Comparison between Old and New EV'S

[redneck]

Found this and thought it was interesting.

The status quo of electric cars: better batteries, same range.

Low-tech Magazine: The status quo of electric cars: better batteries, same range


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[NeilBlanchard]

It points the way to more efficient cars.

There are 200-300+ range electric cars, and once we get lower drag cars, equal to or better than the EV1, we will have long range EV's.

[Frank Lee]

I've seen that recently... don't recall if it was linked from here or I just found it surfing. Anyway, I agree with parts of it. Just imagine every vehicle on Earth carting around an extra Ton or so of needless bulk, as they are now. Yeah, that's a good chunk of energy and materials waste.

Also, I think speeds are higher than need be. My somewhat arbitrary thought is, trips under 50 miles are not penalized very much time-wise by speeds under or even well under 55 mph. I do think 20 mph is too slow for much of anything going out of town though. I take my electric bicycle on 17 mile round trips at about 20 mph and sometimes wish for a little more speed, which I could have were I not using a lower power setting to save on the batteries.

Contrary to vehicles with an internal combustion engine, electric cars are more fuel efficient in cities than at steady speed on a highway - an electric motor uses no energy when it is idling, and regenerative braking works best in city traffic.

It has been my experience that in-town starting and stopping wears the batteries down far, far faster on my electric bike than steady-state cruising down the road.

[euromodder]

Streamlining not important ?
A realistic EV must have a top of at least some 100 kph / 65 mph - this ain't no NEV - so streamlining IS important.

[TEiN]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I take my electric bicycle on 17 mile round trips at about 20 mph and sometimes wish for a little more speed...

Pedal harder?

[Frank Lee]

I wish. The pedals are fixed at a very low gear. I could pedal like the wind and it would neither help propel the whole mess down the road nor generate any electricity. :/

[TEiN]

Gotcha. Like an electric moped?

[Frank Lee]

[Ryland]

Why do we need "better" EV's? my 30 year old EV has plenty of range to get me to three bus stops and an air port shuttle and it took me 5 years of ownership to find a reason to drive it far enough to test its 40 mile range, the rest of my trips that I don't take my electric car tend to be for work, with a bunch of other people (wide choice in what vehicle we take) or a trip that I need a vehicle like a pickup truck for, if I had a Zip Car membership (they are not in my area) then I could get away with only owning an electric car that has a 35-40mile range and 35-40 mph top speed.
I have driven a factory built EV from 1960, have owned one from 1975 and my current one from 1981 along with driving any and every other EV that I can get my hands on.

[XmodAlloy]

They're comparing apples and oranges. A slow moving wooden buggy which has most of its weight in batteries vs a heavy steel shell weighing 2000 pounds plus another 600 pounds of batteries which goes faster and has more drag.

Is it not obvious why they have similar ranges?

-Don