Who killed the electric car?
 

Anyone ever hear of or see the documentary movie:

Who killed the electric car?
A lack of consumer confidence... or conspiracy?
Available on DVD from Sony Pictures

This documentary should be required watching for all drivers!
I was amazed at the history of EV Electric Vehicles,
They sure did a great job of hiding them from the general public!

Grrrr............ oiled again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

link Amazon
Sony info on EV's

Horse power to weight killed the electric car.

That was not the problem 10 yrs ago when several major car companies had EV's zipping around Cali.
And surely not a problem today
500bhp electric car

Mel Gibson drove a GMC EV-1 until they manipulated a recall and crushed all the EV's. The EV's were leased not sold which made it easy for the manufacturers to take them back even though most leasers wanted to keep their EV's!
Ford, Toyota and GMC sold EV's in Cali. all were destroyed by the manufactures.
If you ever see the movie you'll be amazed at the vehicles that were sold and ran in California! Also you'll be very angry a the $$$ you've been giving to the oil barrons!
Save the oil for gas for important things like air travel and of course motorcycles :wink:
If you dl torrents there is a torrent file of the full movie being shared
Someone donated the movie to our town library is how I got to see it :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZfueVHVnkI

I am sure you guys saw this one...No power to weight issue here!

warrior91,
Quick bike 0 to 60 mph @.97seconds 158 mph @ 1/4 mile
lithium ion batteries with nano technology, interesting 8)
next time the inventor should let the driver ride the bike!

Maybe Obama will bail out our car industry by making some laws to promote electric vehicles.
I know I'd like a plug in hybrid,
in my dream$,
maybe when they are 20yrs old I'll be able to afford a used one.

I got hit hard by gas prices this year @ $4.86 for the summer high and $4.22 last time I bought gas. Really put the hurt on my fishing and hunting the freezer is not full going into this winter :(
But I got bikes for next year :wink:

Just as an aside, GM's own dealerships *hated* the electric-cars. Not only was the mark-up pitiful, once they left the dealer ship, they never come back. i.e. No oil changes, no tune-ups, No injector purges, etc. Maybe some tires and a set of wiper blades once in a while.

With many factors putting the squeeze on new-car profit margins, the money is in the service, and there was really no service on the EV1.

Come to think of it, being a mechanic, I hate electric cars! Although, I strongly doubt they'll ever make a lto of noise here in Sask, with our climate...

--Vince

That reminds me of something I posted here several months ago about the parts and service industry not being fully in support of alternative energy sources. Obviously that doesn't apply to everyone who services vehicles, but it does have some impact.

If I remember correctly, the argument than was...the service shops will simply train and learn the new technology. And that's fine, but on vehicles with fewer moving or servicable parts, the opportunity for service is greatly reduced.



I agree that the movie in question is one that everyone needs to see. I don't consider every statement in the movie to be a fact, but much of it is also supported by evidence elsewhere.

Quebec has a few electric car manufacturers, oddly enough. Even Quebec hydro was in on it. Putting the motor in the wheels saves a lot of energy, with direct transfer. The sticking point for electric vehicles is the battery. A battery that's fast to charge, slow to discharge, lite and small hasn't happened yet. Well not without inproper heat transfer starting fires in the car.

One Quebec company just got the permission to sell cars in Canada! Till now they had to export all their cars. They couldn't meet the crash safety standards for highway. Yet, their car can't go on the highway, it's a city car that tops out at 50Kph. They finally said ok to a pilot, electric car class, project.

Electric bike $40000 plus sponsers (lord knows how much those batteries cost.)
massive 619#s
8.16 Quater mile

SUZUKI GSXR1000 $11000
379#s (158hp stock)
9.7 stock

I HAVE KNOW IDEA WHY PEOPLE BUY GAS POWERED THINGS :?:

SUZUKI GSXR1000 $11000
But how much was spent on the first SUZUKI GSXR1000 prototype?

I don't think it is a fair comparison between a one of a kind prototype and a production bike. :wink:
I have no use for the Kilocycycle drag bike,
I'll wait for the Chinese to make EV-Enduros LOL

Also currently available, The Zenn Car! The made in Canada, Made by Canadians, owned by Canadians Car that you can't buy in Canada! www.zenncars.com

Manufactured in Toronto. Currently legal in Vancouver and Victoria. Nowhere else in the country.

--Vince

The prototype was $350,000
Cars are currently selling at $109,000
The 100% electric 2008 Tesla Roadster
0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds
A 14,000 rpm redline
And 244 miles per charge, thus costing about two cents per mile
Tesla homepage



http://www.nextautos.com/files/wp-co...a_roadster.jpg

compare to
Porsche 911 GT2 530 hp @ 6,500 rpm
0-60 mph: 3.6 s

MSRP: $ 194,000.00
This is one of the most expensive Porsche's
so it might be the fairest comparison.

The consumer is going to go for the lowest OVERALL cost per mile, and in the case of the E-car, battery replacement and E-car life figure heavily into the cost per mile.

Manufacturers are too greedy, trading on the novelty aspect, the political aspect (green) and the apparent initial cost savings, and they rarely ever tell the whole truth about what it costs to operate the E-car.

Untill we get some ethics in the business, the E-car is dead before it is born.

Looking at that seems like it could work for some people, and it isn't too pricey...

However it is limited to a top speed of 25mph, and only 35 - 50 miles range, taking 8 hours to recharge.

Here's a page about GM's volt, http://gm-volt.com/chevy-volt-faqs/

It sounds better in my opinion, but it seems pricey to me, then again, compared to a hybrid I guess it isn't ?