ALT-4 Overview of Electric Cars
You next car may be electric. It might not happen in the next couple of years but it could happen in the next five to ten years. Electric vehicles are popping up everywhere. All electric cars have huge benefits in efficiency and flexibility also no new infrastructure is necessary to support electric vehicles. The scientific advances necessary to make electric cars viable are finally here.
Electric cars are becoming more popular and companies producing those cars such as Zap[2] and Tesla Motors[1] are springing up everywhere. Even motorcycles are getting into the action. Electric Motor Sport[4] is currently selling two models and the Enertia Bike[3] was just announced. One can hardly go more then a few days without seeing a new blog or report on electric cars or new companies offering electric vehicles. Even the big car companies are looking into electric and hybrid electric cars Ford and Chevrolet are both looking at electric and hybrids.
Electric cars offer so many benefits that it almost seems inevitable that gasoline powered vehicles will be replaced with electric. We already have a great fuel delivery system in place. The power grid could actually benefit from a large number of electric cars. Electric cars could charge on base load and return energy to the grid when the grid is under extreme stress[10]. Electric cars are far more efficient then gasoline cars. Electric motors can be 90%+ efficient, combine that with regenerative breaking and lightweight carbon fiber bodies and these cars no longer look like toys. Unlike biofuels and hydrogen fuel cells we won't need a huge investment in infrastructure. Given the number of people predicting peak oil[5] it's unlikely that the cost of oil will be going down anytime soon electricity can be produced conventionally or with renewable sources. Electric vehicles are mechanically simpler then Internal Combustion Engine(ICE) cars this makes them reliable and easy to fix if something goes wrong. Electric motors offer better torque curves then ICE engines this means that they are faster off the start line and make wonderful sports cars. Electric cars offer the opportunity for people to produce their own fuel through solar cells or personal wind turbines. Solar cells are approaching 50% efficiency[9] this means that enough cells to power ones house and ones transportation could easily fit on the roof of a normal size home.
We've finally made the advances in batteries that will allow electric vehicles to compete effectively against gasoline. Zap and Tesla Motors are both licensing their battery technology[6][7]. A fringe player EEstor[6] is said to be working on a high density energy storage device. If this device is ever produced successfully it will be a world changing technology. One of the things that killed off the electric car nearly 80 years ago[11] was the poor battery technology. With advances in technology we may be able to replace the high energy density fuels gasoline, diesel, and ethanol with batteries or super capacitors that store an equivalent amount of energy.
With the advances in technology we've seen in the last few years it seems not only inevitable but desirable that we move our transportation to electric vehicles. The next car you own may be electric. With cars like the Tesla erasing images of slow clunky electric cars the public's opinion of electric cars will change swiftly.
1 Tesla Motors - http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php2 Zap electric cars - http://www.zapworld.com/3 Enertia Bike - http://www.enertiabike.com/component/option,com_contentform/Itemid,28/4 Electric Motor sport - http://www.electricmotorsport.com/EGPR/egprPage.htm5 Peak Oil - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil6 EEstor - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/eestor_capacito_1.php7 Zap batteries - http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070802/clth056.html?.v=998 Tesla batteries - http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/01/tesla-motors-looking-to-license-roadsters-battery-technology/9 High efficiency solar cells 42.8% University of Delaware-led team - http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=4948310 Electric vehicles stabilize power grids - http://www.udel.edu/V2G/11. History of the electric car - http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarselectrica.htm
