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      08-08-2013, 04:16 PM   #22
bradleyland
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tony20009 View Post
This seems like it might be a nice car when it does come to market.

In truth, however, I'm not sure about my feelings regarding EVs or hybrids. On one hand, I recognize they offer efficiency benefits that surpass that of petro-chemically powered vehicles. And I accept that electricity is cheaper than gasoline or diesel. (Scientific American says that electricity costs what amounts to 75¢ a gallon.) So, over a long enough period or driving enough miles, one could get one's money's worth out of spending the extra money it costs up front to buy an EV or hybrid. On the other hand, however, it seems like battery powered vehicles is an interim step between what we have now and powering just about everything via a completely renewable energy source.

Yes, yes, I know, baby steps. But babies need baby steps, do whole economies and systems? I cannot help but wonder if the resources devoted to electric vehicle technology would not be better invested to simply go directly to the end state goal. I know that's not often possible or plausible, but in this particular case, I don't really know.

The other thing that somewhat disturbs me is the fact that the efficiency gains will be available first to the wealthy and not-quite-wealthy folks who in fact are the ones least in need of the overall reduction in costs. I know that historically, that's always how it's been with most any advances in technology; however, when the matter driving the movement is environmental sustainability and national economic soundness, I can't help but think that a solution that is readily available to a much broader spectrum of the population isn't a better approach. Even now, the cheapest EVs and hybrids, forget BMW's versions, are still priced well above what the average consumer can pay for a car. Yet, it's the average consumers' use of efficient vehicles that will make the difference to the economy and environment. (Please don't infer any Marxist leanings from that statement; that's not where I intended to direct any lines of discussion.)
I think it's important to compartmentalize when considering current-day EVs. Hybrids are an obvious interim compromise, but EVs like Tesla's Model S are better platforms the future of the automobile.

When we talk about renewable energy sources, we're not talking about eliminating electricity, we're talking about where the electricity comes from. Batteries are not an energy source, so even if a perfect renewable energy source were to fall in to our laps tomorrow, it wouldn't eliminate the need for batteries.

I think it's unlikely that we'll see the development of any renewable resource that we would burn in an internal combustion engine, like we do with gasoline/diesel. It's far more likely that the renewable resource will generate electricity. The question is whether the entire means of power generation will be suitable for installation in an automobile, or if the electricity will be generated in large facilities and stored in some other medium (like batteries or kinetic storage devices).

The only part of current-day EVs that I would say stands a 100% chance of being discarded in the future is the LiIon battery. It's limitations are too significant to sustain our needs in to the distant future. However, a LiIon battery has nothing to do with renewable energy sources. You "fill" a LiIon battery with electricity, so all the other components of a current-day EV -- the motors, the power management systems, etc -- are progress that is invested in the long term.
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