electric cars

[earthmother]

Anybody have any experience with either all electric cars, such as the GEM, or a hybrid, such as the Prius or Insight. With the all electric cars, can you recharge with solar, or must you plug them into your electric? [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[hazmat]

<font color="blue"> With the all electric cars, can you recharge with solar, or must you plug them into your electric?
</font color>
The commericial electric cars that I have seen all require that you plug them in.

As an engineer, I'd recommend the hybrid vehicles. Battery &amp; fuel cell technology does not yet make a 100% electric a viable option (epecially in a "rural" setting). The battery power does not have enough range &amp; the fuel cells require exotic (as in not available) fuels (methane).

The hybrid is a "best of both worlds" solution. A car requires much more power to accelerate than to run at speed. The gas engine is sized to provide steady state cruising &amp; recharge the battery. The electric motor kicks in for that extra umph needed to accelerate on the on ramp &amp; around town. The infastructure is already in place (gas stations). You don't need to plug the car in. The fuel economy &amp; emmisions are excellant.

Only downside is that someday the battery will need to be replaced for much $$$$$$.

[Pat]

Earthmother, In theory you could recharge an electric car with solar energy. As a practical matter, the solar arrray required to do this in a practical time period would have costs on a scale equivalent to the car or even more. Many people drive more in the daytime and do most of their charging overnight, not a good solar charger situation. For those wanting to charge up at work for the drive home, you'll need more real estate that the top of the vehicle to locate your solar farm.

Ecological considerations: Solar electric cells are energy and resource intensive in their manufacture in addition to being quite expensive in quantities large enough to do you any good for electric car recharging.

Now, if you were driving no more than a couple hundred miles a week at moderate speeds and didn't mind investing several thousand dollars in a solar charging setup, you might be able to handle an electric golf cart, except in long periods of overcast.

It might be more practical for you to "grow" your own methanol to fuel an economy car. It would have the added feature of being able to burn regular automotive fuel in a pinch away from home. Many production cars will already run on it and more will over time as the industry approaches that concept. (Some places have it at the commercial pumps, some with 10% gasoline added) Similarly, a small efficient diesel could be run on home made DIY bio-diesel. Lots of folks scavenge used cooking oils from fast food places and brew their own diesel. It is cheap, works fine with no bad effects to engine, is very low poluting (exhaust is said to be reminiscent of frenchfries) and of course, in an emergency you can use regular diesel fuel.

On the other hand, if our sun goes nova, the size/cost of the required solar installation might come down enough to be practical.

Patrick

[Pat]

Hazmat, Couple questions: 1. Any idea what the ballpark $ is for replacing batts in hybrids? 2. I meant to ask before but forgot... How about a description of the yacht? (For the educaton of the uninitiated: I say YACHT because it is sail powered. If it were propelled solely by mechanical means then it is not, to a purist, a yacht but a stinkpot (AKA motorboat) rowboats, kayaks, etc din't enter into it.

Patrick

[hazmat]

Patrick,

I can't remeber the exact battery replacement figure, but I recall thinking it was alot as in Thousands of dollars.

As to the yacht. It is a Freedom 38. It's most remarkable feature is that it has an unstayed carbon fiber mast.

Rubber Ducky Freedom 38 This isn't our yacht, but has alot of info.

[hazmat]

Did a web search on honda insight battery replacement cost. I saw numbers from $1,200 to $5,000. Worth checking with your dealer before purchasing. The battery is warrantied for 8 years, 80,000 miles.

[Stoneheartfarm]

I read that one of the hydrids uses a battery pack made up of somewhat over 1000 "D" size Nickle metal hydride rechargeable batteries. I don't remember which vehicle it was though. (The article was in Popular Mechanics about a year ago). Due to the type of battery, I don't know if replacement would be a big issue.

SHF

[BillG49]

Another Honda - the Civic Hybrid - is now available, and it looks like a real car! It also has an 8 yr or 80k mi warranty on the battery. It also has a Continuously Variable Transmission. Kinda like a hydrostatic on a tractor, I guess? [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[hazmat]

<font color="blue"> Kinda like a hydrostatic on a tractor, I guess? </font color>

More like a snowmobile. Basically two pulleys that are able to vary in diameter for different "gears".

[Pat]

Hazmat, Thousands of dollars might not be too bad if the MTBF and or miles between repacements were great enough it might still pay. Somehow, I think the technology isn't quite mainstream yet but then if they don't sell enough of it to early adopters how will they amortize development costs so they can continue until it does become afordable to guys like us?

Freedom 38: I recall when they first hit the market. Lots of folks lining up to claim the masts wouldn't hold up and others to proclaim it the wave of the future. I thought it was a good idea but had concerns with attachment points for accessories. You know, stuff like foredeck lights, spinnaker pole track attachment, reaching strut, vang, main down haul, and whatever else might be added if not provided by the manufacturer.

One of my friends was hot to get one but instead bought a slightly used 40 ft ULDB that will almost get up on plane if two of the crew sneeze at the same time. It sails so fast that it swings the apparent wind vector forward of the beam in almost all sailing conditions, nearly making its own wind. A litle too exotic/pricy for my toy collection.

My last sailboat was a bulbous ballasted fixed fin keel with free standing spade rudder, a 38 ft William Tripp design. Suprisingly fast for its beam and freeboard but not so unstable that the wind vane or auto pilot couldn't handle it in fairly vigorous conditions. I have surfed it at speeds in excess of 14 kts but that was most unusual. Not sure what the actual wind speed was but the annemometer was pegged at 30kts as boat speed varied between 6 and 14+ so it would have had to have been blowing at least 45 as we were only a few degrees of off dead downwind. Had we had the presence of mind to switch to the 0-60kts scale we would have got a good wind speed indication but we were distracted.

I thought I might get a small lake sailer in a couple years after the house is built and my project list is a little shorter but that might never happen.

Patrick