Going Electric?

[FredVenne]

Anyone thought of going electric? Would it actually be possible?

Fred

[vixentd]

Anything possible but this might be a good starting point.
http://www.veva.bc.ca/home/ef2012.php

[nvanadm]

I just watched "who killed the electric car" and "revenge of the electric car" and would love to go electric...but not with the Delica. I think our Toyota Echo would be a better prospect than the delica for a conversion. I don't think you'd get much range with the delica....too big, too heavy, not sure how well the 4WD would work.

My future plan would be to do a WVO conversion on the delica and have an electric car, whether a conversion or a new one, as a second vehicle.

I still don't think people have the electic car right! I don't understand why they all have a range! How hard would it be to use the spinning wheels and the energy from braking to recharge the batteries WHILE you drive?!? I don't see 4 wheels when I look at an electric car...I see 4 potential alternators/sources of energy. And don't forget about solar. Why is the hood, roof, and trunk not made up of solar cells?? They make flexible solar sheets these days. Why not add some of those too? It would help charging while you're driving and while you're parked. I don't get it.

Here's a place in BC that sells kits. http://www.canev.com/
It may be just as easy to bring your car/delica somewhere that does conversions and have them do it for those prices.

[Mr. Flibble]

I just watched "who killed the electric car" and "revenge of the electric car" and would love to go electric...but not with the Delica. I think our Toyota Echo would be a better prospect than the delica for a conversion. I don't think you'd get much range with the delica....too big, too heavy, not sure how well the 4WD would work.

Who killed the Electric Car has a bunch of technical inaccuracies, but really, the reason it was killed is U.S. law and liability for crash tests. It would have cost GM too much money in liability to keep the cars on the road, as it was a risk to their buisness model to keep 20 cars around, they killed it.
The Toyota Camry is a great choice to convert to Electric, has a range of about 60 KM or so.

I still don't think people have the electic car right! I don't understand why they all have a range! How hard would it be to use the spinning wheels and the energy from braking to recharge the batteries WHILE you drive?!? I don't see 4 wheels when I look at an electric car...I see 4 potential alternators/sources of energy. And don't forget about solar. Why is the hood, roof, and trunk not made up of solar cells?? They make flexible solar sheets these days. Why not add some of those too? It would help charging while you're driving and while you're parked. I don't get it.

I really hope this part is a joke...

[FalcoColumbarius]

Top Gear had a good episode regarding the Prius:



Falco.

[nvanadm]

Top Gear had a good episode regarding the Prius

That is a good bit about the Prius. Hard to find a TopGear episode that's not worth watching.
But I don't consider the Prius an electric car. It's a hybrid.

There's a good episode on a full electric car..The Nissan Leaf. I couldn't find the clip on youtube, but you can download the full episode if you want to watch. It's Series 17 Episode 6. Here's a link to download ALL TopGear, TopGear America, TopGear Australia and Fifth Gear shows. Episodes are availabe in SD, 720p or 1080i
http://www.finalgear.com/shows/topgear/17/6/

13 hours to charge from empty! Again, why can't it charge while driving?!?

[Feds]

For the same reason you can't use an electric motor to turn a generator, then have that generator power the motor. Thermodynamics is not just a good idea, it's the law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_ ... modynamics

If you could power the front wheels and recover all of the energy by connecting generators to the rear wheels, we'd never have to burn another drop of fossil fuel, put up another dam, or build another nuke plant. Everyone could just spin up their home motor-generator-motor and power their lives indefinitely.

[nvanadm]

If you could power the front wheels and recover all of the energy by connecting generators to the rear wheels, we'd never have to burn another drop of fossil fuel, put up another dam, or build another nuke plant. Everyone could just spin up their home motor-generator-motor and power their lives indefinitely.

Why can't we? Or could we? I really don't know or understand this stuff I'm in the Medical field, not whatever field this would be considered.
I would have thought making a self reliable electric car would be much easier. Shows how much I know about it...nothing
Hopefully there are people out there (like you) who understand this stuff and allow us to achieve this next level. That would be the type of electric car that I would go for. BUT, it would still be a secondary car behind the Delica!

[FredVenne]

Hydro Quebec years ago built motors attached to each wheels and while braking it charged the batteries. But it was killed... The idea was great, 4 small motors, so space was used mostly for batteries. And I agree that the roof and hood should be covered with solar panels. But I know a Delica would not be the best model to do this, but there are some pretty ingenious people out there that I thought asking.

Fred

[Mr. Flibble]

Many cars, including the Prius use regenerative braking where some of the energy is reclaimed to slow the car.

The science of thermodynamics is Complex, fascinating and hard to understand at first.

The basic "rules of the game" to use an analogy are these:

Zeroth: You must play the game.
First: You can't win.
Second: You can't break even.
Third: You can't quit the game.

Meaning, you can't gain more energy without losing something in the process - usually heat or disorder (entropy).

This probably dies not make much sense, best idea is to try riding a bicycle with a generator on it for a light source, you will find out just how hard they are to turn!

[Shaun Van Ramen]

Is pure electric the way to go? I just ask. Cause (as previously discussed here or elsewhere) where does that electricity come from (how is it generated?)?

I frequent a site called http://thekneeslider.com - it is motorcycle based but all sorts of technology is discussed. Recently the topic of electric vs. internal comb. was on the menu. The authors thoughts; Why not take the middle ground. Use a small gennie or fuel cell to make electricity for your battery/vehicle to run on.

There a re a few articles a on the subject;
http://thekneeslider.com/page/4/ - "Gasoline or Electric – Why Not Both?"
http://thekneeslider.com/page/3/ - "About That On Board Electric Generator Idea"

Ideas are only limited by the mind!

[nvanadm]

Why not take the middle ground. Use a small gennie or fuel cell to make electricity for your battery/vehicle to run on.

I think that's exactly what the Chevrolet Volt is if i'm not mistaken.

Not too many miles tracked on the Chevy Volt yet, but the numbers look good so far. Personally, not my style though.
http://www.fuelly.com/car/chevrolet/volt

Here's the Toyota Prius for comparison
http://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/prius

And the new Prius Plug-in
http://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/prius%20plug-in

[Feds]

For Volt data, try voltstats.net. Current fleet average, over 7.5 million miles, is 125 mpg. Not too shabby.

Downside of a pure parallel hybrid (batteries + onboard generator) is that you have to carry several hundred pounds of generator and fuel that is not likely to get used on any given trip. Upside is same-as-gas range (i.e., unlimited with 5 minute stops). Also, when converting from chemical energy (gas) to mechanical energy (engine) to electrical energy (generator/battery) then back to mechanical energy (wheels), you lose a lot of efficiency. The best compromise from an energy point of view is to have a pure EV with a trailer that either holds a generator or pushes the car via it's motor (exactly like this: http://www.mrsharkey.com/pusher.htm ) that way you have an optimized EV for your day-to-day, and a less-compromised hybrid for when you have to travel long distance.

The issue with solar panels on cars is one of scale. A car made out of solar panels won't collect enough energy to move down the road while being a real car (i.e., passenger space, crash safety, speed). This is what a solar-powered car looks like today: http://www.uwmidsun.com/the-car . There is just not enough energy in sunshine to move a car on a 1-1 basis. you either need a lot more cell area, or to have the cells charge a battery for a much longer time than your trip.

[jwfchase]

If you could power the front wheels and recover all of the energy by connecting generators to the rear wheels, we'd never have to burn another drop of fossil fuel, put up another dam, or build another nuke plant. Everyone could just spin up their home motor-generator-motor and power their lives indefinitely.

Why can't we? Or could we? I really don't know or understand this stuff I'm in the Medical field, not whatever field this would be considered.
I would have thought making a self reliable electric car would be much easier. Shows how much I know about it...nothing
Hopefully there are people out there (like you) who understand this stuff and allow us to achieve this next level. That would be the type of electric car that I would go for. BUT, it would still be a secondary car behind the Delica!

Ever since humans have been building machines, they've been trying to accomplish this... Physics laws keep messing it up though.

[Mr. Flibble]

Ever since humans have been building machines, they've been trying to accomplish this... Physics laws keep messing it up though.

The laws of physics are strictly enforced.