Carbon To Liquids

So you’re thinking of getting an electric car? Well, one of the first things you need to do before getting one is to learn a few basic things about these vehicles — especially with regards to how they run and where they get their power. And like all things electric, an electric car relies on an independent power source — the battery.

A normal car (powered by an internal combustion engine) only needs the battery to start the engine as well as run the air conditioning system and the car stereo. That isn’t the case with electric cars. In fact, the battery used in electric cars runs about everything. When electric cars were first introduced, the primary concern was (and still is) the quality and reliability of the electric car battery, i.e. how long can the battery last before it needs to be recharged. Fortunately, the last few decades has produced significant improvements on how electric car batteries are made. Now we already have nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lead-acid and lithium-ion (Li-ion) types that are rechargeable and readily available in the market.

Compared to normal car batteries, how do electric car batteries fare? Here’s a look at the benefits:

Cost-effectiveness. For five bucks worth of electricity, your electric car can run for more than 300 kilometers. Now if you do the math and compare that with your current gas costs and equivalent mileage, you’ll see that going electric can be quite economic in the long run.

Cleaner & Greener. Although you still need to burn fossil fuels in order to generate the electricity needed to recharge electric car batteries, the pollution produced is very minimal compared to the pollution caused by internal combustion engines. Plus, with better power generation sources like nuclear plants, the level of carbon emissions in the process of recharging becomes even lesser.

Re-usability. Electric car batteries can be reused and recycled. So you don’t need to worry about how you can dispose of your battery pack.

However, like any new technology, electric car batteries are not perfect. Here are the drawbacks:

They’re heavy. Because electric car batteries are designed to provide more power, they need to be connected to battery packs to ensure heavy duty performance. And these battery packs are not light. A battery pack can weigh as much as half a metric ton. But don’t worry, there’s hope — manufacturers are designing electric cars with lighter body frames to offset the battery’s weight.

Recharging time. Unfortunately, there’s no technology available yet for quicker and easier recharging. You still need several hours of downtime before your electric car can run again.

Maintenance. Electric car batteries are still uncommon, which means the number of service stations which can do repairs is still fairly limited, too. And since they’re quite fewer, maintenance costs might be a bit higher, too.

No doubt, electric car batteries are still a work in progress. It has its own set of limitations but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. But in a few years, the new generation of batteries will be lighter, more economical and most importantly, more powerful. That’s certainly a comforting thought.

Guile Canencia

Most people nowadays are considering doing an electric car motor conversion. This is because of the rising fuel prices that inflated their car gasoline expense bill. With most household having more than one car, gasoline expenses have become a major issue. Unfortunately, sending a car to a professional garage to be retrofitted into an Electric Vehicle (EV) will cost more than $4000. The investment is too high for most car owners. An alternative is to do an electric car motor conversion via a Do It Yourself (DIY) project from home.

To initiate a DIY electric car conversion project from home is not a difficult process. As long as you have the necessary tools and workspace, you can do the retrofitting yourself. What you will need is a good EV conversion guide to assist you.

The idea of electric vehicle conversion is to replace the internal combustion engine with an electric motor. Without the engine, all its associated components such as gas tank, fuel line and radiator is also removed. This will create a lot of free space where a batteries rack can be installed. A series of lead acid batteries will supply the power to the electric motor. To control the speed of the EV, a variable resistant is attached between the batteries and the electric motor. It will act as the accelerator paddle of the car.

To retrofit a car to run on electric is definitely cost effective. If is even cheaper if you can spend some time sourcing for second hand electric motor and batteries. With gasoline prices expected to go higher, any solution that can cut fuel cost would be a blessing.

Will Yap

There is an all electric car that is being offered for sale to consumers in the US that is smaller than a Mini, what is the name of the car? How much does it cost? How fast does it go? What company makes it?

At this time, none of the major auto manufacturers are selling full electric highway-capable cars to the public.

There there is a company called ZAP (Zero Air Pollution) who sells a three-wheeled full-electric car called a Xebra that has a top speed of about 40 mph and a range of about 40 miles. List price is about $10,500. They are also working with Lotus on a vehicle called a ZAP-X which they say will have a top speed of 155 mph and a range of 350 miles. No word on the price point yet.

The Meyers Motors NmG (No more Gas) (formerly the Corbin Sparrow) is another three-wheeled electric car. It has a top speed of over 70 mph and a range of about 30 miles. It is available for $24,900.

There is another company called Commuter cars who sell a full-electric two-seater called a Tango, the first of which was sold to actor George Clooney. It has a top speed of 150 mph and a range of 60-80 miles. They are not in full production yet. The model available now, the T600, costs $108,000. They plan to make the T200 available in 2008 for $40,000 and the T100 in 2009 for $19,000.

A company called AC Propulsion offers a conversion of a Scion xB to full electric. They call their offering the eBox. It has a top speed of 95 mph, and a range of 140-180 miles per charge, the conversion costs $55,000. Tom Hanks bought one of these recently.

Finally, Tesla Motors will offer the Tesla Roadster in 2008 for $92,000. (All of the 2007 models have been spoken for.) It has a top speed of 130 mph, range of 200 miles, and 0 to 60 in about 4 seconds.