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Would you buy an electric car?

Would you buy an electric car?

  • yes

    Votes: 25 48.1%
  • no

    Votes: 8 15.4%
  • depends

    Votes: 19 36.5%

  • Total voters
    52
ok but does your VW have 360 horsepower ?Of which 300 is wasted - simply used as "ego food". I despise waste..

:2wave:

for those people who only need 20 miles there is something know as A BUS.There is also reality; bus service in America is about as reliable as department store selection , which is poor.

he VW has, as I recall 52 romping stomping Diesel horsepower..The 50 MPG is not magic.
 
The internal combustion engine is archaic and obsolete and it should have been scrapped a long time ago. Simply not true.The "higher mileage" cars that are coming out now are shelved technology that was weaseled away from their original inventors then shelved to keep the oil companies happy. Electric car technology is the technology that is growing at a fast rate. Once people start buying electric cars the technology will take off and before long internal combustion engines will only be seen at car shows and car museums. That iis my opinion.

My screwball idea is a Diesel/electric powered car.. This works well for the railroads, why not automobiles ?
Forget the greater costs..
Money grows on trees.:rofl
 
I would think die hard greenies would just off themselves seeing how in their mind humans are the problem or at least sterilize themselves.

You just don't understand greenies.. they want to reduce the population by 80%, but they want you to step up to the plate, not themselves.
 
There are several reasons to buy an electric car . for instance; to tell the oil companies to take a hike, to tell the Arabs to take a hike, to tell the big 3 to take a hike. To be able to drive past a gas station posting $3 per gallon or more with a smile on your face because you are no longer at their mercy. and 1 more reason: to KNOW that you are no longer financing terrorists every time you fill up your tank. Just think, no more oil changes, no more costly engine repairs. Their are hundreds of moving parts in an internal combustion engine. Only one in an electric motor. They are quiet, and most are capable of doing 0 to 60 in 4 seconds or less. Even though they will eventually be able to compete with a gas car in distance, if you buy one that only goes 90 miles on a charge, that is more than enough for most commuters.:doh

And what does it cost every 3 years for new batteries? What does it cost per mile to recharge? How will it stand up to a collision with an 18 wheeler? Will any of those electric cars pull a 5,000 lb. boat? Do they come in 4 wheel drive?

Until they get those 18 wheel + trucks on their own roads away from me, I'll stick with my 22 MPG extended cab, long bed, 4x4 power stroke.
 
Mark my words most people wont be driving petrol driven cars in 10 years time maybe less.
 
they already are INSANELY energy efficient. you won't see any improvement in this particular area.

the one area where there is likely to be most improvement is time needed to recharge. right now you basically have to charge it overnight but someday in the future you might be able to recharge your car while eating your burger at Wendy's

but ultimately the success of electric vehicles hinges on the same issue as success of ethanol does - there needs to be a distribution network for the fuel / power.

before electric cars take off all manufacturers of electric vehicles will have to agree on a standard charing station design. then they will need to invest HUGE amounts of money to actually put those stations in places where people can use them. until these two things happen electric vehicles will essentially be useless for anything but a second or third car.

You are aware that our government subsidizes ethanol by about a dollar per gallon, right?... and ethanol gives about 15% less energy per gallon, right?

You do know that transmission losses for electricity is about 8%? Any idea of what the efficiency is for converting fossil fuel into electricity?

What do those batteries cost in that dinky little car, and how often do you have to replace them?
 
You just don't understand greenies.. they want to reduce the population by 80%, but they want you to step up to the plate, not themselves.

Yes, I heard they encouraged suicide...:roll:

Mark my words most people wont be driving petrol driven cars in 10 years time maybe less.

Due to the economic implications of alternative energy for cars I doubt it. Probably longer. Just being skeptical.
 
Yes, I heard they encouraged suicide...:roll:



Due to the economic implications of alternative energy for cars I doubt it. Probably longer. Just being skeptical.

Fair enough time will tell.
 
for those people who only need 20 miles there is something know as A BUS.

I actually think the bus is far more convenient on a cross-country trip than it is on a 20-mile commute. The problems with short bus trips like a work commute is the waiting for the bus and generally longer travel times of the bus due to it making frequent stops and the annoyance of bus transfers.

On a cross country trip waiting an hour at the bus station for the bus isn't such a big deal, they don't make frequent stops like a city bus, and they can drive more hours per day than I can (with multiple bus drivers).
 
And what does it cost every 3 years for new batteries? What does it cost per mile to recharge? How will it stand up to a collision with an 18 wheeler? Will any of those electric cars pull a 5,000 lb. boat? Do they come in 4 wheel drive?

Until they get those 18 wheel + trucks on their own roads away from me, I'll stick with my 22 MPG extended cab, long bed, 4x4 power stroke.

In a lot of places trucks aren't allowed on highways or roads.
 
You are aware that our government subsidizes ethanol by about a dollar per gallon, right?... and ethanol gives about 15% less energy per gallon, right?

You do know that transmission losses for electricity is about 8%? Any idea of what the efficiency is for converting fossil fuel into electricity?

What do those batteries cost in that dinky little car, and how often do you have to replace them?

8 percent transmission loss is nothin compared to efficiency of gas motor which loses about 90 percent.

Lost energy is inevitably heat. For gas engine to be efficient it would need to have exhaust at room temperature. You can roughly figure from that how badly gas engines actually suck.
 
8 percent transmission loss is nothin compared to efficiency of gas motor which loses about 90 percent.

Lost energy is inevitably heat. For gas engine to be efficient it would need to have exhaust at room temperature. You can roughly figure from that how badly gas engines actually suck.

That is true... now think about the efficiency of turning oil or coal into electricity.... same rational holds true.

Now store it in a battery. (note the heat given off by a battery charger)

Now turn that electricity into motive power. (ever notice the cooling fins on powerful electric motors?)

Do you still think electric cars are efficient?
 
That is true... now think about the efficiency of turning oil or coal into electricity.... same rational holds true.

Now store it in a battery. (note the heat given off by a battery charger)

Now turn that electricity into motive power. (ever notice the cooling fins on powerful electric motors?)

Do you still think electric cars are efficient?

well what kind of idiot would use oil to produce electricity ?

electricity should be produced from renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
 
well what kind of idiot would use oil to produce electricity ?

electricity should be produced from renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

But that leads to a whole new discussion concerning an electric car during a point where most electricity is produced through renewable energy sources...something that's not currently true.

So until that becomes true, the thing that poster is saying is a legitimate concern in regards to the situation CURRENTLY
 
well what kind of idiot would use oil to produce electricity ?

electricity should be produced from renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

Sounds good..... on paper.

By James Schlesinger and Robert L. Hirsch
Friday, April 24, 2009

Why are we ignoring things we know? We know that the sun doesn't always shine and that the wind doesn't always blow. That means that solar cells and wind energy systems don't always provide electric power. Nevertheless, solar and wind energy seem to have captured the public's support as potentially being the primary or total answer to our electric power needs.

Solar cells and wind turbines are appealing because they are "renewables" with promising implications and because they emit no carbon dioxide during operation, which is certainly a plus. But because both are intermittent electric power generators, they cannot produce electricity "on demand," something that the public requires. We expect the lights to go on when we flip a switch, and we do not expect our computers to shut down as nature dictates.

Solar and wind electricity are available only part of the time that consumers demand power. Solar cells produce no electric power at night, and clouds greatly reduce their output. The wind doesn't blow at a constant rate, and sometimes it does not blow at all.

If large-scale electric energy storage were viable, solar and wind intermittency would be less of a problem. However, large-scale electric energy storage is possible only in the few locations where there are hydroelectric dams. But when we use hydroelectric dams for electric energy storage, we reduce their electric power output, which would otherwise have been used by consumers. In other words, we suffer a loss to gain power on demand from wind and solar

James Schlesinger and Robert L. Hirsch - Getting Real on Wind and Solar - washingtonpost.com

But everyone knows that.
 
Most studies I've seen have shown that the act of charging these vehicles is inefficient and actually will cause more polution than a conventional contemporary engine. If the grid was being mostly fed by nukes then maybe I'd buy one but it would have to sound like a Pontiac GXPR.
 
Most studies I've seen have shown that the act of charging these vehicles is inefficient and actually will cause more polution than a conventional contemporary engine. If the grid was being mostly fed by nukes then maybe I'd buy one but it would have to sound like a Pontiac GXPR.

Until we have almost all of our power supplied by Hydro or Nukes the electric car is just a Greenie delusion... kinda like those spiral florecent light bulbs that, in California, if you break one, by law you have to have a HasMat team come in and clean up the Mercury. :shrug:
 
8 percent transmission loss is nothin compared to efficiency of gas motor which loses about 90 percent.

Lost energy is inevitably heat. For gas engine to be efficient it would need to have exhaust at room temperature. You can roughly figure from that how badly gas engines actually suck.
Sources please?
 
I just saw a SmithsonianHD channel (I think) documentary on ethanol from sugar cane. Apparently Brazil has gone from 80% dependency on foreign oil to <10% dependency by using flexfueled cars and mandating the availabilty of ethanol at the pump. They also showed a sugar cane operation in Hawaii where they take the depleted cane and process it as fuel for their generators which provide electric to the mill and 7% of Maui's total electricity production.

If sugar is bad for you, and we already have a large portion of agricultural resources dedicated to its production, using it this way seems like it could make a significant contribution to the solution of our oil dependence problem without depleting the worlds food supply.

Just please keep the fraud algore away from it!
 
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I'd consider trading my left leg for this electric car
 
I trid to answer you but the ervr won't all me to give you the information.
 
It would be easy to make an all wheel drive electric just install four electric motors 1 for each wheel it has been found that most hybrid gas/electric car batteries make over 200,000 miles. As for 5000 pound pulls I don't see a problem there either if the car is designead for it I have worked with electric fork lifts, electric riding pallet jacks etc. A electric pallet jack will run for 0 hours on a single charge lifting pallets that weight up to 3000 pounds same with an electric fork lift, and that is with simple lead acid batteries. I will be satisfied with an electric commuter car that gets me to work and home every day and when I want to haul heavy stuff I will rely on a gas vehicle. Later, when electrics are developed, they Will be able to pull 5000 lb trailers and go 1000 miles on a single charge. They are being suppressed and the car companies know they are superior and what their potential is. The oil mafia is a force that is very powerful I won't say any more on that subject. I value my life. Just consider the fact that GM got a multi billion dollar "bailout" and still was able to go chapter 11 and no one did anything about that. That is my opinion.
 
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