Posted Jan 29th 2007 8:16AM
Any vehicle with a motive battery charged by the utilty grid can have the electric energy used by the car replaced by solar electricity for less cost than $3/gallon gasoline. This eliminates the dirty coal electricity negates the value of electric cars argument.
July 25 2007 at 5:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI'm gonna have to ditto Tony on this one (#2). My next car will be a Tesla if I can manage it. I doubt I'll be able to get any 08s, but the 30k sedan might happen. Straight EV needs to be on the poll as well.
January 29 2007 at 9:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYou forgot "none of the above".
January 29 2007 at 7:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI think there is a wording issue with this poll... is this what we WANT to buy or what we WILL BE ABLE to buy in the 2010 model year?
I would WANT something like the e-flex series hybrid, but I don't see that on the market until 2012-2015. By 2010 we MIGHT see some small diesel cars other than VW/Merc, so that or a regular gas-electric parallel hybrid would be more realistic.
No EV option? You guys think Tesla is bluffing?
January 29 2007 at 3:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyvoted for Volt config because this is closest to BEV. BEVs are on market now in several sizes and shapes. NEVs, City EVs which are faster and more capable than NEVs but not available in US, trucks, e-bikes and scooters.
By 2010, you will get a $30 000 sedan size and shape as well. Inevitably.
I must admit I'm surprised that (currently) 37% of this survey's respondents think that a plug-in EV with petrol generator will even be commercially available to individual consumers in MY 2010. Yes, GM's concept is promising - but I have a hard time believing they'll be able to put anything like that in a showroom in under 5 years, let alone by 2010.
Sadly, I remember reading, IIRC, a Popular Science article on a similar EV-with-generator car that got rave reviews, ran surprisingly well and offered much promise. In about 1973. That concept didn't get very far, either.
I'm with Tony: Give me a diesel that doesn't blow up in a few years (yes, I remember GM in the 80s), runs clean and starts in the winter. You know, the same kind of diesels Europeans have been able to get for years. Then make them cheap enough that it makes sense to pair them with hybrid electric technology. Then, a few years after that, perhaps biodiesel will be ready to be a prime-time player. And we'll have cars that will be ready to use it.
I agree with Phil. In no way will a plug-in electric (with gas generator) be the vehicle that most people will buy in less than three years' time. Even GM says that their Volt might not even be production ready until 2010-2012. And there is a critical need to reduce the cost of their $10k LithiumIon battery pack, otherwise the drivetrain will be massively price prohibitive.
Anyone that even buys one of these will need a personal power outlet available when it's garaged, and that won't happen for non-private-garaged townhouse, apartment and condo dwellers.
The introduction of diesel into hybrid-electric vehicles will likely produce the greatest near-term efficiencies, but in the US, not until Americans get over their aversion to diesel engines.
What, no pure BEV option?
When the 2010 year models arrive my Tesla will already be two years old, and the world will probably still be waiting on the Chevy Volt to become real.
