VW reveals electric-powered Pikes Peak contender
- Thread starter 123Saab
- Start date
- Status
Am I the only one who just can't seem to get excited about electric cars?
Originally Posted By: billt460
Am I the only one who just can't seem to get excited about electric cars?
Lots of people like you out there, but I feel the number of people that do get excited over high performance Electric cars is steadily growing.
I'm excited about new tech, I like an evolving world.
Am I the only one who just can't seem to get excited about electric cars?
Lots of people like you out there, but I feel the number of people that do get excited over high performance Electric cars is steadily growing.
I'm excited about new tech, I like an evolving world.
Originally Posted By: CT8
But then where will the electricity come from to rechagre the batteries!
That's the part I'm not buying into. The bulk of our electricity in this country is produced by burning fossil fuels. Coal, oil, or natural gas. Very little is nuclear. And even that is anything but "green". Just ask people living near Chernobyl or Fukushima. So while the concept seems more green. The reality is anything but.
But then where will the electricity come from to rechagre the batteries!
That's the part I'm not buying into. The bulk of our electricity in this country is produced by burning fossil fuels. Coal, oil, or natural gas. Very little is nuclear. And even that is anything but "green". Just ask people living near Chernobyl or Fukushima. So while the concept seems more green. The reality is anything but.
Electric cars in my opinion waste more power. You have a power plant making electricity and transmission lines to substation and transmission lines from there to your local step down transformer and then to the transformer in your charger to your battery. Transformers are typically less than 70% efficient. WHAT happens when the grid goes down? When you can carry a recharge in a gas can, then I might consider it again.
To base the practicality of electric vehicles on currently available tech is understandable but also short sighted.
Things are moving along at pretty good pace.
Anyhow, I'm looking forward to see the VW whine its way up Pikes Peak
Things are moving along at pretty good pace.
Anyhow, I'm looking forward to see the VW whine its way up Pikes Peak
Last edited:
Until they can get these things to recharge in minutes instead of hours, they're not going anywhere.
They pour all this money into the tech before it's ready for prime time because batteries.
You could say "it's an investment" that they can leverage later, but an investment isn't something that you pour money into and then it stagnates. An investment is something that appreciates in value, then you shift the assets over to a different investment like EV when it is ready to appreciate in value.
EVs are important and inevitable, yet premature. They're also going in the wrong direction, offering higher performance than needed or safe, increasing odds of accidents, involving more expensive vehicles.
To some extent this was inevitable, that humans picked the low hanging fruit (oil for fuel) to power ICE vehicles over the last century and that supply isn't infinite, but how worried are they really when a top US automaker like Ford, decides to get rid of small cars to focus on trucks and SUVs based on customer preference?
Fortunately another tech will step in to help. Once all vehicles have good collision avoidance systems, the risk of driving a small, light weight EV and being in a collision with a big, heavy SUV or truck will be reduced and then EVs won't have to be 1.5+ ton vehicles to offer reasonable occupant protection.
Once you get past that big hurdle of downsizing the EV fleet, the cost can decrease and range can increase. Maybe by then we'll also have an inexpensive, superior battery tech ready and finally it will make sense to build EVs for the masses... but ultimately, the investment is silly when put towards anything besides batteries. Cart before the horse as they say.
You could say "it's an investment" that they can leverage later, but an investment isn't something that you pour money into and then it stagnates. An investment is something that appreciates in value, then you shift the assets over to a different investment like EV when it is ready to appreciate in value.
EVs are important and inevitable, yet premature. They're also going in the wrong direction, offering higher performance than needed or safe, increasing odds of accidents, involving more expensive vehicles.
To some extent this was inevitable, that humans picked the low hanging fruit (oil for fuel) to power ICE vehicles over the last century and that supply isn't infinite, but how worried are they really when a top US automaker like Ford, decides to get rid of small cars to focus on trucks and SUVs based on customer preference?
Fortunately another tech will step in to help. Once all vehicles have good collision avoidance systems, the risk of driving a small, light weight EV and being in a collision with a big, heavy SUV or truck will be reduced and then EVs won't have to be 1.5+ ton vehicles to offer reasonable occupant protection.
Once you get past that big hurdle of downsizing the EV fleet, the cost can decrease and range can increase. Maybe by then we'll also have an inexpensive, superior battery tech ready and finally it will make sense to build EVs for the masses... but ultimately, the investment is silly when put towards anything besides batteries. Cart before the horse as they say.
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: PimTac
“Anyhow, I'm looking forward to see the VW whine its way up Pikes Peak”
This is a classic example of why spelling is important. That vehicle may be whining all the way while winding up Pike’s Peak.
I spelled "Whine" correctly.
“Anyhow, I'm looking forward to see the VW whine its way up Pikes Peak”
This is a classic example of why spelling is important. That vehicle may be whining all the way while winding up Pike’s Peak.
I spelled "Whine" correctly.
JHZR2
Staff member
Originally Posted By: 123Saab
Originally Posted By: billt460
Am I the only one who just can't seem to get excited about electric cars?
Lots of people like you out there, but I feel the number of people that do get excited over high performance Electric cars is steadily growing.
I'm excited about new tech, I like an evolving world.
Full torque at 0 rpm is pretty exciting. Too bad it can't last long without an ice.
Originally Posted By: billt460
Am I the only one who just can't seem to get excited about electric cars?
Lots of people like you out there, but I feel the number of people that do get excited over high performance Electric cars is steadily growing.
I'm excited about new tech, I like an evolving world.
Full torque at 0 rpm is pretty exciting. Too bad it can't last long without an ice.
I'd buy a Tesla P100D if it was $30K, not $100K ... No, I don't want a lesser model, like a Leaf. Well maybe a smaller one if it was even quicker and all wheel drive
I'd charge it at night after midnight, "off-peak" so the power plants could stay closer to "base load" operation. I think that is the key to electrics right now. Even-out the usage cycle.
But, what I don't get is that electric vehicles do not have solar roofs ... Why can't they all incorporate that? It's not a lot of recharge, but it's some. 2 sq. M of panel is not nothing. And it would add little to the overall cost.
I see all these folks from Solar City and the like driving around in Prius's (Prii ...) and they are burning gasoline - huh??? You want advertising, make a statement, show by doing ... It's all mostly conjecture and babble.
Better panels are coming along. Some will get up to 30% efficient in the next 10 years at an affordable cost. Exotic panels are already 40%, but yea gods they are expensive (think Space Station ...).
It's all slowly converging. I have considered doing an electric conversion on an existing chassis. Lots of older 1950's chassis had plenty of headroom to absorb a 4" Li-ion "battery floor" and not be bad ergonomically. 1956 Ford Ranch Wagon with 100HP electric motor would get right around and carry the groceries
No range, but so what... I'm only using it locally (within 50 miles) and then I'm done. Many folks would not fit that scenario, but a lot of retired folks could
I'm considering a Zero electric motorcycle as my next bike. I seldom ride over two hours now anyway... I could trailer it to any distant venue and ride it there
Ditto and electric bicycle
I'd charge it at night after midnight, "off-peak" so the power plants could stay closer to "base load" operation. I think that is the key to electrics right now. Even-out the usage cycle.
But, what I don't get is that electric vehicles do not have solar roofs ... Why can't they all incorporate that? It's not a lot of recharge, but it's some. 2 sq. M of panel is not nothing. And it would add little to the overall cost.
I see all these folks from Solar City and the like driving around in Prius's (Prii ...) and they are burning gasoline - huh??? You want advertising, make a statement, show by doing ... It's all mostly conjecture and babble.
Better panels are coming along. Some will get up to 30% efficient in the next 10 years at an affordable cost. Exotic panels are already 40%, but yea gods they are expensive (think Space Station ...).
It's all slowly converging. I have considered doing an electric conversion on an existing chassis. Lots of older 1950's chassis had plenty of headroom to absorb a 4" Li-ion "battery floor" and not be bad ergonomically. 1956 Ford Ranch Wagon with 100HP electric motor would get right around and carry the groceries
No range, but so what... I'm only using it locally (within 50 miles) and then I'm done. Many folks would not fit that scenario, but a lot of retired folks could
I'm considering a Zero electric motorcycle as my next bike. I seldom ride over two hours now anyway... I could trailer it to any distant venue and ride it there
Ditto and electric bicycle
Last edited:
Interesting...no loss of power with altitude, no turbo to blow up...should do well.
The problem with electricity is it has to be transmitted and used the instant it is made. Storage is a serious problem. Bill Gates calculated that all of the batteries on planet Earth fully charged to 100% capacity, would only hold 10 minutes of the total power required in the world. It will be decades before that improves to a level that will make electric cars compatible with high mileage gasoline vehicles.
Right now you can put 16 gallons of gas into a gas tank of a fuel efficient car, and it will take you 500 miles or more. And when it's empty it can be refilled in a couple of minutes and you're off again. Electric cars are decades away from competing with that.... If they ever will.
And as far as the world "running out" of gas. They were saying that in the 70's during the Carter Administration. We're no closer to that now, than we were then. Yes, at some point we will run out. But as the supply begins to seriously diminish, the price will increase dramatically. This added cost will then help drive new ways of powering vehicles. And squeeze even more mileage out of the gas that is left. As always money and profitability will drive this. Not some professor at Berkeley gluing solar panels on a wooden car that weighs 120 pounds, that you have to lay down in to drive.
Right now you can put 16 gallons of gas into a gas tank of a fuel efficient car, and it will take you 500 miles or more. And when it's empty it can be refilled in a couple of minutes and you're off again. Electric cars are decades away from competing with that.... If they ever will.
And as far as the world "running out" of gas. They were saying that in the 70's during the Carter Administration. We're no closer to that now, than we were then. Yes, at some point we will run out. But as the supply begins to seriously diminish, the price will increase dramatically. This added cost will then help drive new ways of powering vehicles. And squeeze even more mileage out of the gas that is left. As always money and profitability will drive this. Not some professor at Berkeley gluing solar panels on a wooden car that weighs 120 pounds, that you have to lay down in to drive.
Things change, given enough time. I'm not some big fan of electric racing or proponent of electric cars, but I'm sure many horse racing enthusiasts found it hard to get excited about automobile racing.
Global Rally Cross announced that it will have an electric class for their 2019 season.
As much as I'm a devout fan of racing/rally ICE sounds, that could be interesting.
(IF I did not care at all about that one aspect, I would have no qualms at all about electric vehicles, and not fight them tooth and nail like so many on here do, whom I'm guessing are heavily involved in/employed by the petrochemical fuel industry.
)
As much as I'm a devout fan of racing/rally ICE sounds, that could be interesting.
(IF I did not care at all about that one aspect, I would have no qualms at all about electric vehicles, and not fight them tooth and nail like so many on here do, whom I'm guessing are heavily involved in/employed by the petrochemical fuel industry.
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
(IF I did not care at all about that one aspect, I would have no qualms at all about electric vehicles, and not fight them tooth and nail like so many on here do, whom I'm guessing are heavily involved in/employed by the petrochemical fuel industry.
)
Power Industry here...so have more than half an idea what I'm talking about.
(IF I did not care at all about that one aspect, I would have no qualms at all about electric vehicles, and not fight them tooth and nail like so many on here do, whom I'm guessing are heavily involved in/employed by the petrochemical fuel industry.
Power Industry here...so have more than half an idea what I'm talking about.
- Status
