Who killed the electric car? Who cares?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Nov 1 2007, 09:44 AM) [snapback]533433[/snapback]</div>

Evan -

I spent WAY too many hours trying to format it correctly in HTML. And just when I got it right, I'd try to edit something and it would get all screwed up. I resorted to Word just for my own sanity. I do NOT have it in HTML anywhere at this time. A PDF could be made out of it somewhat easily. The thing is, I keep changing it every time something comes to me, or I hear another "statement."

It is amazing what people "know" isn't it? I can't tell you how many people are confident in their position that comes only from what they've read. My direct experience is more often than not dismissed out of hand as just being a fringe view. I've even had some people unknowingly use info from my web site to refute what I'm saying! That just cracks me up. Shows how much attention they pay to the subject, huh?

Let me know if I can help!

 

All advice is appreciated Evan.

Couple of things - I have an insane number of hours in on that one document alone, and what you see is still just a rough draft. There is LOTS Of room for improvement, and I tune it up when I have some time here and there. I'm surprised you didn't bring up the "walking naked" one, but maybe you haven't made it down that far. Takes a long time to read all 18 pages, doesn't it? Imagine how long it takes to write! If ANYBODY here finds a favorite subject, and would like to write the response, I'd be happy to include it. If you'd like to do the leg-work on the oil one, please do!

I do sometimes take issue with "doing the work" for others. I find that the more I point out studies and facts, the more of it is thrown back into my face. Sort of like tossing ammo to the enemy. It works much better if the reader does his own research to find the answers. The answers are then more believable. If *I* supply the answers... well, I'm just biased. There needs to be a balance. I find myself more and more just making statements in argument threads. When I'm not believed, and am asked for support for my statements, I turn it around and ask THEM to do the work and find evidence to the contrary. Of course just about ALL of the statments I make have supporting information on my site if anybody cares to spend a moment to search for it.

My entire site is based on MY experiences, and for that reason is generally not objective. I don't pretend that it is.

As a side note, I don't actually love EVs. I think that if we want to keep our high-speed personal mobility, that they are currently the best option. If my whole effort were to be summed up in a nutshell - it is that I want these cars to be available to anybody who wants to buy them. We should have the option to buy a modern, totally clean vehicle. I do enjoy driving EVs - far more than I've enjoyed driving any gasoline vehicle - but that's still a far cry from loving them. What I love is my daughter. And I don't intend to sit back and watch her future get crapped on.

OK... that's getting a bit deep for a thread like this. Anyway.... back to work.

 

I have discovered a company by the name www.altairnano.com and this company seems to be the answer we are looking for:


Lithium-ion Electric Doblò Travels 300km in One Day With Three Fast Recharges
9 October 2007

Micro-Vett electric Fiat Doblò.
A Micro-Vett Fiat Doblò, a regular size 5-seat station wagon, powered by a custom 18kWh Altairnano lithium-ion NanoSafe battery pack, traveled 300 kilometers (186 miles) in one day in an urban delivery circuit. The custom battery pack was fully recharged in less than ten minutes a total of three times using AeroViroments’ high voltage, 125kW rated, rapid charging system.

The demonstration came halfway through an ongoing 60-day demonstration of the 5-seat electric vehicle by AeroVironment, Inc.; Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.; Micro-Vett, SPA; and Go Green Holding AS to government officials and potential commercial customers in Oslo, Norway.

The standard Micro-Vett Fiat Doblò uses a 43 kWh lead-acid battery pack, providing a range of 150 km (93 miles) in the urban duty cycle on a single charge; recharging takes 5-8 hours. The vehicle uses a 30 kW (60 kW peak) motor from Ansaldo Electric Drives.

Micro-Vett has been manufacturing electric vehicles since 1987 and so we constantly follow energy accumulation systems evolution, from batteries to fuel cells. Until now we’ve seen some developments, but Altairnano’s fast charge batteries have the potential to revolutionize electric vehicles and also the automotive industry. It was very exciting to see Doblò’s charge level indicator going up visibly in Oslo. With Altairnano’s fast charge batteries, we can overcome the primary electric vehicle limitation because we can achieve refuelling times comparable to those of gasoline-powered vehicles.

—Massimiliano Di Gioia, Micro-Vett Vice President
The lithium-ion Doblò will be driven an estimated total of 7,500 kilometers (4,660 miles) during the 60-day demonstration period, which translates to an annual equivalent use of 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles).

Go Green expects to ship up to 20 Micro-Vett vehicles with Altairnano’s 18kWh NanoSafe battery packs to customers in the next several months, and an additional 250 vehicles are planned for shipment in 2008. Altairnano offers a range of battery packs for all-electric vehicles requiring from 10 to 35 kWh of energy storage.

 

The Altairnano product is fantastic. NO two ways about it. All that remains to be seen (as always!) is commercialization and cost. This is exactly what we're looking for of course. And there is lots of promise. Now we just need actual product in the hand.

 

I agree with all your points, Evan! Bring it on.

The document is NOWHERE near complete in my mind. In fact, I was originally meaning to just make a list of the common comments/misperceptions. I wasn't going to respond to them... but when I shared it with my EV group, everybody hounded me to also write responses that they could use, so I started in on it. For some, like the one you quoted above, I just pounded out a few words more as a tickler, or place holder for what should be the real answer. I do answer many of these in the first person because I'm responding to them the way I do when somebody on the street makes the comment... like, "your EV is coal powered."

You make great points, and obviously I would like the items on my site to have as much value as possible. I'll continue to comb through this document and improve it, and your comments will be responsible for many of the improvements, I'm sure.

As it is, I'm way behind on some other EV documents I was supposed to have done by yesterday. Oh well, at least I'm not getting paid.

Oh, and yes... *passion* for EVs is easier for me to live with. Sounds better than obsessive/compulsive at least!