Alternative to fossil fuel

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Chapagne
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Post by Chapagne » Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:39 pm

The Aceman wrote:Not to mention you can only go 25 miles before having to recharge.
They actually go a couple hundred, nowadays. It's more than most people need to get to work and back. Yes, yes, there ARE people who drive further to go to work, but I don't think they are in the majority. I know my family could easily get by with an electric car for our short hops (the VAST majority of our trips) and a gasoline one for trips to Grandma's and the like.
BGRtumpet wrote:Not to mention that the battery is very enviornmentally unfriendly.
Yes, the old lead-acid and nickel-cadmium batteries were very toxic, but the newer nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries are not nearly as problematic.

I'm kind of excited about this:http://www.nanosolar.com
Solar power for less than a $1 per watt? Cover your roof with those and you'd be charging your car for free. That would certainly make paying more up front attractive.

Of course, the car companies don't really want to make a 100% electric car. Their dealerships would lose a lot of money on maintenance. GM killed the EV1 for just that reason, I think. I'm sure they'll come around when the public demands it. Cheap electricity will go a long way towards doing that, I hope.

Electric cars are much cheaper to maintain, except for that one problem of having to replace the batteries when they wear out. I agree we need a huge push to come up with better ones. I've read the hybrid batteries are good for 150K miles (CA law states they must or they are replaced free) and cost around $3000 + installation.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/138808/page/2

Hybrids bug me though, because you get the worst of both worlds when it comes to maintenance. I'm just not ready to shell out that kind of money for something I'll be sinking even more into over the years. Without having to pay for the gasoline engine maintenance, it suddenly gets much more attractive to me.
"The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound. He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful." - Benjamin Zander

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