Today, zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) are seen as an ideal way to satisfy society’s conscious efforts to go green. In the eyes of a growing number of people, electric vehicles (EVs) running on rechargeable batteries are a big part of that plan. However, even if electric vehicles become more affordable and offer greater functionality, they will need an infrastructure for recharging their batteries to make their use convenient.
New Competition Among Alternative Energies
The newly emerging fuel cell technologies are vying with battery electric vehicles for a place among zero emission options. This could eventually take place as fuel cell and hydrogen storage costs come down, but by all indications this is years away. Battery costs appear to be decreasing even as technology is improving, which in tandem with automaker announcements of coming electric models means these electric drive cars could make their way to showrooms in larger numbers soon.
Plugged into the Grid
EVs run on battery power, replenished through standard electric outlets with energy generated by electric utilities. Primary charging locations are at residences, businesses, or where fleet vehicles are stored. Public charging sites are uncommon, although they did grow in numbers when electric vehicles were being test marketed by multiple automakers in the 1990s. Both 110 and 220 volt chargers are used, with 200 volt chargers recharging an electric car’s batteries much faster.
Charging Costs Less than Gas
Recharging a typical electric vehicle battery from near-total discharge to full charge takes four to eight hours, with most EV driver charging overnight. Some utilities have offered breaks on electricity used for charging that factor in a ‘time-of-use’ provision for cars charged at night when electrical demand is less. Allowing for about five cents per kilowatt-hour, an average EV recharge could cost less than $1 per day. Utilities say that even if many thousands of EVs all charged at once, it would use only a relatively small amount of power that would not overtax electricity supply.
California Leads the Way
In California, which has led the way in EV commercialization in the past, charging stations are more plentiful than in other states. They are usually located in city or store parking lots, at hotels and airports, and at various businesses. Charging is generally free or cheap, and additional incentives like free parking is sometimes also offered.
Author: Wendy Clem is a Michigan-based writer/photographer providing material for newspapers, magazines, and online – locally, regionally, and nationally. Her syndicated auto column for Avanti NewsFeatures has appeared in 400 national markets, and her online how-to articles serve an international audience. Wendy holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in journalism from Detroit’s Wayne State University. (http://www.greencar.com/articles/5-facts-electric-vehicle-charging.php)
In public opinion, Republic of China or RRC is often regarded as a ‘big competitor’ to the United States auto industry for two main reasons. First, China surpasses the U.S. to become the world’s largest car market and it’s getting bigger (in the last year). Second, the government of China want directly go to the electric car and spent the past gasoline ICE or internal combustion engine. According to the experts in China’s electric vehicle markets, China is far more likely to become partners rather than competitors in building the future of electric cars.
Maybe some of us will ask why China want cooperate with the United States to produce electric cars. Simply put this country desperate for change that quickly. Roland Hwang, the Manager of Transportation Program at the Natural Resource Defense Council said, “This country has a major problem and needs a big solution. Their current path is not sustainable.” In 2030 – The issues including air quality bleak and needs to import as much as eighty percent of their oil for a car. Roland Hwang and other China’s experts discussed and electricity in the car the car last week, Electricity 2.0 a cleantech Berkeley-Stanford Conference, in S.F.
Currently, China needs but has to challenges the major to achieve electrical cars goal. It’s talking about 5 or 10 years being the world in automotive quality, safety, and technology. And almost all of Chinese shoppers is not able to pay five thousand dollars or so premium price of electric cars.
The Rewards and Risks
Would United States companies get more opportunity? Jit Bhattacharya, the Mission Motors’ CEO, said that the company’s phone rang from the association with the companies from China who seek help with what is running on electric power, from scooters and cars, to garden and lawn equipment. The produsen of Mission Motors produces $ 68,000- 150-mph electric motorcycle in California, but has shifted much of its attempt to sell the technology of electric-powertrain. “Chinese Company contacted us and said we do not know how we will get this learning curve fast enough to really get a car to market within 3 or 4 years into the future.”
Roland Hwang stuck vehicle market is currently China’s electricity, most electric bike, around 100 million. His said that no one can count or predict on China to be great players in the electric car market. Hwang believe that China will be big part of electric car market, as suppliers, consumers, or battery manufacturers.
United States startup companies have a big opportunity to cooperate with manufacturers from China, the scale of their business, and bring home the technology. Major U.S. and Japanese automakers produce electric cars would also like to penetrate the market of China, while companies from China, such as Geely and BYD, trying to bring their electric cars to the North American market. This is an inter-related market.
Opportunities for companies large and small alike are not w.o risk, according to panelists Marc Gottschalk, at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati’s partner. Investment firm has several clients of electric cars, including the Tesla and Mission Motors. Gottschalk said that there is a struggle but the company wants to get benefit of that huge Chinese’s market. He added that there is also a feeling that they have a desire to do anything you possibly can do to prevent yourself from having the stolen of technology and sold and used it against you in the next time.
General Purpose
According to Roland Hwang, one of the first things the newly appointed U.S. Department of Energy to do is to make a forum for the United States and China to discuss common challenges their electric vehicles. Hwang said that the basic idea is that United States and China, the two of the world’s largest car market, will forge along with the market for electric vehicles. There are many of economies of scale, synergies, and many benefits down the learning curve together.
Editor’s note: Alexandra Paul is an actress best known for her four years starring in the television series “Baywatch”. She has been driving electric vehicles since 1990 and is a founding member of Plug in Americaexternal link. Paul can be seen in the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” in theaters this summer.
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — I drive an electric car. Not a hybrid — a gasoline-powered car that gets some help from an electric motor — but a full electric vehicle. I plug it in at night and can drive 100 miles the next day and go faster than 80 mph on the highway.
So don’t think “golf cart”; these cars have power and pick-up.
While you won’t see many electric cars on the road, they’ve been around longer than you might think.
During 1900, electric cars outsold both gasoline and steam vehicles because electric cars didn’t have the vibration, noise and dirtiness associated with gas vehicles. However soon afterward — with the discovery of Texas crude oil that reduced the cost of gasoline, the invention of the electric starter in 1912 that eliminated the need for a hand crank, and the mass production of internal combustion engine vehicles by Henry Ford — the electric vehicle went the way of the horse and buggy.
The energy crisis in the 1960s and 1970s revived attention briefly. There was another push in 1990, when General Motors Corp. unveiled the (ineptly named) Impact, a sporty, aerodynamic electric car prototype.
In 1998 the California Air Resources Board decided that if a car company could make such a car, it should, and mandated that two percent of vehicles sold in the state in 1998 must be emission-free, with that number rising to ten percent in 2003.
Since California is a huge market, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Chrysler, Ford and GM started building electric vehicles — about 5,000 were manufactured. But by 2005 the mandate had been eviscerated because of pressure from those same car companies, and 4,000 perfectly good electric vehicles were crushed.
But did car companies really want electric cars to succeed? The success of electric vehicles would have threatened the status quo and core business models of two of the world’s biggest industries — oil and automobile. It is more measure for these companies to give lip service to hydrogen in an attempt to appear “green.” But hydrogen is a technology that experts say is decades away.
Because the small print in California’s mandate allowed for car companies to manufacture only as many cars as there was interest in them, the game became to pretend there was no interest. Almost no advertising money was spent to let you know electric cars existed, and even if you did find out about them salespeople actively dissuaded you from getting one.
As with any new technology, an electric vehicle was more expensive than its gas counterpart. In addition, the limited range scared off customers, although the average American drives only 34 miles a day and every electric car could go at least twice that far on a full charge.
These cars had huge potential, but no media covered their subsequent crushing. It is only with the release this summer of the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” that the full story comes out. This film chronicles the rise and fall of the General Motors EV1, an electric car I leased on the day it was released in 1996. Zero to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds, a top speed of 140 mph and a range of 120 miles. GM discontinued this car just a few years later. No car company nowadays makes a mass-production electric vehicle.
My current electric vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 EV, also was discontinued a few years ago. This car costs me the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon to run. I never need to get a tune-up, change spark plugs or add water to the batteries or oil to the motor. The only maintenance for the first 150,000 miles is to rotate my tires. This car is quiet, fast and emission free. I plug it in every night at home, and it charges on off-peak energy.
Even if it were getting power solely from electricity derived from coal — a common criticism of electric cars — my vehicle uses fifty percent less carbon dioxide than a 24 mpg gas car. When I have to get new batteries, which I expect I’ll will be when my car is ten years old, the old ones will be over 90 percent recyclable.
The concern I hear most often about electric vehicles is their range. Well, at 100 miles per charge, my electric vehicle fulfills 98 percent of my driving needs, and I live in a city where everything seems to be 40 minutes away.
When I want to go further, I borrow my husband Ian’s Toyota Prius. I don’t like driving it. Am I supposed to be amazed when a car gets 43 miles per gallon? The average fuel economy mandate for cars in 1985: 27.5 mpg. For 2006: 27.5 mpg. No wonder our expectations are so low. Progress in fuel efficiency has been glacial compared to improvements in computers and cell phones.
There is a solution: The plug-in hybrid. This vehicle will run on pure electric power for up to 60 miles, and then automatically switch to gas (or a biofuel) if you drive farther. For the reason that around 85 percent of Americans travel less than 50 miles a day, this means that the majority people who charge their cars at home each night would hardly ever dip into their car’s gasoline tank.
The infrastructure to charge is already in place (electric outlets are everywhere), and the technology (batteries) has been tested in the field and greatly improved upon for over 15 years. National security experts, including former CIA Director James Woolsey, are advocates for these vehicles because they say these vehicles can help break our dependence on foreign oil. Environmentalists support them because plugging in means getting an average of more than 100 mpg. Consumers like them because they will be saving thousands of dollars in gasoline costs.
Once you have known the quiet smooth speed and the clean efficiency of an electric vehicle, you will never think “golf cart” again.
Vehicles are important tools for transportation. Unfortunately they have harmful effects on the environment, health and wallets of the people. The continuing rise of gas prices and campaigns on global warning make you want to ditch that SUV for a bike. Fortunately other power sources and fuels are being developed to serve as an alternative. Electric vehicles are a compromise between using a vehicle and caring for the environment.
electric vehicle technology
You can convert a car to run purely electricity to save gasoline cost. If you are using an electric vehicle, there is no gasoline expenses altogether. But if you are not well versed with the inner workings of an automobile, it is not recommended for you to start your own electric vehicle conversion. Most of the work will involve electrical wiring and machine tooling. Since some of the components are not available off the shelves, certain important parts have to be custom made. In this case, a better solution is to outsource the whole conversion process to a professional mechanic. This will save you a lot of time and headache.
But this kind of work is not cheap. You must prepare to invest upward of $4000. An alternative is to initiate a Do It Yourself (DIY) electric vehicle conversion project from your home garage. How does the process work? This article will provide some information on subject.
Anyone who has the determination to cut their vehicle gasoline bill can do an electric vehicle conversion. The idea is to remove the internal combustion engine and replace it with an electric motor for propulsion. Since the engine is gone, the associated components such as the radiator, gas tank and fuel distribution line can be taken off as well. All the free spaces created will be used to construct batteries racks. The racks will be used to house all the batteries needed to power the motor. Before the motor is installed, it is recommended to stream wash the car chassis to remove any grease or fuel residue.
Most vehicle owners may not have the necessary skill to do an electric car conversion process themselves. In this case, it is recommended for them to get some assistance from someone who is well verse with vehicle maintenance. To be prudent, you should at least have some basic knowledge on electric vehicle retrofitting process. This is to ensure you are not paying for unnecessary parts. To obtain this information, you can purchase a step by step conversion guide from the internet.
