Comments on: Zero emission electric cars from Phoenix Motorcars

By: EDWARD

EDWARD — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:14:24 +0000

“But if the car is charged by standard grid power, then how is that power generated? Unless it’s 100% from solar or wind power, the car’s operation still creates pollution at a significant level”

Not true. The math shows that even if the electric power is generated by a coal fired plant, and the car is charged from that grid, the amount of pollution is actually far less than that produced by a fuel powered vehicle traveling the same distances. Besides, there are grids that are not fired by oil.

That argument was promoted by lobbies in favor of the petrolium industry and has no scientific truth to it.

By: drivin98

drivin98 — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:11:29 +0000

I saw a picture of some solar panels on a Prius the other day.
http://densaer.livejournal.com/547962.html

By: Garrett Albright

Garrett Albright — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:25:35 +0000

In my opinion hybrid cars don’t make any sense at all.
I don’t see how you can argue that they’re not getting the job done, though. They use about half as much gas as the same type of car in a non-hybrid configuration.

By: Garrett Albright

Garrett Albright — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:24:05 +0000

Sure, dams cause ecological damage, but be sensible: you can’t go creating a dam, then building cities that rely on it, increasing human habitation in the area, and then decide to dismantle the dam!

If this is in reply to my comments about the dams in my area, let me emphasize that the dams are in a rural area, and one that is already being serviced by a natural gas plant. The dams could go in an instant without any effect on the local power supply. It really seems that the only reason they’re staying up is because the company that operates them is receiving government kickbacks for doing so, on top of the money they get for selling the marginal power they generate into the grid. Politics as usual.

By: Rob Dunn

Rob Dunn — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:42:18 +0000

Heheh – that’s when I would install some sort of noxious carbon-monoxide-based fume emitting device that would knock them out…oh, wait…

By: Kiltak

Kiltak — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:01:39 +0000

Yeah, great until a smartass pass by your car and decides to smash your precious solar panels, just for the fun of it. :)

By: Rob Dunn

Rob Dunn — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:36:12 +0000

What would be a great idea is a (I don’t know if this is feasible yet) set of solar panels on the roof of the vehicle that can trickle charge the batteries during the day if the car is parked somewhere outside of the charging station’s range.

I think this would help with concerns of non-renewable power consumption at the charging station…heck – couldn’t the stations be powered by solar or wind power to a degree?

And yes, baby steps – you can’t go from 0 to 60 instantly…gotta gain some momentum first!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:06:47 +0000

Hybrid cars have 2 engines so you are carrying a lot of extra weight around. Whilst this is OK when running on the batteries (which won’t last as long carrying the extra weight of the combustion engine) when running on the combustion engine you are using more fuel to transport the batteries and electric motor.

In my opinion hybrid cars don’t make any sense at all.

The only reason I can see for having a hybrid is if you need to make a long trip, the batteries don’t last and you can’t recharge them you have the combustion engine which you can use on petrol. In this case why bother with the hybrid – just get a standard car or use public transportation like trains or buses.

Electric vehicles at the moment are ideal for city driving at lower speeds and shorter distances.

By: Gio

Gio — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 09:17:14 +0000

Amen. Any advancement in this sort of technology is a very good thing, but so many people just harass the idea.
Americans don’t want to get rid of gas.

By: Brad Abidin

Brad Abidin — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 09:15:24 +0000

It may be true that the source for the power grid may not be 100% eco-friendly, but consider this, right now we’ve got pollution from cars AND powerplants.. wouldn’t the absence of car pollution be of SOME significance? And there’s no guarantee that powerplants or our main source for power will forever remain as it does today.. ecofriendly power sources may one day take precedence..we’re not looking at an overnight miracle cure..but it’s a start..baby steps

By: Stanley Steamer

Stanley Steamer — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:54:53 +0000

Sure, dams cause ecological damage, but be sensible: you can’t go creating a dam, then building cities that rely on it, increasing human habitation in the area, and then decide to dismantle the dam! In addition to power, where does the cities’ water supply go? The river in its original state would very probably be unable to sustain the water demands of the population, particularly in time of drought, not to mention you would of course have the colossal expense of constructing a new power station with a different power source, which you would have to run in parallel with the old one until everyone could be switched over.

Certainly electric cars with a 100-mile range aren’t for everyone, but they would be a sensible choice for people to use as a “going to work” car, and for all who normally only make short to medium trips. To scorn this technology when there is a clearly useful market niche it could inhabit is counter-productive. America uses obscene amounts of gasoline compared to other countries of the world ( http://www.economist.com/images/ga/2007w27/Petrol.jpg ) and it of all countries is the one that should be making an effort to change the most. This is one solution out of many possibles, and the people behind these cars should be commended for getting out there and promoting it to the Public. Maybe if they have some success, it will be like Steve Jobs banning old connector ports on the iMac in favour of USB – seemed wild at the time, but without his taking a stand, we might still see new motherboards still being made with ADB, PS2 and parallel ports today. USB wasn’t a new thing, but hardly anybody was using it. Just needed somebody with courage and resolve to say, “This situation is just silly. We can do better.”

Electric cars might not impress everyone. But a start has to be made somewhere, because we can’t sit on our hands forever, and humanity CAN do it better.

By: Stanley Steamer

Stanley Steamer — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:07:59 +0000

Even if your grid power was obtained from coal-powered power plants, and not hydro, wind, or nuclear, the increase in air pollution would not go crazy overnight unless the entire local population immediately dumped their gas-guzzlers for these new cars. In addition to this, having electric cars in cities & towns will reduce the carcinogenic fumes spewed out by combustion engine exhausts which surround us every day, thus making life a bit healthier for pedestrians. Pollution from power plants tends (if the city planners weren’t doing it with their eyes shut) to be situated away from residential areas. And of course, since many cities use non air-polluting power plants for their electricity, in these cases air pollution would be reduced by a significant level if enough people switched to electric cars.