Electric cars - a arguement for them, an argument against them

[KeyboardDemon]

That's awesome.

Depends on the application, but for getting around town: Air powered cars!

http://www.mdi.lu/english/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRpxhlX4Ga0

MDI / Tata have been making some interesting advancements recently. Good distance, decent speed, fast refills and compressed air is pretty safe.

I know India was looking into them quite seriously where they suit huge numbers of the population.

This is amazing, the only downside is the amount of noise the compressor makes, an overnight top up might not go down well with the neighbours.

[peterb]

I did giggle at the charge points at the service station on the M5. It's going to take a long time to get from Birmingham to Exeter in an electric car, and how long do they expect people to sit around at a service station? They charge you after 2 hours usually...

They may be the future, but it's not the future yet!

Isn't that the point?

[CarrierPigeon]

A. You don't pollute the environment for having an electric car
B. You don't have to pay for gases; that saves a lot of money

'Nuff said.

[Zak33]

Has anyone looked into how the Nissan Leaf is dealing with the hot summer in the States?

seems Nissan decided that cooling the battery wasn't worthy.. and the battery are already losing capacity.. in one year of use.

[pauleden]

A. You don't pollute the environment for having an electric car
B. You don't have to pay for gases; that saves a lot of money

'Nuff said.

How do you make this electricity to go in the car? Magic?

[finlay666]

A. You don't pollute the environment for having an electric car

Really? The construction of the vehicle causes a massive carbon footprint (and pretty much travels the globe at least once for just the batteries IIRC) before you even get into how the energy is generated for the purpose of charging it

[alpha channel]

Electric cars - nice idea shame about the realities, I'd hate to have to cough up for the battery pack though if the Leafs in the US are loosing charge after only a year

I'd be more inclined towards looking at hydrogen myself, while in its infancy I think this has far greater potential when it comes to extended range as you simply top up like a petrol pump with companies and universities looking at using algae (i.e growing it in vats) to produce it (and what with hydrogen being one of the most abundant resources in the galaxy...).