it ran it of juice which it didn't do in reality: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2 ... ars-mischaracterizations/

Also disappointed by James May who later in the show goes on about Hydrogen being the most abundant element in the universe instead of pointing out that a fuel cell is just a very complicated and inefficient battery whose only advantage is that it can be fueled up in a shorter time than a standard battery.

Quote from MAGGOT :

Not only that, but it will create devastating environmental issues in other places, too.

On any given plant, you can use technologies which are too heavy, complicated or expensive to be applied on a passenger car.

Quote from J.B. :

So he only got 55 Miles out of a full charge while thrashing it around a track all day? I've never heard them mention any MPG values during their usual track test

and anyway, the Tesla test is utterly boring which, considering what Top Gear basically sums up to, is like saying it's completely worthless (save for the power lap)

TBH given the chance to trust Jeremy Clarkson and his gang, or the PR gal of Tesla, I'd say 'none of the above'

Quote from BigPeBe :

I have a good argument, it is not a proper car.

And plus as how stupid it may be, car's sound is very important part of it.
Racing car has to sound like it's being nuts, if only thing it does is "bzzzzzzzzz" it doesn't make me feel anything.

Sounding like being on nuts doesn't make a good car. Much noise + much vibration = structure to take and damp that, or age real quick. Besides a quiet car lets you hear the tyres.

Quote :

Plus does electric cars even have a proper manual gearbox?

Having a gearbox doesn't make a good car. It is best that the powerplant does not require a gearbox in the first place. A gearbox is heavy, has lots of moving parts, eats power and needs driver attention.

Quote :

I want to smell the petrol.

Only important part of racing isn't who's gonna win. It's the cars making my heart beat going up and even feeling the sound on my chest.

Releasing a smell of petrol doesn't make a good car. Sure if you'd like to smell that it's your preference.

This looks interesting:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H ... lectric_Racing_Federation

While the infrastucture may not be there for hydrogen to power the world right now, creating limited amounts for racing purposes seems alot more possible. It would also remedy the issue of race distances that conventional battery powered EVs might have. Hydrogen tanks could be refilled during pit-stops.

One thing though, whats going to happen to the fuel cell and hydrogen when one smacks a wall at triple digits

Kaboom!
Or each part of the fuel delivery system will be amazingly protected.

Quote from yoyoML :

Quote :

I want to smell the petrol.

Only important part of racing isn't who's gonna win. It's the cars making my heart beat going up and even feeling the sound on my chest.

Releasing a smell of petrol doesn't make a good car. Sure if you'd like to smell that it's your preference.

However for example F1 races would be way less exciting if they'd be electric. For tv they don't put extra car sounds in for no reason And when being there the F1 engines really add to the sensation. So does the smell of rubber and petrol.

I personally wonder if there will ever be serious racing series with electric cars. Even if they are technically better, I must agree the sensation is quite different _for spectators_ (which is what keeps racing series going in the first place. If noone would watch them, noone would bother to enter, apart from amateur races that are run purely for the fun of it).

Let's keep the electric racing limited to R/C

Diesel racing cars suck to listen too.. Electric is even harder to hear..

Electric cars have optional extra called a Sound Modulator.

Quote from yoyoML :

Sounding like being on nuts doesn't make a good car. Much noise + much vibration = structure to take and damp that, or age real quick. Besides a quiet car lets you hear the tyres.



Having a gearbox doesn't make a good car. It is best that the powerplant does not require a gearbox in the first place. A gearbox is heavy, has lots of moving parts, eats power and needs driver attention.



Releasing a smell of petrol doesn't make a good car. Sure if you'd like to smell that it's your preference.

You are not in the point.

And BTW why I would want to hear my tires better than I do already?

Quote from MAGGOT :

I will not waste my time charging up my car every night. That is extremely inconvenient

right so its an extreme waste of time to plug it into the wall after youve parked it in your garage and pull the plug the next morning?

Quote :

not to mention it will wreak hell on the power grid

actually it will help the power companies a lot but apparently your understanding of how a power grid works isnt very deep

Quote :

A Hydrogran fuel cell-powered electric is the best solution to the problem at this point in time. It's clean

water vapour is one of the strongest global warming agents and if condensed into droplets or ice one of the strongest global cooling agents... putting additional tons of it into the air every day could lead to any number of unpredictable effects and at the very least will make every country as miserable as england

Quote :

it has minimal effect (zero) on the power grid

right so how would you produce the hydrogen then? magic? not to mention that charging a batter is much more efficient than electrolysis

Quote :

The fact that not one person has mentioned any of this in this thread is alarming.

its your lack of knowledge on how power distribution works thats the alarming part

Quote from red7 :

once the Lithium-Ion batteries are replaced for a lighter more effective alternative(nanosafe used for the upcoming lightning GTS?)

the lithium titanate batteries actually have a lower energy density

Quote from J.B. :

And then they even faked a scene where it ran it of juice which it didn't do in reality: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2 ... ars-mischaracterizations/

well tesla really deserves as much bad press as they can get but thats a different story

Quote :

whose only advantage is that it can be fueled up in a shorter time than a standard battery.

the lithium titanate batteries (which for some stupid reason are only sold to oems) claim to be chargeable at up to 50c... reduce that to a much mroe batteryfriendly 10c and youre down to 6 minutes for a full charge
of course filling stations would have to have some rather massive power supplies to provide the charge current but its easily possible

Quote from Victor :

I personally wonder if there will ever be serious racing series with electric cars.

if f1 keeps going the way they are electric cars could be much faster and thus more exciting in no time

Quote from MAGGOT :

I will not waste my time charging up my car every night. That is extremely inconvenient (not to mention it will wreak hell on the power grid)

I can't speak for all modern performance electric cars, but the Tesla's handling is supposedly crap on account of its excessive weight. No thanks.

The Tesla, specifically, doesn't have a gearbox. It only has one gear.

Speak for yourself, Solar is extremely hazardous to produce, and extremely inefficient and fragile. It will simply not work for everyday use.

No, but it won't solve pollution in those urban centres, either. Not only that, but it will create devastating environmental issues in other places, too.

Geothermal is not available for the whole world, and would be very difficult to implement into personal transportation. Same goes for tidal. Sunlight has already been addressed, all will not work.

Wow, you're a conspiracy theorist, eh?

An electric motor in a car is a fine idea... so long as it is not powered by the power grid and does not run on a plethora of batteries. A Hydrogran fuel cell-powered electric is the best solution to the problem at this point in time. It's clean, it has minimal effect (zero) on the power grid, and the infrastructre to keep fuel cells filled is practically already in place (gas stations. Some retrofitting needed, but still). Electric cars kill the environment to be produced, as well as to charge.

Most power stations on the planet are coal. These plants will need to produce more power to meet the energy demand for cars. Needless to say, these powerplants kill the environment, too. Additionally, the power grid will NOT handle everyone plugging in their cars every night so that they can run out for a jug of milk in the morning. The entire powergrid in every single country would need a complete and total overhaul - which is extremely expensive and time-consuming. Add to that the fact that most rural areas in most countries are not on the powergrid. The fact that not one person has mentioned any of this in this thread is alarming. None of you are looking at the whole picture, only a select portion of it - that is why we don't yet have a concrete solution (or even a plan) for this issue.

Are you drunk?

You are the one who can't see the whole picture, not me. I 'm talking about the ideas of how to produce clean energy and you don't want to see it.
You work for Shell? or BP? You call it conspiracy. It is not conspiracy, it is reality. I see your knowledge is not deep at all.

Plugging your car into a damn hole is much quicker than stopping at a gas station. But i guess you were just kidding when you said you wouldn't be bothered to plug in your car every night.

Producing solar energy from sunlight is NOT HAZARDOUS AND IT IS FREE once we get into the next step of it's technology. And we're not far from it. Doesn't matter how hard you (petrol companies) try to slow down the progress, it'll be useable in the near future.(and it must)

Geothermal, tidal and sunlight...They will all WORK!!! if you have the ability to choose the correct one depending on your environment. They are not expensive than digging thousands of holes into the ground to check if there's petrol in there.(or digging for coal)
So you won't need coal-power stations. They are not more efficient than solar energy by the way.But much more polluting.

Scientists have solutions! Like transporting energy through different layers of the atmosphere and sending it to where needed. So who needs powerlines?

After all, they are all at "beta testing" stage. But they are real!
Try to keep up with tech news.So you'll have a better point of view and larger imagination.

Quote from ZORER :

Producing solar energy from sunlight is NOT HAZARDOUS AND IT IS FREE once we get into the next step of it's technology. And we're not far from it. Doesn't matter how hard you (petrol companies) try to slow down the progress, it'll be useable in the near future.(and it must)

THERE ARE NO FREE ENERGIES, also, there are no energy transformations (as energy can't be created nor destroyed) that are 100% efficient or 100% clean.

Wind, sunlight, are, in human civilization terms, unlimited and renewable, but the processes, machines that we use to harness, transform, transport and store them, aren't.

In fact, I doubt that without all the natural gas, oil and coal that we use, nuclear energy and renewable energy would run itself, with no external subsidy from the fossil fuels (who are, mind you, solar energy stored that we could use as an accumulation and not as flux).

Sure, some energy technologies are better than others under some circumstances, but there are not silver bullets here, unless you buy the fussion lotery ticket and act as if you were to win...

Quote from Peaknik :

THERE ARE NO FREE ENERGIES, also, there are no energy transformations (as energy can't be created nor destroyed) that are 100% efficient or 100% clean.

Oh yeah?
Do snakes pay bills to heat up their body under the sun and store some energy to go for a hunt????
THERE IS FREE ENERGY !!! But you must be clever to see it. At least, as clever as a snake...

Quote from Peaknik :

Sure, some energy technologies are better than others under some circumstances, but there are not silver bullets here, unless you buy the fussion lotery ticket and act as if you were to win...

Try to see the difference. One is the energy we must use in near future, and the other is the one still destroying our future.

By the way, wtf is fusion lottery ??

Quote from ZORER :

Oh yeah?
Do snakes pay bills to heat up their body under the sun and store some energy to go for a hunt????
THERE IS FREE ENERGY !!! But you must be clever to see it. At least, as clever as a snake...

Very interesting observation! In fact the snakes pays a price... they must move to an area where they can warm up.

The key fact here is that you, the snake and me, all living beings, should get more than they invest when it comes about energy. In my opinion, this is a very important thing to consider when thinking about energy sources. Here is a good website dedicated to study energy return on energy investment.

There are many references for "free energy", but almost all of them are perpeetuum mobiles that don't obbey physic laws (so they are a scam or their builders play tricks on themselves).

Quote from ZORER :

By the way, wtf is fusion lottery ??

I mean that you don't know for sure if we are going to solve all of the problems involved in using fusion to produce commercial energy. And acting as we would is, in my oppinion like using lottery tickets to pay your bills.

I suppose I am a bit of a prudent pessimist when it comes about the future!

Quote from Stew2000 :

Electric cars have optional extra called a Sound Modulator.

and west coast custom will be brought in to fit every race car with a rocking audio system.........