> The other way to go is the way Sheer has with his Honda. Start with a > slightly larger 4-door Accord or something similar (and you'll likely want > to start with a newer donor), use a Seimens AC system with 336 volts worth > of batteries. Lead-acid are probably not up to the task, particularly in > colder climates, so you'll probably want some kind of advanced chemistry. > NiZn look promising but are still unproven. NiMH will likely last 100,000 > miles, but your whole budget will be blown on batteries.
[grins] you can not start with a newer glider and achive the same results inside the same budget. You have to pick which is more important to you, looking new and beautiful or driving around on electric power. Or else sink more money into it. I like NiZn but it is true that we still have very little reliability data on how these batteries are going to fare over the long run. My pack has done less than 2k miles so far. I need to drive more. ;-) > Unfortunately, doing a one-off at retail prices (even with Victor's great > prices for an AC system) will likely push a 100,000 mile, 100 mile range, > plug and play, maintenance-free Ev to around $40,000 or more. I don't agree. Mine was $20,000 and could have been closer to $17,000 if I hadn't made some of the mistakes I did. > If I won the lottery (or better yet had Bill Gates to back me), here's my > dream to get EVs in every garage: Work with a Korean manufacturer to get > gliders with heavier springs and shocks already installed. Use a model This would be a wonderful first move. Has anyone approached the automakers about this recently? > already approved and imported into the US. Install an AC system such as > Seimens, AC Pro, etc., buying in quantities to get the price down. Work > with Saft or Panasonic to get a large enough run of NiMH batteries to get > the prices down to a reasonable level. Even better would be to have the I hate to point out the obvious, but the Saft NiMH's aren't that much more proven than NiZN. They just come with a better warentee and are backed by a more stable company. > motor, inverter, battery boxes, batteries, charger, etc. installed in the > car as it rolled down the assembly line. Based on what the other Beautiful. > manufacturers have done, and on my gut feelings (more than any real > numbers), I believe that an initial run of 1000 or so cars could sell at > around $30,000 each and would be snapped up in a heartbeat. The trick is to > get a large enough run that the prices for batteries and motor/inverter > systems come down (which would already be happening if CARB hadn't backed > off their mandates). Obviously this requires a very large initial > investment. This is the kind of thing that Honda could do as a test pilot without even feeling it. Imagine if GM had done this with the EV-1 budget instead of designing a all-new body type? Granted, they didn't have NiMH and NiZn to play with, but they did have NiCad.. > Personally, I believe that a run of 10,000 or more well done cars would > still fly off the dealer's lots. The technology is here now, but the price Would depend on how good the battery management was and how realiable the cars were. At first, they'd fly as the early adopters bought them. Then, they'd trickle as the skeptics were converted. Then, if they were reliable, they'd fly some more as people realized they were a viable alternative. > is still high. Maybe folks on the EVDL should all invest in buying out one > of the ailing foreign automakers and start producing EVs in their factory. This is a unique idea. We need a small, ailing automaker which already sells a chassis that is crash-spec'd for the US.. > Of if we wait another 10 or 15 years, we might can pick up GM for a song. [laughs] Might be a bit sooner than that. Anyone noticed how all cars mysteriously now are available for 0% interest, and some even for no payments for a year? And how television advertising is wall-to-wall car ads? Methinks they might be having trouble selling new vehicles in this economy.. Maybe Joe Consumer has more brain cells than we gave him credit for, and is thinking 'Hmm, this whole middle east thing could blow up at any moment and raise the price of gas, perhaps I shouldn't get that new SUV'. > Just wait until oil prices go through the roof, they have all the wrong > vehicles (as they did a few years ago when the Japanese automakers took > over) and they're losing money hand over fist. It serves them right. They sent all the mfg jobs to other countries - forgot that they existed as much for their employees as their stockholders. The big three's death can't come too soon for me. > Well, guess I'd better come back down to reality. [laughs] Yah, I know. S.
