School project

[Btown2]

Hey everyone, i was wondering if you could help me with a school project i have to do. It is very simple, my task is simply to start a discusion on a web forum about electric cars. So to help me all you need to do is reply to this thread with your thoughts/ concerns.

 

Ok I'll start off here. I believe electric cars to be a great way to permanently get us off of foreign oil. They are easier to maintain than gas cars. They can be charged up by green energies (solar/wind/tidal/hydroelectric). They won't pollute the enviornment. They actually accellerate a lot faster than gas cars. They are very quiet when running and can support all of the major luxories we have come to have in cars. And battery life continues to get better each year. Not to mention the energy cost to run one is tiny compared to a gas car.

 

So if electric are this great, why don't we see them everywhere? With energy the way it is today why doesn't Ford or GM start mass producing electric cars?  ??? 

 

So if i could just have your thoughts/ concerns on the issue please.

[akitchin]

this is a very loaded topic, so i'll go one by one with your statement.

 

first off, electric cars won't get anyone off foreign oil permanently. it will go a long way, but the oil produced in foreign countries (one of those countries being mine, i'm from canada ) is used for far more than simply gasoline. one such use, which isn't realized by most because it is a bit obscure, is synthetic starting materials for a variety of the common-day products we all enjoy.

 

electric vehicles aren't necessarily easier to maintain than gasoline engines. for one, the parts used to construct them are not nearly as abundant as those for gasoline engines, and as such maintenance costs will be higher on a per-weight basis. whether they require more or less maintenance is a different matter, but the actual cost of maintenance isn't something one can dismissively call "easier."

 

while electric cars can possibly be charged by green energies, the main difficulty with these energy sources is their variability. granted i can use these renewable sources to charge my car, but what if i need to get to work on a calm, overcast day and my "battery" is empty?

 

while they won't necessarily release harmful emissions, electric cells cause pollution in their disposal. they contain a number of harmful substances including highly concentrated ion solutions, heavy metals, and often times acidic and alkaline solutions. there's a reason they tell you not to toss your batteries into the regular trash.

 

battery life continues to get better each year, but you can't generalize that from lithium ion or alkaline batteries that power our small digital devices like laptops and cell phones to vehicles. vehicles require a fair deal more energy, and as such, "life" (electric potential) to size/mass ratio is a far bigger concern. that's an issue that is on the verge of being toppled in a big way if we can work out the kinks with organic solar cells (also known as photovoltaics), but it's still not quite there. polymers for their use in these cells is one thing i worked on during my undergrad.

 

just to be a picky physics nerd, the energy costs of running a vehicle are the same, regardless of the source you use to supply that energy.

 

the short answer to your question is short: money. until commercial solutions are found that will be economically more viable than the current technology, the status quo reigns. there are a variety of obstacles that are in the way of this, not the least of which is the number of people who make their living off of the industry.

 

just some food for thought.

 

PS: in retrospect, my post sounds like it is unfavourable to electrically-powered vehicles. i'm not - quite the contrary, as a matter of fact. i simply like to point out the sides of discussions that are insufficiently explored.  plus, as a chemist (and as one in the oil industry), i somewhat feel the need to defend us a little bit.

[Btown2]

Thank you for your post. It has been very helpful to hear the other side of the arguments.

[revraz]

I agree, the reason is money as well.  When better batteries were invented that Electric Cars could use, guess who bought that technology?  An oil company.

 

I also work in the Oil and Gas, Energy and Chemicals field, but we do work for all kinds of energy solutions, whether it's Oil, Solar, Gasification, Sulfur..etc.

[ardyandkari]

forgive me if i am wrong, but even though the car itself doesn't produce emissions, when you plug the car in (just going with the current tech) it will use electricity that through it's production HAS produced emissions.  that is what i dont understand about the electric car thing.  i personally believe that there is much more potential in hydrogen cars as of now...  if they would make a more powerful/efficient solar panel (i think that is kinda where the photovoltaic cell comes in...) then there may be a different story, but for now i dont see a future in electric cars (50 miles on an 8 hour charge?!?!?!)

 

i was reading in a popular science mag about a "green city"...  i will try to remember to bring it home from work today so i can at least post the date...pretty interesting.