Electric Cars Magazine

5 Reasons Why the Electric Car will never be a Mainstream

Did you hear that? Someone farted in the Middle East. Hang onto your wallet because this time it’s going to cost you.

Sound familiar. It should. This is how the world works when it comes to how much we pay to fill up our cars with gasoline. There are huge debates on why, but that’s not the point of this article.

Electric cars were invented in the late 1800s, but disappeared when improvements to the gasoline engine made them obsolete. We have turned full circle and now the answer to unstable prices and expensive repairs is the good old electric car.

If you haven’t seen them yet, don’t feel bad. There aren’t many full electric cars out there yet. The hybrid car has been popular to the masses, but why aren’t there any electric cars zipping around the streets.

Here are the top 5 reasons why electric cars will never be the mainstream vehicle for the population of this country.

1. Harley Syndrome

Yes, I’m coining a new term here. There is a 100 year history of a motorcycle manufacturer that has a cult like following based on bikes that make loud noises. We all know what I’m talking about. You hit that red light again, and here he comes. Slowing down, brapp,brapp,brapp,coming to a stop, vroom, vroom, and sitting right next to you. He looks over and thinks, “Yeah, she digs me,” BRAAAPPP, VRROOOM, pop pop pop.

Electric cars are silent. Try wearing your skull bandana driving one.

2. Chicken or the Egg
So you’re taking your new plug in car for a trip. You want to show it off to your second cousin’s nephew’s accountant in Kansas City this weekend. It’s 700 miles. I’ll just stop and pour some more electricity in when it gets low. Don’t think so.

Electric car batteries don’t last long enough for you to make trips like this a possibility. With the current range in the 100 mile area, don’t plan on cruising Howard Street later on either.

Cars need the charging stations. Charging stations won’t appear without the cars. There’s no cars. There’s no charging stations. Who’s going to make the first move.

3. My Dad’s Dad
My Dad bought one. My Grandpa bought one. My blah blah blah has one. We all know why there’s some brands that sell the most vehicles every year. It’s hard to change, and it’s hard to accept that you’ll be parking down the street out of view if you ever show up in one of those #@$^ boxes!!

4. Douche Bags
Drive a Prius. Who drives the plug ins? That guy. Do you want to be that guy?

5. Long pony tailed hippy guy with bad body odor
What happens when your zippy doodle breaks down. Mechanics didn’t go to school to fix computers. They went to school to learn to hotrod their mom’s Monte Carlo. Time for a trip to that side of town. Hopefully this guy is smarter than he smells.

My technoratigobulos sensor costs $4800 to replace? Suck my leaf, I’m not paying that! Time to hit up Craigslist and find another $500 Escort.

Revenge of the Electric Car

THE FILM
By 2006, thousands of new electric cars were purposely destroyed by the same car companies that built them. Today, less than 5 years later, the electric car and lots of them are back… with a vengeance.

In Revenge of the Electric Car, director Chris Paine takes his film crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the story of the global resurgence of electric cars. Without using a single drop of foreign oil, this new generation of car is America’s future: fast, furious, and cleaner than ever.

With almost every major car maker now jumping to produce new electric models, Revenge follows the race to be the first, the best, and to win the hearts and minds of the public around the world. It’s not just the next generation of green cars that’s on the line. It’s the future of the automobile itself.
Revenge of the Electric Car is narrated by Tim Robbins. The primary cast includes CEO and President of Renault and Nissan Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk, Former Vice Chairman of GM Bob Lutz and EV do-it-yourselfer Greg “Gadget” Abbott.

2013 Honda Fit EV

Honda Fit EV price

Electric Car News

The 2013 Honda Fit EV is out and the reviews are rolling in.

Only 1100 of the Honda Fit Ev will be released in large market cities, and you have to lease them! $399 a month is the charge to the lucky customers. Electric vehicle range is listed at 123 miles, but that is reported to be very optimistic. The true range of this all electric vehicle should be around 76 miles, on par with the Nissan Leaf.

123 electic motor horsepower and 189 lb-ft of torque are available to use in this all electric plug in vehicle. The power comes from a Toshiba made battery mounted under the car. This raises the passenger compartment up 3 inches, but is hardly noticeable due to the tall roof of the Honda Fit EV.

Specifications >
VEHICLE TYPE: front-motor, front-wheel-drive, 5-door wagon
ESTIMATED BASE PRICE: $37,395 [$399/month, 36-month lease only]
MOTOR TYPE: permanent-magnet AC synchronous electric motor, 134 hp, 189 lb-ft; 20-kWh lithium-ion battery pack
TRANSMISSION: 1-speed direct drive
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 98.4 in
Length: 161.7 in
Width: 66.7 in Height: 60.0 in
RANGE (C/D EST):
76 miles

Chevy Volt fires have some asking: Are electric vehicle batteries safe?

By Heather Clancy | December 2, 2011, 1:21pm PST

Summary: The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is investigating whether lithium-ion batteries are the culprit behind several crash test fires.

Just what the green-tech industry needed, another reason to wonder about whether electric vehicles are really worth the investment. Worse yet, whether they represent your safest possible mode of transportation.

Several major media outlets, including BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal, reported this week on some questionable crash test results conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). On Nov. 25, NHTSA said it was conducting an investigation into the cause of fires that occurred during crash tests being conducted by the organization.

The agency concluded that the lithium-ion batteries in the vehicles could be the culprit. It noted in a statement released Nov. 25:

“NHTSA is not aware of any roadway crashes that have resulted in battery-related fires in Chevy Volts or other vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries. However, the agency is concerned that damage to the Volt’s batteries as part of three tests that are explicitly designed to replicate real-world crash scenarios have result in fire. NHTSA is therefore opening a safety defect investigation of Chevy Volts, which could experience a battery-related fire during a crash. Chevy Volt owners whose vehicles have not been in a serious crash do not have reason for concern.”

In various articles covering the situation, GM said it stands behind the design and safety of the Volt. It has developed a feature to depower batteries after crashes, a procedure that apparently was not followed in the NHTSA crash tests. Still, the company sent out a letter to all Volt owners — there are about 6,000 of them — letting them know that they can get a vehicle loaner to drive until the matter is resolved.

In a conference call to discuss the issue, GM North America chief Mark Reuss said:

“This technology should inspire confidence and pride, not doubt and concern. I believe in the safety of the Volt. The primary focus is on the confidence and concerns of our paying customers.”

I have to wonder whether this danger is any more real or serious than the danger that occurs when gasoline is heated to super high temperatures during crashes. Not that I’m trying to belittle the issue, and it is certainly one that needs to be explore throughly and quickly. But it is worth noting that the other car held up as a mainstream electric vehicle choice — the Nissan Leaf — has a steel incasement around its battery to ward off the threat of fire.

While GM addresses the situation, this week also saw two other automotive makers, Toyota Motor Corp. and BMW AG, declare plans to jointly develop lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. The two hope to speed innovation by working together.

I’m sure that they’ll also be taking safety considerations close to heart after this week’s coverage of GM’s troubles. At least I sure hope they do.

from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/green/chevy-volt-fires-have-some-asking-are-electric-vehicle-batteries-safe/19541

Cheapest Electric Car for 2012

One question people are continually asking – at least as we sit here at the end of 2011 – What is the cheapest electric car going to be for 2012?

Well, you would think that would be a very easy question to answer. However, the answer is not simple at all. Various features added to base price will add to the price and make calculations difficult. Where EV dealers such as GM, Nissan and Mitsubishi will actually price their electric cars remains a mystery? We can’t know all the variables, but we are going to take a shot answering the question anyway. So here it goes….

So what’s the least expensive plug-in car for 2012? Let’s start with a list of the MSRP of the base models from the manufacturers’s websites.

2012 Plug-In Toyota Prius: $32,000
2012 iMiev Mitsubishi Plug-In: $29,125
2012 Ford Focus All-Electric: $39,200
2012 Ford Fusion Hybrid: $28,700
2012 Chevy Volt: $39,995
2012 Honda Civic Hybrid: $24,050
2012 Nissan Leaf: $35,200

Remember, not all hybrids are eligible for tax credits. Only the “plug-in” hybrids are now eligible. And the maximum $7,500 tax credit is only available to EV’s that meet certain criteria, namely being charged by a 16 kw battery. For lesser batter charges, the tax credit is reduced by $417 per kw, all the way down to a minimum of $2,500. In the list above, only the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf would qualify for the entire $7,500 tax credit. If eligible, reduce the above prices by $7,500 for these two plug in vehicles.

Even with the credits, the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf cost more than the Mitsubishi MiEV, which also qualifies for the tax credit. The price for the Mitsubishi MiEV will end up between $21k and $22k making it the cheapest electric car of 2012 for major manufacturers. Prices will vary, so check with your nearest electric car dealer. T

It might be a good idea for you to lay down a couple-hundred bucks to your CPA to do an analysis on your Electric car before you purchase. You may not pay taxes (yeah right), and therefore, be ineligible for a tax credit anyway. These are things that would be important for you before purchasing and assuming you are eligible for discounts.

Electric Cars Ownership Cost

The debate between gas vs electric vehicle costs has been going on since the late 1800′s when the electric car was invented. Technology improvements to the gasoline engine allowed that platform to leap ahead in the following years, but we are back to the same debate. High fuel costs and never ending conflict in oil producing countries has many focused on removing the gas stations from their daily stop.

One major variable to consider when making the decision is maintenance. Gasoline-powered vehicles should have more maintance costs, such as oil changes, belts, hoses, spark plugs, etc. The electric car will have a major maintenance cost when the battery needs replacing. As a battery replacement is considered a pretty expensive task, we have left out these items and treated them as a wash.

For comparative purposes, we have chosen to use the standard gasoline Ford Focus and the Ford Focus electrical plug in car. We use the Focus here because Ford makes an all-electric Focus and an all-gasoline Focus. Essentially the same car, we can then assume costs should be consistent other than the change from gasoline power to electric power, doing this will help isolate that cost required to upgrade to all-electric power. Once we do this, we can then apply the future cost savings associated with the electric motor as well, and present an annual cost saved. Dividing the annual cost savings into the electric motor cost will tell us the payback buyers will face in years.

MPGE (below) is a term introduced by the EPA to help shoppers understand a “Miles Per Gallon Equivalent” for comparison purposes. Electricity can’t be poured in, and electric cars aren’t powered by ‘gallons’ of anything, but rather electricity. So to help shoppers find an equivalent cost to operate, the EPA came up with MPGE. This is the cost of electricity converted into a fuel cost that shoppers can understand. The MPGE stated below is actually a number used by the Nissan Leaf – an equivalent plug-in, all-electric. As of this writing, the Ford Focus Electric has stated that their MPGE will be right in line with other all-electric cars. Therefore, we believe that our numbers are very close here and the substitution of the Nissan Leaf numbers should be accurate when determining the electric cars ownership cost.

The cost of fuel is taken at today’s rate of $3.25 per gallon, and there is no tax credit applied to the cost of the electric car.

For the most conservative driver, our estimates suggest that it may take over 30 years for the decrease in driving expenses to return the initial investment of the more expensive plug in vehicle. The point where the electric car becomes a better option is when a driver covers more than 50,000 miles per year. That’s a lot of charging time for these cars and isn’t something that would be very practical.

With the difference in cost actually more than the value of the gas powered model car itself, one can only conclude that there should be other reasons to buy an electric car (at least the Ford Focus Electric) besides price.
Electric car ownership