Archive for May, 2009
Does anyone know how much it costs overall to make energy for electric cars?
I take your question to mean how much energy do electric cars use. The cost depends on how much your local utility charges you for electricity.
The data on this is extremely hard to come by for some reason, although I cannot imagine why. (LOL)
Fortunately one of my colleagues has an electric car that he had converted from a conventional lightweight economy car that used a conventional gasoline engine.
They removed the gasoline engine and gas tank. Put electric motors on the wheels, and installed a large bank of batteries in the passenger compartment.
He gets approximately 60 miles on a full charge.
It takes approximately 10 hours to recharge the batteries with a battery charger that uses approximately 5 kilowatts per hour. Essentially it takes 50 kilowatt hours of electricity to recharge the batteries.
My colleage is charged 13 cents per kilowatt hour by the local utility for the electricity that he uses.
We figure that it costs him approximately $6.50 in electricity to recharge the batteries in his electric car. At 60 miles per charge that is a cost of 10.83 cents per mile for the electricity.
Many of my environmentalist friends say that it costs only 1 or 2 cents per mile for the electricity used by an electric car. However they have never given me any proof of that figure.
My colleague's experience with his electric car certainly is not consistent with the 1 or 2 cent figure that my environmentalist friends tell me.
I hope this helps. I know that it is very hard to get reliable cost data for the operation of an electric car. I think that the cost data that I and my colleague have are the most reliable cost data available at this time.
Hybrids have a second fuel source, could be gas, diesel, propane, LNG, CNG, hydrogen or some other storable fuel.
i have a 2007 nissan altima hybrid, and i readonline that hybrid cars are eligable for tax return. I am looking for that form !!! please help me find it!!! I live in NY
IRS.GOV
This is a film clip of two females embling, unfolding a three (3) wheel electric car. The car can be fashioned as either a convertible with side doors or as a front entrance car with full cover for the passenger compartment. The car can be folded up for storage. Presumable it is an all electric drive vehicle for ease of maintenance and to eliminate the the issue of cranking the start motor of the combustion engine of the day. Anyone know more about this vehicle, please send me a message or comment with what you know.
Another electric car similar to this has 4 wheels, is all electric, with a front entrance door. Jay Leno has one. It is called the Baker Electric.
Duration : 0:0:45
FOR PRICING & SPECS ON THIS CAR VISIT:
http://www.kbb.com/KBB/NewCars/Toyota_Camry.aspx
Toyota Camry Hybrid. The Toyota Camry Hybrid offers the same roomy interior and sterling reputation as the rest of the Camry line, but in a greener, more eco-friendly package. With fuel economy figures in the mid 30s, the Camry Hybrid is certainly easy on the gas, and can actually operate solely on electric power in stop and go traffic and low-speed around-town jaunts. Bigger than Toyotas other hybrid car, the Prius, the Camry Hybrid not only offers a wider passenger cabin, but also more power and the security of a trunk. With 10 years experience building hybrid cars, one might ume Toyota would have a lock on the market. But stiff competition is always present, and the Camry Hybrid must now do battle with some equally impressive nameplates such as the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid. For more new car reviews, interviews and automotive news visit http://www.kbb.com today.
Duration : 0:6:33
In cold weather climates, electric poles are commonly found in parking lots so that people can plug in their block heaters. When electric plug-in vehicles become more popular, can you plug into the same outlets to charge your vehicle? So in essence, you could recharge your vehicle every day at work rather than using your own electricity at home. Feasible?
The answer to your question is a matter of current draw for the device and what is available from the outlets.
One example of a block heater says that the "element is 600W and uses 120VAC."1 by way of comparison many desktop computers come with a 400 watt power supply. One rule of thumb is that you want your constant wiring load to be no more than 75% of the rated capacity of the wiring. Practically speaking you might have one 20 amp breaker (2400 watts at 120 volts) for every 3 outlets. It is unlikely that you would have one breaker for each outlet. But it is possible. You might even have up to 13 outlets for one breaker. 2
The charger for an electric vehicle is likely to have a higher draw. One site(3) lists a range of chargers (you would have to have installed onboard) as having a draw from 1.6kw (1600 watts or about 13 amps to a low of 500 watts and therefore slightly less then the expample of the block heater.
So it is possible but you would either have to have a low wattage charger to be sure you would not blow a fuse. Now how much of the battery capacity you might be able to fill is entirely another question. It would depend upon the size of the battery pack.
One battery pack capacity for a home built electrical powered van is listed at 20kwh. The van is equiped with a solar cell and a wind turbine that together can produce 600 watts at peak capacity. The owner says this would take a day to top off the batteries.4
The figures here make a lot of assumptions that would need to be verrified under actual conditions. For example it is unlikely that this much power would be constantly being provided to a parking lot full of cars.
How do you think electric cars could help the environment and make a better future?
Yup, it helps reduce carbon emission. Think about it, normal cars burn fuel to produce energy to move the car and carbon dioxide gas.
Electric cars too need energy which comes from a power station.(Burning fuel to get energy and produces carbon dioxide gas) However, when one uses electric car instead of a normal car, with the same amount of energy, there is less carbon dioxide gas being produce.
It helps by reducing the amount of green house gases. Green house gases are the gases which absorb more heat, thus causing and increase in tempuratue in the atmostsphere.
I have to do a rough draft for a chemistry project and I have had no luck finding information so far. My topic is to explain the chemical reactions that occur in both a hybrid car and a regular car in order to compare them. If you know anything, please help. Websites and online sources would be appreciated.
Gasoline combines rapidly with Oxygen in a heat (spark) induced explosion in a basic car engine. Toxic gases are the chemical output, including carbon monoxide. When combined with a electric motors that recharge from braking action, no chemical processes are involved, just electro mechanical. This is the Toyota Prius method. Using hydrogen fuel cells is another matter. When hydrogen and oxygen are combined to produce energy, the "exhaust" is non-toxic water.
Electric cars are something that show up in the news all the time. There are several reasons for the continuing interest in these vehicles. Take a look on this Volvo electric car and you’ll understand why.
Duration : 0:6:30
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/autoshows/chicago/2008/gmcdenalixthybridconcept.html
We didn’t know what to make of the GMC Denali XT Hybrid Concept the first time we saw it, so we asked Warrack Leach, the lead designer on the project, to explain it. He said it’s an example of a “recreational vehicle done responsibly,” a suspicious-sounding catchphrase if we ever heard one.
Duration : 0:1:46