Ford and Electric Car in the Same Sentence?
In a somewhat surprising move, Ford Motor Company is creating an alliance with utility company Southern California Edison to pledge a partnership to research and produce both plug-in hybrid and fully electric autos. The company is pledging to produce cars of both types in much greater numbers than it does today, with only a single hybrid product, the Escape SUV, currently in its lineup.The basic idea behind a plug-in hybrid is that it could be initially charged overnight, meaning that much of your morning commute could be run without the auto's combustion engine kicking in, greatly increasing overall fuel economy. However, Ford is also hoping to develop fully-electric vehicles which don't use fuel at all, relying entirely on evening charges to get owners to their destinations.
In the wake of massive rolling blackouts in 2000, thoughts of placing even more demand on SoCal's already strained power grid seems troubling at best. But, Southern California Edison, a company that actually has to post rolling blackout info on its Web site to keep its customers appraised, is pledging that finding the extra juice to keep these cars on the road won't be a problem -- providing owners recharge their rides at night, of course.
From PC World
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
courthouseman @ Jul 9th 2007 3:30PM
If someone can actually develop a fully functional electrical vehicle, they will probably be the richest car company on earth for the next 50 years.
All the power to them if this is actually sincere - screw 'em if it's just posturing
tahoe-cyclist @ Jul 9th 2007 3:53PM
He-LLO-o! Electric cars were perfected (cheap, efficient, and powerful) in the late 90s, but Congress, Big Oil, and the American car companies themselves pulled them off the market & out of the leasers hands & destroyed them all. Go rent "Who Killed the Electric Car" - a great & riveting Academy-Award nominated documentary describing this whole sad & enraging turn of events.
Ric @ Jul 9th 2007 4:14PM
It just makes me shudder when I see the words "electric" and "free" grouped together in the same sentence. As anyone with an electric bill will tell you, it's far from being free.
It saddens me to think that people are so short-sighted that they really don't see the "big" picture here. Please allow me... in a nutshell. It takes some type of fuel to power the electric generators that charge the car overnight...duh! Therefore the only thing that hybrids do is to serve as an energy conversion. Rather than spending money on gasoline, you wind up spending money on electricity... energy conversion!
The technology exists to make a car that is more energy efficient by the use of inertia converters on the brakes, solar energy producing paint and pigments, and yes, even a carburator kit that people can buy that will give any engine at least 30 - 50 mpg. Yet rather than tell you that, Ford Motor Company would have you buy a new hybrid. It doesn't make sense.
Forget about the lie fed to us about ethenol, because it takes about 1.4 gallons of diesel to produce 1 gallon of ethenol. That's not an alternative energy source, that's another energy conversion, and not an economical one at that.
The emphysis should be placed on more public transportation and alternative transportation methods, such as bicycling. Instead there is this demand placed on us to buy a new car every year like mindless slaves. Imagine what it would be like if car makers would sell you a general platform that is upgradable and expandable every year, as opposed to being junked every 6 - 10 years.
I think that rather than trying to create a car for everyone, we should try to get everyone into public transportation and get out from behind the wheel of that car! But why take my word for it... believe it or not, your car is doomed!
cricketsng @ Jul 9th 2007 5:24PM
And imagine your electric bill if you have to plug it in and recharge it every night.
Lorin Thwaits @ Jul 18th 2007 6:13AM
Ric and CricketSong:
Sure, you have to pay for the electricity, but consider that the conversion from fossil to electron at the power plant is done on a large scale, and achieves about 60% efficiency. Then from electron to kinetic in a pure electric car is about 80% efficient, considering all losses. Compare that to the conversion from fossil to kinetic in a car, which is around 35% efficient. Electric vehicles are the way to go. It also opens up solar / geo-thermal / wind / wave options as power sources.
I'm totally with you on the idea that public transportation is king. But 90% of America is not, and will not be in the forseeable future. So if it's gotta be cars then the lesser of all evils is electric.
doda @ Jul 31st 2007 11:39AM
Definitely a better idea.
Ethanol is not the answer. The grain required to make 25 gallons of gascould feed 1 person for a year. If todays entire US grain harvest is turned into auto fuel, it would still satisf less than one-sixth of US demand.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/21/toc.html
David R @ Jul 31st 2007 3:15PM
Fed up with gas prices and the Big Three Auto Makers, in 2006 I converted a 1995 Hyundai Elantra to Electric Drive. To answer some questions, it cost $6000 and I did all the work myself. It goes 70 MPH, is street legal (tagged and insured), has power brakes, power steering, and all the comforts one is used to. It is CHEAP to drive! Costs me (no kidding) $6 A MONTH to charge it up every night. Figuring costs per kilowatt-hour of electricity and the miles I get per charge, this vehicles costs me about 2 cents a mile to drive. That means I get the equivalent of about 120 miles per gallon, if gas is $2.40 per gallon. If 85% of Americans drove electric cars TODAY, the country's current electrical infrastructure could handle the charging loads at night WITH NO CHANGES OR IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED! I am a firm believer in electric vehicles...everytime I see that little Hyundai waiting out there to silently and efficiently take me somewhere I need to go.
james @ Jul 31st 2007 3:28PM
to ric: If we start making electric from solar and wind, then it would be better. As for mass transit, as a car driver( and i don't have mass transit available) i'm tired of funding a program that is not cost effective and only promotes lazy ass people to not try and better themselves.here in Pa all we do is pump more money into it so the poor in the cities can afford to ride it to get where they can get their welfare checks and free healthcare.
Priscilla @ Sep 25th 2007 1:06PM
What Lorin says is correct. Energy from power plants are much more efficient. Folks, before you make statements that stem from logic such as the Ric's idea of energy conversion - get the facts first. In addition, I believe that what James says about public transportation is misguided. Mass transportation serves many purposes such as relieving congestion, and reducing pollution in high density area. The benefits may outweight what tangible costs assessed. And frankly, what he says is hateful.
ms.paula @ Nov 1st 2007 10:26AM
my dad owned a garage & body shop for about 60 years,he re-built alllllllllllot of cars & trucks. he also built race cars at a point in time.he built an electric car back in the 60's.
the state would not let him licence it & he could not get insurance. so we kept it on the farm. we used it all day,every day for 11 days on one charge. he passed away in 2001 and the secret info. on the car went with him.i tried to get him to patent the car,but it cost way to much back then.
i also watched my granddad run his model T & model A garage off of an engine,he built,it was setting on a workbench outside his shop.he built the generator also.
so don't believe the auto makers or the gov. when they say that it's too costly or that it is in the future.my family was using their heads over 50 years ago !! shame on our gov. & auto makers,they are letting the foreign countries take us over & working the american people to death.so the next time you think about a new car,keep the one you have and instead call your congressmen & senators.tell them to quit romancing the auto makers and oil companies pockets and put their focuse on "americans" pockets -- i think they also need to quit voting themselves a raise in pay -- they are not earning their pay now !!!!!!!!!!!
jim @ Nov 15th 2007 2:00AM
I usually purchase a new vehicle every three years. I am due for a new one now but refuse to do so until I can purchase a full size suv that runs on electricity. I like the looks of what GM is doing with the Tahoe/Yukon hybrid but it does not go far enough (needs more battery for plug in). The technology is there all they have to do is build it and we will buy.