Will electric cars be reliable in wintery conditions?
By Cars & Motorcycles on Apr 02, 2009 with Comments 48
Ricky B asked: I just read up on some exciting new electric cars that will be coming out in the next 3 years that match my budget and will have up to 300 mpg!!!
But I was wondering, how these cars would handle on a street after a ice storm? The car would be great for me, but i live in the Midwest and require a car that can get around ice and snow.
The information I would like to have is the typical weight an electric car, front/rear wheel drive, and inside space.
Filed Under: Electric Cars
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WATCH OUT! High Voltage wet icy ground people do not know Technicians and first responders to an accident have to be able to power down that car and its braking system in order to remove accident victims. So far about 30 people have been killed working on Hybrids Full electric there better be some standards soon. Or just even recharging the A/C system can be fatal if the wrong A/C oil is used. I think your only moving the pollution to another place full electric cars have to be plugged in some where.
When my children once had an electric car to play ; it was pain in the neck to keep charging the battery every night for 7 hours . beside the fact that i’ve never known the monthly cost i had to pay for this charging of the battery .
Electric cars are very good idea but not to the ordinary guy . it needs discipline . it is maybe better for commercial use like in the malls or hospitals or company compounds , there they have manpower and resources to keep them operational and in good shape .
The question concentrates on cold weather but what about hot weather ?. can anybody drive an electric car in Arizona or in Nevada? i doubt it . they will need air conditioning which need a lot of power .
I have seen that big commuter cars like buses use a separate motor to generate power for air conditioning . i think there it goes . if you want to use electric cars ; then you make a separate motor for air conditioning either for hot or for cold . the weight of the new motor helps in keeping the car stable .
Maybe not because of their weight.
Traction and winter performance will always be at least as good as conventional piston powered cars and can be much better.
The secret to this is in the ability to use computer control with sensors on each wheel/motor to give precise control and power delivered to the wheel that needs it. Think of it as ABS for going, not stopping. Electric motors are extremely easy to control with computers. Oh, the full on electric car could be a dream to drive, summer or winter.
Now me personally, I like the big block Chevy with fool injection and a rock crusher 4 speed, but with Gas at 3.25 a gallon, that ride will become a garage queen for sure!
OH, and Merry Christmas to all!
A purely electric car doesn’t get “MPG” and although it is possible to calculate the cost per mile for fuel, the calculations are tricky and you’d need specialized equipment to measure the amount of electricity used to charge the batteries.
Battery performance drops off as the battery’s temperature drops. This is true for all types of batteries. Some systems in prototype development enclose the batteries in an insulated container and provide heating elements to keep them warm and at full capacity. However that costs money to do so as electricity isn’t free. Even so, given enough time they will become “cold soaked” and capacity will drop of significantly. Using the batteries to provide the heat would defeat the purpose since you’d lose capacity just keeping them warm enough.
The problem to date with electric cars is the limited range. Much progress has been made in improving battery capacity per pound of weight but we still have a long way to go on that issue, and vehicle with sufficient capacity to go 400 miles between recharge cycles would be extremely heavy. Don’t forget that hauling all of that weight around costs money too!
We are still a long way away from a vehicle that will travel 400 miles on a charge AND be “refillable” in the same 10 minutes or so that a gas stop currently takes. The few vehicles on the market currently take overnight to charge and there are no commercial recharging stations anywhere yet. You need a dedicated high-current circuit just for the charging equipment and that’s currently limited to fixed locations such as your home. And don’t forget the added cost for an electrician to install the outlet to connect the car to as well!
All of these limitations relegate electric vehicles for short-distance commuter use or inner-city runabout use only at present. We’ll get there eventually; just don’t look for wide spread adoption as a general replacement for the internal combustion engined vehicle for at least another 20 to 50 years, if even that soon!
An electric car that does 300mpg?
Per gallon of fucking what?
Yes. It shall be exactly like a regular car except it shall run on electricity.
I don’t think they will. If everyone converted to an electric car can you imagine the drain on the power grids? Most families have two cars that would all be charging overnight. Or one would always be charging while the other one is running.
I intend on having a gas combustion engine until something better comes along and I don’t see that happening too soon. I think the best solution right now is to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and in the ice in the north.
Besides I need to haul my horses with a horse trailer and heavy truck, there’s no other way to do it.
If the people driving cars electric or otherwise would show more courtesy on the roads I would ride my horse for local errands but inconsiderate people make it oo dangerous.