More about Electric Vehicles

[MikeT 747]

Is BC at capacity in the middle of the night when most electric cars will be charging? Or is there an issue with running down resevoirs? I know in Ontario there is lots of excess capacity at night I believe without resorting to coal.

A lot of homes in coastal BC use heat pumps (electric) and so there is not all that much surplus capacity. Do the math: figure out how much energy a million EVs would draw to recharge 50% of their battery capacity and compare to what's there. Besides, dam penstocks are REALLY easy to open and close to shadow demand. Storing water when it's not needed to generate power is no problem.

[PrairieBoy 1]

Mike:How many smarts were sold in Canada in the first year? Or is that what you meant in your last post?

Edited January 23, 2011 by PrairieBoy

[aderoy 0]

There is a Canadian Gov site that does compare the different vehicles:

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/pers...icle.cfm?attr=8

Electricity – Battery-electric and hybrid vehicles

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/alte...bout.cfm?attr=8

Fuel Cells and Hydrogen

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/alte...bout.cfm?attr=8

There does seem to be good information to review.

[MikeT 747]

Mike:How many smarts were sold in Canada in the first year? Or is that what you meant in your last post?

No. I mean that a couple thousand people got on a waiting list for the smart before the cars were in the country.First full year of sales was 2005, and 4080 were sold.

[ianjay 6]

We bought our car from a photocopied sheet and then didn't hear anything for months.I think we'd be mostly ok charging just at night in Toronto, but most commuters would need more range than what the all electrics seem to be capable of. I don't see thousands of potential customers in Toronto.Time will tell

[Duck 16]

But that's just your opinion, not based on data. Car companies have repeatedly all voiced the 40 mile/65 km range suits 95% of people's commutes if used just to go to/from work. Do people "in Toronto" go further than that? Oh right, Mississauga and Brampton etc sprawl on and on for eons, so, I guess that won't work. LOLI'm looking at PHEV kits for our '10 Prius, which are down to $1500 now (!).-Iain

Edited January 30, 2011 by Duck

[Francesco 71]

You're right, some Toronto commuters may need more range. I don't know anyone in Montreal with an 80 Km (each way) commute.

[PrairieBoy 1]

Couldn't some employers be convinced to let you plug it in at work?Most of these EV's can also be charged using a standard plug-in.Range 'problem' solved!

[MikeT 747]

Free money, sounds good to me!

[PrairieBoy 1]

As far as the 'range anxiety' many of you have with regards to 'EV'S';... Smart's says their EV will go up to 135 kilo's on a full charge. Nissan says their Leaf will go up to 160 kilo's on a full charge.

[ETHICAL BEEF 2]

I had the pleasure of taking my 87 year old father to a medical appointment in London last week.We always have some good conversation along the way and we got talking about Electric cars.His comment was about heaters in our sub zero climate and A/C power consumption in the hot summer months.I have never heard much talk about this before but it will sure reduce the range immensley in both summer and winter!Electricity rates are forcasted to TRIPLE before this decade is over. The feeling now is you just "plug them in because it is like almost free"E.B.

[Duck 16]

Personally, I hope that fuel prices and electric prices for the consumer do quadrouple. It's the only way that our stupid race will get it through our heads to effect change and stop being so damn wasteful. I get excited when gas prices go up!

Put a charge of $50 on each bag of garbage you put at the curb and then see how much people start to think about what they're throwing out or using.

-Iain

[MikeT 747]

Right on. Too bad you didn't live through the first two "fuel crises". People were giving away gas hog vehicles in 1973 and 1979. Almost literally. And look at us now, it's the nineteen-fifties all over again: HP is king, 0-100 km/h in over 6 seconds is considered "slow". Uh-huh.

[PrairieBoy 1]

Nissan's Leaf is supposed to do 0-100 Kilometers in 10 seconds.Not too shabby! This may be enough to embarass some drivers of 'Dinosaurs' .

[Duck 16]

I drove a LEAF yesterday. It's great. The torque is delivered so linearly. It's got the same pull the whole way through the speed range. Love it. I just kept braking and accelerating the whole drive LOL. I told the guy to stop talking about iPod connectivity and built in GPS and blah blah blah because I wanted to hear the motor. :)After driving the smart ED and LEAF I feel gross that for as high-tech as my Prius is, it's still got a giant thing with 1000 moving parts powered by sparks and explosions. Yuck.-Iain

[smartzuuk 167]

Well, as nice as EEVs are, we aren`t going to burn enough coal to feed them all.

[Francesco 71]

I don't understand.

[MikeT 747]

Uh oh. Volt fire

[Huronlad 186]

Quite the fail on GM's part there.