Quote:
Originally Posted by Ithekro
A trouble with electric in America is distances. While they are coming to the point were an electric car can go about 200 miles on a charge....you can't recharge it in a relatively short period of time like you can pump gas into a fuel tank.
To get from San Francisco to Los Angeles is around 400 miles. You have to stop for gas with just about any car made and several trucks. You can't make that run in an electric car (might be wh the Volts aren't selling) or a hydrogen car because there is no way to refill your source of power between long distance points. Hydrogren seems more reasonable because you can pump it into the car. Electric, really can't. Not in an shot period of time without just swapping batteries (which there was a company that wanted to do that in California.) Set up an electric car that had swappable standardized batteries that coul be exchanged at Rest Stops or some sort of government service stations in a quick procedure, then go. Your old batteries would be recharged for someone else's car.
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Absolutely true, but how often do you commute outside a single metropolitan area?
The vast majority of travel by car is the daily commute. I could see maintaining a seperate vehicle for longer commutes if you do it frequently.
The swapping battery thing would work fine however, though someone would have to foot the bill for battery degradation.
Of course the positive end of Electric vehicles is that you wouldn't need to visit the petrol station
at all.
Of course part of the problem in the USA is just plain bad urban planning. In a lot of places there is no clustered downtown. It's impossible to get
anywhere without a car. Instead of a car giving you freedom, you end out being chained to it.