Why are electric cars limited to 25 mph?

???

I think you're mistaken.

At first glance, I almost thought I had encountered a troll. Obviously not, so I'm confused as to where you get the idea that EV cars can only go 25 MPH.

There are various EV owners who post regularly here at Prius chat and who have indicated that their cars can go faster than 25 MPH.

That includes the Xebra, the Rav4EV, and those who ever got the chance to drive the EV1. Additionally it is pretty clear that the Tesla will exceed 25 MPH (assuming it makes it to market).

 

Kablooie,

I took a quick look through your recent posts, and I see that within the past few months you've already been involved in discussions about the Rav4EV as well as cars made by Zap. I'm really confused as to how you came out of those discussions thinking that EV cars max out at 25 MPH.

You even mentioned seeing a RAV4EV on the expressway next to you!

*shakes head in utter confusion*

 

Im going to take a shot at this one.....

Im guessing hes talking about the EV mode like the prius you can startout in EV only up to 15 - 25 before the ICE starts. My Hycam will go into EV only at 65mph comming off of a overpass and stay in EV until it hits the next grade or else I push the accel pedal.

I used to expiriance this in the prius just shorter EV run time. And if I started off real slow I could get up to 25mph in the prius as long as the guy behind me wouldnt lay on his horn.....

As for EV only vehicles as an only car they are limited; long recharging time, up to 80miles on single charge, less if you run ac, head lights, radio.
I think it was the Telsa that had a GAS trailer that could be towed behind the car to extend your range... At this time a 120 mph EV seems like a rich mans toy car. and with the price tag one can see why...

The Commuter car co. had the right idea in the 70's for a true commuter car...

If your a man/woman that just has to have a special ride, mabye one of these golf carts is for you..






To see more production model EV's check out,
http://www.evworld.com/evguide.cfm?evtype=production

If I were to get an EV I would lean more to this model it can cruise at 75mph. But its limited to a 30 mile range.

 

EVs per se aren't speed limited. The EV1, Tesla and Rav4EV can (could in the EV1 case) go way faster than 25 MPH.

Government regulation is the holdback for the EVs that you are thinking of (Zebra, ZAP, etc).

Those cars do not meet Federal crash standards. So they cannot be sold as a "full" car. Certain exemptions are provided for (NEVs are an example), but speed limitations (somewhere between 25-40 MPH) are required. Individual states also have differing laws regarding top speeds on these vehicles.

The EV1, Tesla and Rav4EV all were engineered and passed all Federal regulations of their time. They have no arbitrary speed limitations.

 

Frankly, I hardly think it's due to government regulations. If a car manufacturer builds a car to meet the FVMSS 500 spec, that's the fault of the car manufacturer. I believe that spec mainly orginated for vehicles operating around airports.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/staticfile...est Procedures/Associated Files/TP-500-02.pdf

See also http://www.zevnet.org/vehicles2

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Full Featured Electric Vehicles
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Full featured refers to freeway-capable, extended range electric vehicles, such as the Toyota RAV-4 Electric, Dodge EPIC van, Nissan Altra, Ford Ranger pickup and GM EV1,. Vehicles such as these have about a 100 mile range and speeds up to 80 mph.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
City Electric Vehicles (CEVs)
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]City Electric Vehicles have a top speed of 55 mph with a range of about 50 miles. CEVs are intended for in-town commuting.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs)
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A neighborhood electric vehicle is a 4-wheeled vehicle, larger than a golf cart but smaller than most light-duty passenger vehicles. NEVs are usually configured to carry two or four passengers, or two passengers with a pickup bed. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]NEVs are defined by the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as subject to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 500 (49 CFR 571.500). Per FMVSS 500, NEVs have top speeds between 20 and 25 miles per hour and are defined as "Low Speed Vehicles."[/FONT]

 

I've heard of electric bicycles being subject to an artificially low speed limit, but not cars.

 

The Tesla Roadster will go 120 or 130 mph.

The Zap Xebra is not subject to speed regulations. It lacks the power to go over 40 mph on flat ground with OEM tires, or 45 mph with larger tires. I regularly cruise at 40 mph on flat ground, but the laws do not prevent me from going faster.

I presume the OP was referring specifically to NEVs, since the OP is clearly aware that some EVs can and do go much faster

NEV is a classification that allows some EVs to be sold without the usual safety features or testing. Because they were not tested, and do not have air bags or other safety features, they are required to be speed-limited. In most states that limit is 25 mph. In WA and ID (and maybe other states?) the limit is 35 mph.

The Xebra is not a NEV. It is classified as a motorcycle, and therefore does not require air bags or crash testing. You can't have air bags on a real motorcycle, so they are not required. And since most states allow three-wheeled vehicles to be registered as motorcycles, you can leave one wheel off a car and call it a motorcycle. You could put an air bag into it, but because you've found a loophole in the regulations, you don't have to.

The Tango is another vehicle that has no air bag and has not been crash tested. They get around the regulations by selling the Tango as a "kit." There is some (very minimal) "assembly" required.

The Tesla Roadster has been crash tested and will meet all the safety regulations for a car.

The short answer to the OP is that a golf cart would be very dangerous at high speed. (The Xebra is dangerous as well, but so are motorcycles, which it claims to be.)

 

Just a small correction Daniel. You can have an airbag on a motorcycle. The Honda Goldwing has had an airbag available as an option since 2006.

 

Air bags in cars only protect you if you are wearing a seat belt. In the case of the motorcycle air bag, it's not going to help as you fly over it and fly through the rear window of the car you hit, or are thrown sideways in a broadside impact.

I stand correct on the detail: apparently you can have an air bag on a motorcycle. But I stand by the substance: it's not going to do much good.

 

Does the Goldwing have seatbelts?
I understand you can get it with AC.

 

I think that airbag is intended to protect you from collision with the faring (windshield). My Yamaha Virago windshield has mounts that pop free if you were to hit it. The GoldWing windshield is not just a small windshield that pops free, it's part of a larger faring, so the airbag will reduce the impact on that. But yes, after hitting the airbag, you will probably bounce over and into whatever you hit. But the speed of THAT impact will be less, due to the slowdown the airbag will create.

Regarding the OP:
I agree the 25 MPH limit is stupid. It should be 35 for a NEV. a 35 MPH NEV would suffice for many people, whereas a 25MPH vehcle is a traffic hazard. I've had the same scary situations driving a moped when I was younger. The max speed is just not enough to satisfy the soccor moms in suburbans that ride your azz and lay on the horn.
The safety standards are set up for cars that go at highway speeds. a NEV cannot go on the highway, so it should not be subject to that. They should have a seperate safety satandard for non-highway vehicles, which allow a NEV to actually keep up with traffic.

I would guess that the 25 MPH limit was set low on purpose to DISCOURAGE their use.

 

Federal regulation in the US requires airbags to restrain a 95 percentile male that is not wearing a seatbelt. Therefore airbag ARE designed to protect a passenger that is not wearing a seat belt. Of course it is far better to wear a seatbelt in combination with the airbag.

European regulations are different and are based on protecting a passenger restrained by a seat belt.

The company that I work for supplies the cockpits for Mercedes SUV's manufactured in Vance, AL. We supply different cockpits depending on whether the vehicle will be sold in the USA or internationally.

The US cockpits have a collapsing aluminum structure in the lower part of the driver-side cockpit under the steering column. This structure is designed to restrain a driver that is not wearing a seatbelt and prevent the driver from submarining under the airbag. This structure collapses in a controlled manner and transfers the force of impact through the femur to the pelvis.

On the passenger side, the glovebox has a steel insert that does the same thing for the passenger.

For international models the collapsing aluminum structure is replaced with a closed cell foam block. This is designed to prevent injuries to the lower legs when they strike the underside of the cockpit. Since the driver is assumed to be restrained by a seat belt, the knee should not contact the cockpit.

On the passenger side the glovebox has only a plastic inner structure, again to reduce injuries to the lower legs.

I am the Product Engineer for the team responsible for integrating a knee airbag into the lower instrument panel of the US models. This knee airbag replaces the collapsing aluminum structure and fires before the driver's torso airbag in order to restrain a driver that is not restrained by a seat belt. It will also reduce forces transferred to the upper leg and protects the lower legs of a driver that is restrained by a seatbelt.

Now to motorcycles:

The Honda airbag system is not used along with a seatbelt. It is designed to protect a rider that strikes an object perpendicularly +/- 30 degrees. Since the most common incident leading to the death of a rider is a vehicle turning left in front of the motorcycle, this is a very likely scenario. The airbag does not prevent the rider from separating from the motorcycle but instead acts as a ramp to allow the rider to go over the object stuck and land on a flat surface beyond. This results in a tumbling fall instead of a sudden impact into the vertical side of a vehicle. The airbag also prevents the rider's lower legs from hitting the handlebars in order to prevent femur fractures.

 

Wow! Nice insight!
So I guess I was sort of right, sort of wrong.