Electric Cars...

[simeon]

It has been talked about in articles and shows that the cars go through so many batteries so quickly that the recycling companies wouldn't keep up.

Are electric car owners destroying our eviroment? Are they contributing to global warming by plugging their cars in to charge?
I mean where does that electricity come from could it be coal powered, gas power, nuclear powered?

[Brian Fein]

Are electric car owners destroying our eviroment? Are they contributing to global warming by plugging their cars in to charge?

Yes!  Its a trade off - either you pollute the environment with CO2 every mile you drive, or you pollute the environment by increasing demand on the local power plant.

The difference is that the power plant will be running whether you have an electric car or not.

[Fau Teixeira]

It has been talked about in articles and shows that the cars go through so many batteries so quickly that the recycling companies wouldn't keep up.

you're assuming that:

1 - new recycling companies wouldn't spring up to meet demand
2 - existing companies wouldn't ramp up capacity
3 - demand driven technological innovation wouldn't occur

your sentence reminds me of those old physics questions "when you throw a ball at a 45 degree angle with X force .. how far will it go.. in a vacuum with no friction"

[Dave Gray]

Another things with batteries (electric) vs. emissions from gas powered cars is that batteries can get their fuel from a variety of sources -- from burning coal (which is similar to what you'd get from a car), to nuclear, to wind, solar, hydroelectric, etc.  With a gas motor, the result is always the same -- exhaust.

[Brian Fein]

Plus he has solar panels on his roof to charge the car. 

To me, this makes the car FREE to use and FREE from any environmental impact.

[Dave Gray]

To me, this makes the car FREE to use and FREE from any environmental impact.

I'm all for solar technology, but the yield from it isn't that great.  When they use solar panels on cars, it helps, but doesn't provide nearly enough energy to power the car.  It's more to help with other electrical things, like lights, radio, etc.

I listen to some science podcasts and they've had some good information about solar technology lately.  They were saying that one of the big increases that can be made is in the actual storage of the energy.  It's kind of a misconception that we should be working on harnessing more energy, but I think that we're pretty close to capacity in that respect.  I think it's more a matter of efficiently storing the energy that you've harnessed, for use at a later time, and a way to do that more efficiently.

[Brian Fein]

Be careful Dave, this guy has 3 solar panels on his roof, about 3' x 1' each, and he runs half his house on it.  He can't run the A/C but he runs the fridge, a TV, and a few lights off those three panels.

[Dave Gray]

Be careful Dave, this guy has 3 solar panels on his roof, about 3' x 1' each, and he runs half his house on it.  He can't run the A/C but he runs the fridge, a TV, and a few lights off those three panels.

I imagine that the amount of power that it takes to run a TV and some lights pales in comparison to how much it would take to power a car.

[Brian Fein]

I imagine that the amount of power that it takes to run a TV and some lights pales in comparison to how much it would take to power a car.

Depends - each panel provides power to charge a battery.  It all depends upon your setup.  I'm just saying "it can be done."  Don't be so quick to write it off based on 10-year-old notions of inefficiency.

[Fau Teixeira]

back to the original question:

i would own the shit out of this electric car !

http://www.teslamotors.com/

[Dave Gray]

Depends - each panel provides power to charge a battery.  It all depends upon your setup.  I'm just saying "it can be done."  Don't be so quick to write it off based on 10-year-old notions of inefficiency.

I agree that it can be done.  I just don't think we're there yet.