I read that if every car in te US converted to electric, they would need to build 350 nuclear power stations to cope with the increased demand for electricity.
Actually the tesla uses many batteries similar to laptop batteries, something like 6000 I think. That reduces the chance of failure or the need to replace the entire battery. I don't think oil is going anywhere...until it's gone. It will take a very long time for the world to adapt to other products or a huge technological innovation
Nice post edil. Thanks for the links. I agree that a balanced approach versus all-or-none is the better way to go.
I was kind of hoping we would be getting some kind of magnetic driven cars that would fly like UFO's. I guess that will take some time...
Electric cars were tried 100 years ago (along with steam powered cars). Didn't work then. Odds are long now. How about the technology of converting coal/nat gas to gasoline. Apparently some folks have been doing that for several decades (but not in U.S.) Anybody know what the price point is where coal to gasoline works?
Interesting article about alternatives for making Hydrogen. $9 per-gallon equivalent to make hydrogen from solar. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4199381.html
Excellent Commentary All... ........................................................................................... There are over 600 million passenger cars worldwide...with the highest concentration being in the US...approximately 1 auto for every two people... The worlds production capability is over 60 million vehicles per annum... Toyota plans to produce over 1 million hybrids per annum by 2010...Mitsubishi will be selling some electric cars in Japan 2010...Nissan will produce their own hybrids...Ford says it will produce up to 50% of its production in hybrids by/after 2010... Thus it appears that overall numbers by 2015 would reflect less than 3% hybrids on the road.... .................................................................................................... The most cost efficient fuel saver in terms of manufacturing would be a small diesel....and would also reduce gasoline demand... Hybrids will always be more expensive than single engine manufacturing... The more likely scenario is that manufacturing capabilities can not significantly contribute until after 2020...and this is only if they run flat out... ............................................................................... The worlds population cares about one thing....PRICE.... And in terms of the manufacturing...and population demand....the future will see a lot more diesels...with an increasing number of hybrids... Whereas theoretically without considering price...the most enticing objective would be plug in hybrids....whereby the electricity on the grid is mostly provided by renewables... Not going to happen anytime soon.....very unfortunately.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automobile_manufacturers
Anybody know how much of a problem batteries are and How expensive? Saw an electric/ hybrid car manufacturer talk about the ability to outfit the nation with batteries for all those cool devices. He said it can't be done in this century even if everyone can, could, or wants to go electric/hybrid for the extra $10,000, he may be able to get you in something in the Fall 2102. Good luck to them for making new products, but don't kid yourself. Gas is cheap even at 3.00. $10,000 to feel good about yourself is expensive. We'll probably end up with a combo of power sources for a while until something becomes the easiest and cheapest and then dump the alternative stocks. Be a friend to your bank account and the environment. Buy something reliable and efficient. Don't pollute with spending an extra $10,000 and having to dump hundreds of pounds of batteries every six years.
This guy made a car that would go 100m on 4oz of water! He made a torch as well but I like the car more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkbazzqVW9M&search=water torch