Why do electric car prototypes look retarded?

[Bateluer]

Just saw this over at Engadget.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/11/the-very-light-very-electric-very-efficient-edison2-evlc-score/

Well, what is now known as the eVLC has been put through the EPA-certified ringer and come out boasting a jaw-dropping 245MPGe. Using the latest, more stringent, 5-cycle EPA tests the strange looking vehicle posted a miles-per-gallon equivalent almost 250-percent that of the Nissan leaf. The four-passenger eVLC also scored an impressive 114 mile range on its tiny 10.5 kWh battery (the Leaf gets 117 miles out of its 24 kWH battery) and sucked down a full charge in six hours from a standard 110v socket. For a few more details check out the PR after the break.

It gets incredible mileage and charges from a standard outlet, but I don't think I'd be caught dead driving it.

 

[arcenite]

I think it looks fun... put some seats on those wings and have a PARTAY

 

[OverVolt]

I guess because an electric car made to look like a gasoline car makes it heavy so it has big batteries which also makes it expensive.

And something that people could ACTUALLY drive looks like that POS.

 

[feralkid]

I don't think I'd be caught dead driving it.

Correct, you could never pull it off.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

For that kind of mileage, it could look like a giant toilet and I'd still drive it.

 

[DominionSeraph]

I'd love to have a shell like that at a reasonable price. Throw a turbo 'busa engine and some fatter tires on it and you'd have the world's fastest go-kart. The problem would be getting tires that didn't disintegrate at 250+MPH.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It looks futuristic, but unsafe. You slightly get hit and you lost your entire wheel assembly. D:

The thing with electric cars is we only see prototypes of them and never will see an actual purchasable one until they fix the patent system to disallow patenting for the sole purpose of stopping a product from existing. The oil companies just buy it out or patent the concept to stop it's production.

 

[Fenixgoon]

It looks futuristic, but unsafe. You slightly get hit and you lost your entire wheel assembly. D:

The thing with electric cars is we only see prototypes of them and never will see an actual purchasable one until they fix the patent system to disallow patenting for the sole purpose of stopping a product from existing. The oil companies just buy it out or patent the concept to stop it's production.

because the oil companies are solely behind it.

how many of these vehicles could pass safety standards? how many rely on specialty materials? how many are practical and afford all the creature comforts people have come to expect?

guess what - the second you start fulfilling all of those requirements, you've just added thousands of pounds of weight and destroyed your aerodynamic advantage.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

how many of these vehicles could pass safety standards?
Change the driving environment so they are safe. Require a computer interlock program that would keep vehicles from getting too close to each other. Ban gas vehicles from certain roadways.
how many rely on specialty materials?
No more than current gas cars.
how many are practical and afford all the creature comforts people have come to expect?
That's the kicker. America won't change until they're forced to by law or by cost of fuel.

If we wanted to we could have cost effective, fuel efficient, inexpensive electric vehicles today. We don't want to. It's that simple.

 

[Eli]

If we wanted to we could have cost effective, fuel efficient, inexpensive electric vehicles today. We don't want to. It's that simple.

I'm not sure if that's entirely true..

Batteries are fucking expensive. You want a 350 mile range out of an Accord type vehicle, you're going to have to pay for it.

And we're just now scratching the surface of fast charge technology. Most people can't wait 6 hours to fill up.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Looks like Donald Duck's head.

 

[EagleKeeper]

I'm not sure if that's entirely true..

Batteries are fucking expensive. You want a 350 mile range out of an Accord type vehicle, you're going to have to pay for it.

And we're just now scratching the surface of fast charge technology. Most people can't wait 6 hours to fill up.

You need the range of a gas engine with a recharge time to get another 200 miles inside a coupel of hours.

then you will start to pull gas vehicles off the road.

Even a 200 mile range would work for comuting; allows overcharging at night and surface charging during the day.

A 100 mile comute range is tough; many people that could use the vehicle are more than 40 miles from work and can may detours either way that will reduce usable range.

I have driven the Leaf and it is nice; but the range makes it a no go.
Give me a 200 range, and then it becomes feasible. 350 range with surface charging and I can use it for long haul visiting - one will get intot he garage

 

[Eli]

You need the range of a gas engine with a recharge time to get another 200 miles inside a coupel of hours.

then you will start to pull gas vehicles off the road.

Even a 200 mile range would work for comuting; allows overcharging at night and surface charging during the day.

A 100 mile comute range is tough; many people that could use the vehicle are more than 40 miles from work and can may detours either way that will reduce usable range.

I have driven the Leaf and it is nice; but the range makes it a no go.
Give me a 200 range, and then it becomes feasible. 350 range with surface charging and I can use it for long haul visiting - one will get intot he garage

Yep, pretty much.

John Wayland of Plasma Boy Racing in Portland, OR is converting an Insight to an EV, the goal being a range of 350 miles or more.

Total conversion cost is estimated at $75 - 100k by people in the industry. The majority of that being in the massive 71kWh battery pack.

Of course, costs would be cheaper for a manufacturer. But not that much cheaper. And it's going to be a lot easier to make the Insight travel 350 miles than it would an Accord. Let alone a truck.

http://www.plasmaboyracing.com/blog/?p=486

People have no idea the energy density of gasoline. A gallon of gasoline stores 37kWh of energy. An ICE is about 20% efficient on average, so you have 7.2kWh useable in each gallon of gasoline. That means it only takes 10 gallons to equal the 71kWh pack mentioned above from an ICE perspective. That's why they call oil liquid gold.... Energy that easy to come by doesn't tend to grow on trees.

The drivetrain of an EV is probably more like 80% efficient. Internal Combustion Engines are terrible, wasteful machines. They will eventually go the way of the dodo, but it's going to take more time.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The number one thing that needs to change is people's perspective on driving. Everyone seems to be waiting for the technological breakthrough that will allow them to have exactly the same car they have now but with an electric motor. Wake up, that probably isn't going to happen in our lifetime.

 

[lxskllr]

I saw a trike back in the late 70s/early 80s that looked a lot like that. It used a motorcycle engine, and of course was licensed like a motorcycle. Good gas mileage, and fairly cheap to build. I'd buy one in a second.

 

[Bateluer]

The number one thing that needs to change is people's perspective on driving. Everyone seems to be waiting for the technological breakthrough that will allow them to have exactly the same car they have now but with an electric motor. Wake up, that probably isn't going to happen in our lifetime.

True, current electric cars are suitable for some 90% of people and their daily commutes. So long as they remember to plug in the vehicle when home, or at work if available.

I think a great many people also balk at the price tags too.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

True, current electric cars are suitable for some 90% of people and their daily commutes. So long as they remember to plug in the vehicle when home, or at work if available.

I think a great many people also balk at the price tags too.

Price tags on "alternative fuel" cars will remain high and continue to climb. The auto industry is in much the same place as the tobacco industry 20 years ago. They won't give up the death grip on gasoline as long as anyone is producing it. In the mean time they will diversify and 20 years from now, little of their corporate profits will come from building cars and the few remaining gas cars will probably be built in Vietnam and China.

 

[Perknose]

"Why do electric car prototypes look retarded?"

Probably for the same reason the first "horseless carriages" looked ridiculous and retarded to all the complacent horse owners who thought the era of personal transportation that shits out of its ass onto the road whenever it decided to would never end.

Any taste of the future always looks incomprehensible and odd to those who can't imagine anything past the present.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of DEC