I can't imagine getting any pleasure in owning an electric vehicle. To me it would be purely a means to an end. I know the performance is there (if you can find anywhere left to use it), but the tech is sterile like an electric train or a fan heater.

Refuelling/recharging time is the problem with straight electric cars, along with battery management. Also the only reason that electric cars are not classed as polluting is that the pollution is produced generating the electricity at the gas or nuclear power station rather than when consuming it.
Hydrogen fuel cells are the way to go. The same refuelling time as a fossil fuel powered vehicle with the emissions of an electric vehicle. We are already used to carrying bombs around in our car and with collision protection getting better every year the hydrogen fuel tank gets to be less risk.

what BossBob said.
Hydrogen fuel cells are the answer. Common sense isn't very common.
_______________________________
2007 Land Rover Freelander2 I6 hse Auto

My petrol car can be charged at roughly 32,000 kWh per second! A full charge from relatively empty is about 2,000,000 kWh in about 60 seconds! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

I think that there is a view that the nature of car ownership will change quite drastically over the next 10 years or so. Less people will own cars in the way that they have over the past 100 odd years. Instead we will be using Uber type taxi services which will be driverless. When you want to go somewhere you just order a car which will appear and take you where you want to go
I notice that this is already happening to some extent with young city dwellers, where that automatic "right of passage" of passing your driving test at 17 to give mobility and freedom is not such an automatic choice as before. They would rather use taxis and public transport

Lightwater wrote:

My petrol car can be charged at roughly 32,000 kWh per second! A full charge from relatively empty is about 2,000,000 kWh in about 60 seconds!

tim_roberts wrote:

The owners of electric cars are currently living in a dream world, being subsidised by us, the owners of gas-guzzlers.

They pay no road tax and they pay no fuel duty - that's why the cost per mile is so cheap, not because they are ultra-efficient.

Once the number of electric cars starts to make a dent in the government's revenue the rules will have to change.

The vision of an electric car future has a few flaws, The idea of solar panels on a car would not generate
enough power for a standard car. The energy per m2 available is only around 110w and panels typically are
no more than 20 to 30% efficient so at maximum 30w/m total generation from a car sized panel per day is
unlikely to be more than 1 or 2 KWH maximum. a car is typically 18 to 25 KWH so the energy has to come from somewhere else.

The UK has only enough generation capacity for our current use, car charging would overload our generation capacity,
also the national grid is near its transmission limit so if you could generate you would be unable to transmit the power
anywhere. You could install panels on everyone's roof but of course we are normally using our cars to get to work during the day when the power is available. My panels generate enough for a car during the summer but not the rest of the year.

Hydrogen may be the answer to moving the energy around as we already have part of the infrastructure to move LPG
around.

I can see electric cars having their place in some transport situations but currently we couldn't all switch to them.

Roger

PS the number above are only approximations so not to be taken literally Freelander 2
Rangerover L322 4.4 TDV8

solarpower cars , imagine everyone fighting for the sunny car park spaces whilst the nice shady ones go unwanted.


Sorry Im late for the meeting the sun went behind a cloud.

it all revolves around batteries and until someone thinks of the supreme design , its not going to work

also power supply , everyone gets home from work plugs car, in pops the kettle on and has an electric shower, pop goes the national grid. unless the ingenious battery in build into every house can smooth the demand At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

The roof rack could not hold enough spare batteries!

Click image to enlarge

 FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

I considered affordable electric options recently to replace my diesel. In the end I bought a Toyota hybrid. Best compromise. Electric car range not good enough 'yet'. Also my wife can not remember to charge her phone and the kids will trip over the cable so a plug in cars a bit pointless.

I believe the near future is the hybrid system. The affordable long range less faff battery option is still a long way off.

Long term I think there will be a way of picking up the electricity on motorways. You'll drive your car to the motorway, then the computer will take over, enabling it to drive much closer to the car in front, and picking up current from the roadway. It will then be fully charged for when you leave the motorway near your destination.
All very well, but it's never going to reach the Highlands - or even east Anglia for that matter. Ex AA Series III LWB Safari - Gone
300TDi Disco (bought new - terrible car) sent back after 18 months
Freelander 1 Estate - leased, given back at end of lease
200TDi Disco (bought from a mate with 100,000 on the clock) - Gone
Disco 2 TD5 - sold and exported to France
FR2 TD4 GS - Gone
FR2 SD4 HSE - Now changed for a DS
New model ex-demo Evoque S 180 in white
Unable to order a new DS, so gave up. Now have a Volvo S90 Recharge.

That's a great idea, sort of a track to run on, what does this remind me of.....have a look at this

http://www.scalextric.com/us-en/news/renau...unt-video/

The problem with these high tech batteries is they are using expensive precious metals which are not eco friendly to extract from the earth and will need replacing in 5 years or so.

Bob 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)