http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/affordable-electric-cars-coming-to-us-in-2009/

Also, Camry plug-in hybrids are on the way.

A great source of information is:
http://www.hybridjungle.net/ devoted to hybrid vehicles of all types (plug-in, diesel, diesel plug-in, trucks, etc.)

I don’t know if we need rebates - if the big car makers sold plug-in hybrids for the same price as a Camry or Accord they’d be flying off the lots - at least while gas prices are this high. And as long as gas prices climb I think the public and even the politicians will want cars that are more efficient. I bet truckers had rigs with electric motors combined with diesel generators right now.

It’s a shame as a society that we’re so stupid and didn’t learn from the first oil crisis. We could have switched to better technology back then. Let’s hope this second wake-up call will get us off our asses and into better cars.

Your site looks right up my alley!

Electric cars have many advantages. They are more efficient, due to regenerative braking. They are also lighter, as they need less parts than gasoline cars; with economies of scale, that should make electric cars cheaper to buy, to drive and to maintain. Electric cars are also cleaner than gasoline cars, even if the power came from coal-fired power plants.

The main obstacle is the vested interests and their influence on politicians. To achieve the rapid shift we need, feebates are most effective, e.g. (1) fees on gasoline cars that fund rebates on local purchases of and conversions to electric cars, and (2) fees on fossil fuel that fund rebates on facilities that produce clean and safe electricity, such as solar panels and wind turbines.

For more details, see my articles at:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?memberId=217467

Cheers!
Sam Carana

I wanted to respond to Heidi-Ann: modern electric cars are designed with batteries that are intended to last the lifetime of the car. No throw-away is involved.

There are major environmental benefits to a switch from gas-powered to electric cars, even ignoring the fact that solar and wind power can be used to power the cars (as is being done by the entire country of Holland, in the case of wind power). The efficiency of power plant + electric car is considerably higher than that of gas-powered cars, from what I seen published. I’ll dig up the references and post them later (they are found in many places, including articles and comments by Sam Carana at Gather.com: http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?memberId=217467&nav=Namespace).

Add solar and wind power to the equation, with appropriate tax rebates as befits something of importance to national security, and electric cars can be extremely clean. They are definitely far preferable to our current liquid fuel system.

Best wishes, Jim greenchemistry.wordpress.com

If you are buying a car today the best you can do is probably a hybrid, but they are expensive, so for the common folk, a low cost high mileage vehicle is the best solution. However, even then it might be worth while to wait two-three years if possible.

Within three years car makers should be selling something that’s a major leap forward over what you can get today. A hybrid that’s evolved into a plug-in hybrid might be the design.

For electric cars to be really eco-friendly they need to be paired with eco-friendly power sources. One good way to do that is to put your house on the grid with solar energy collectors and sell energy during the day and charge the car at night from the grid. This isn’t a perfect solution because of various other factors, especially the nasty qualities of batteries.

My current vehicle gets 15-20 mpg, so if my next vehicle gets 30-40 then I’ve cut my carbon use in half - if you don’t consider the carbon cost of creating a whole new vehicle, which is a big issue. That’s why I’m thinking I need to wait and see if I can get a plug-in hybrid in 3 years that will get 60-80 mpg or better.

If fuel cell cars can be ready as soon or relatively soon, then it would be worth waiting for them, but will that be the case?

My goal a year ago was to reduce my carbon footprint by 50 percent in 5 years. Eventually, we need to be using 80-90 percent less than what we were using in the 1990s. That’s going to be hard but doable, but it might take 10 years.

Jim

2. The problem with electric vehicles at the moment is sustained power, and trading air pollution for ground contamination with depleted batteries that should have been re-manufactured. We are a throw away society.

There is much research in producing better hydrogen fuel cells in progress. Both the University of Wisconsin and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have made some great strides in this area.

Here is a recent article from UWM.
New Nanoparticle Catalyst Brings Fuel-Cell Cars Closer To Showroom
http://www.sflorg.com/comm_center/unv_tech/p336_29.html

Take care
Heidi-Ann~