Electric cars should be competing against gas cars

Discussion in 'Peak Oil' started by Kingfish, May 20, 2011.


  1. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    If two kids can build an electric car for under 1000 bucks that goes 30 miles an hour for 27 miles then someone should be able to build one that goes 55 miles an hour for under 10 grand with a 120 mile range. Check out the Forkenswift built by two kids who now use it to drive errands around town.

    Electric car conversion on a beer budget - ForkenSwift.com

    I am convinced that building your own electric car is one way to beat back the cost of driving. There are thousands of people all over the world who are converting small gas powered cars to electric powered short range low speed cars for work and errands. I want to see a company that sells kits for conversions. Add solar powered charging station and multiple battery packs and the problems are solved. This is where we need to be investing and pushing industry to expand. Kingfish
     
    hank2222 likes this.
  2. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    Well Kingfish...A couple of us at work were kicking around the idea of using a 20 hp.Yanmar diesel...Attaching a Hyd.pump to it,Run this through a control valve to a Hyd.Motor driving the diff...Just a basic design...
     
  3. gunbunny

    gunbunny Never Trust A Bunny

    I'm sure someone could build one, but you are stuck with a few hurdles. 1) battery tech. Either use lead acid because they are cheaper and pay the weight penalty, or use ultra-rare and hazardous metals to have a lighter battery pack. Both options will have to be replaced when they start to lose charging capacity.
    2) material tech. You can build a car out of fiberglass or aluminum to make it light, but I don't want to be on the road with tractor-trailers around. Good gas mileage and lightweight, but road pancake in an accident. It could be made stronger- but the cost goes up exponentially.
    3) range. This will vary due to terrain! Where I live, there is no such thing as a flat, straight road. That is the only place you can get a good range with alternatively powered vehicles.
    4) local laws. Believe it or not, but my home state won't allow you to rip out the engine of your car and replace it with anything else. Only if you have a car made before a certain date. PA sucks when it comes to modifying vehicles, and some states are even worse. I cannot pull the 4.0ho inline six cylinder gasser out of my Jeep and replace it with an old diesel. I have to use a newer one that was made after a certain date (year of the vehicle) or I won't be able to pass inspection!:mad:

    I'm not against electric cars. I really am not. I would love to drive one. I think a Jeep Wrangler with the battery pack under the hood and four electric motors- one at each wheel with an independent suspension- would be the shiznip. Maybe a backup diesel to charge the batterys like Gator 45/70 says. For some reason we are not ment to have them.
     
  4. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    A while back, I posted a thread about an Electric ATV Side by Side. 4WD, Lead Acid Batteries, 50 mile range, and 35 Mph. If you put a Honda 3000i Inverter/Genset, and a OutBack MX80 MPPT Charge Controller, in the back, you would have the "Worlds cheapest Hybrid Vehicle. About $15KUS, Total, NEW. It would make a GREAT, SHTF BugOut Rig, especially if you have a small Trailer, to transport your goods. Silent when running on just electricity. Start up the Honda, when noise, isn't as big of a deal, and recharge, while on the move, extending the useable range, significantly. Now if they just made a Diesel version of the Honda Inverter/Genset......... ......
     
    hank2222 likes this.
  5. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    The reason we do not have electric cars is because the US Patent Office isn't open to slaves. The corporations OWN this country, period. If they cannot profit, it doesn't happen. Add to this the very real conspiracy to utterly destroy liberty; there is no better way to do this than the methods already taken. First, tax the serfs to eliminate the middle class -done. Second, add more taxes (gas prices go up much?) and aggregate the wealth into the hands of the few greedy. Third, restrict travel and heavily license, fine, and criminalize everyone. The end result is enough to make Orwell's vision look like a sunny picnic.

    So, yes -the technology is here. And yes, it is extremely affordable to produce and assemble. Unfortunately, the mega-corporate cartels own pretty much everything, and soon even the air you are breathing...to be taxed for the safety and betterment of humanity, naturally.
     
    Panhead and hank2222 like this.
  6. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    Gunbunny...We do as we wish down here when it come's to modifing a engine or drive train...It's the old rule... Tell the guberment nothing as to what you've modified or doing...That being said...someone will slap a inspection sticker on your ride..we call them (brake tag's)
     
  7. beast

    beast backwoodsman

    drove my pedal car around the yard today
    slowly workin out the bugs
    designed it when i was 17 but didnt start buildinit tilafter the kids moved out
    once complete it should easily reach a sustainable 60 mph
    maybe ill post a pic someday
     
  8. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    That would be cool!
     
  9. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    Sure Beast...A picture or 2 would be nice...!!
     
  10. Minuteman

    Minuteman Chaplain Moderator Founding Member

    I drive an electric car. It gets up to about 30 mph downhill, about 2 uphill. The range is about 36 holes. It's made by Club Car. ;)
     
    Gator 45/70 likes this.
  11. Seawolf1090

    Seawolf1090 Retired Curmudgeonly IT Monkey Founding Member

    I always figured a VW pan would be a good start for an electric car. ATVs and golf carts just ain't 'road legal.' No vehicle inspections in sunny Florida.

    Hmmm.... still got my old Toyota Tercel...... Could replace some bodywork with fiberglass, replace the wore-out 3EE with an electric motor and a few deep cycle batteries. Might get me to work and back (25 miles) on a charge.......

    [fnny]
     
  12. beast

    beast backwoodsman

    making a pedal powered generator is fairly simple
    why not an electric car with a pedal powered generator for juice?
     
  13. Nadja

    Nadja RIP 3-11-2013 Forum Leader

    Well, seems to me everybody is missing out on something here. In order for an elec car to be able to save energy, it would have to be totally self sufficient. In other words, when you plug it in to either your house or a charging station, where do most people think the elect. comes from ? It comes from fossil fuel for the most part. So, when building or buying one of these, keep in mind, it really is not saving the earth or fossil fuels, unless your sporting a total solar charging system on the roof.
     
  14. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Have you run the numbers for Human Powered Electrical Generation?
    It is a widely know, and tested Fact, that even the BEST Athletes can only produce 100 Watts of Electrical Power, on an extended basis, for any length of time. Just how far, and how fast, can you move a 500 Lb Vehicle on 100 Watts.
    Not practical, even if the numbers, held up..... ......
     
  15. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    Naja , you own the answer to that question. Solar. I want to see someone design and market a small car like the forkenswift(1992 Geo Metro) which has a battery pack that you can remove with a couple of clamps. You plug it in and go. Each car would come with two battery packs. While you are using one the other sits on a solar charger. The pack should mount under the rear of the car and be rolled into position with a small cart or even be part of the entire rear end of the car. You open up the tilt rear end like a tilt front end and slide the battery pack out. Put a fresh one in and go. There is a way to do this. If these two Kids can get 27 miles and 30 to 40 mph for 997.00 I should be able to build one for about 5 grand that does 50 mph and goes 50 miles on a charge. Ill tell you all what, I am sick of buying gasoline. I want an electric car and a solar charger to keep it going. Kingfish[2c]
     
    Brokor likes this.
  16. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Why did we train slow animals to pull us around? Why a dog sled when we could have created a cheetah sled? Lash a cheetah to a red ryder and pull his tail...
     
  17. beast

    beast backwoodsman

    so you find somethin dif if you wanna tour the whole country....lol
     
  18. Minuteman

    Minuteman Chaplain Moderator Founding Member

    The electric car idea has been around for many years. And a lot of small communities, such as retirement communities, are allowing the use of LSV's. Low speed vehicles, that are road legal with light and turn signals, seat belts etc. But the technology has a long way to go to ever be more than just a very short range, low speed, run-about.

    There is an interesting design that uses solar roof panels combined with a generator on the axles that charges the batteries as the wheels turn.

    I thought about something like the 4-wheel drive Bad Boy Buggy with solar roof array for a short range BO, scout or run-about vehicle in a SHTF situation.

    We are years if not decades away from any viable alternative to fossil fuels for transportation. The best solution at this time is NG or even LPG. Many of the farmers in my area have been running propane trucks and tractors for years.
     
  19. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    In the early 90's chevy made an S10 pickup that I believe LA used for the municipal service people to get around .
    A friend owns one locally it has batteries under the cab I will see if I can get him to join SM if you to talk about it . He was one of the three original engineers for The first electric sports cars the Tesla roadsters they used to race. goggle it. And AC propulsion ....
     
  20. Cbr6fs

    Cbr6fs Monkey+

    Seems every year some news channel opens up a story about electric cars WILL be the future, unfortunately though this will never be the case.

    There are just too many obstacles to overcome.

    For a start if everyone bought an electric car there is not one countries power supply chain in the world that could handle that sort of power drain.

    Another is that although battery technology has come on leaps and bounds over the last 10 years, we're still stuck with just the shear quantity of cells required to move a heavy object like a car around at any speed for any distance.

    Yes you can make the car out of lighter materials BUT it's still going to be the cells that will by and far be the most weight to lug around.

    Then there is the lack of consistency from these cells, sure that guy MAY get 27 miles on a nice warm sunny day.
    Ask him how far he gets in winter though, you could half that at the very least.

    Then take into consideration that the cells needed to run these cars (usually Lithium based) start degrading the second they're produced, the longer they are fully charged the quicker they degrade.
    So if you charge your car then come back after a 2 weeks vacation you've more than likely taken 3 months of the cells lifespan.

    Then we have the voltage cut-offs (if these cells drop much below 3v they're ruined) a failure in the low voltage protection circuit and you are talking thousands to replace the cells.

    Then there is crash damage, LiFe cells are pretty good, but they're a fair bit bigger than LiPo cells, rupture a charged LiPo cell and believe me you won't want to be anywhere near it.

    Then there is the charging.
    I understand that the ideal would be to charge this car from solar or wind generated power, problem is though you'll be needing around 15,000 watts of power for over 3 hours.
    This really takes it beyond the realms of 99% of households.

    Still on the subject of charging.
    There is another MAJOR drawback, you guys out in the country are fine you just pack the car in your garage of your parking bay.
    What about the millions and million of people that live in apartments, or the millions more that don't have a garage or parking.
    Are we going to see miles and miles of cabling over the pavements as people run 80 yards to cable from their house to the closest parking sport they can find.

    Other worry for me is this.
    Imagine your coming home one dark wet night, you've got 20 miles left in the cells BUT your house is 23 miles away.
    If you turn your lights off this gives you the extra 3 miles.

    I'm sure many here would do the right thing and just get as far as they can with the lights on, imagine the amount of jerks there are in the world though.....

    So kinda like communism, great idea just doesn't work in practice :(
     
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