It seems like the conspiracy continues with the "Volt". It’s going to high priced and purposely have "less speed range" than even it’s older predecessor the EV-1. Are there any real efforts out there to bring an electric car to life?

The EV-1 was quite expensive. It just didn’t seem that way because the people driving them were leasing rather than buying them. The Chevy Volt will cost less than the EV-1, but it won’t be fully electric either.

However, there are already EVs better than the EV-1 available. For example, the Green Vehicles Triac for $20k can go 100 miles per charge and up to 80 mph. See the link below for many more examples.

Well, i have a Philips "Mini Hi Fi" Stereo system. It’s one of those glorified boom-boxes with the 3-CD changer and included 2 speakers. I’ve had it for about 8 years. For the past year or so i’ve had car stereo speakers as well as the original speakers hooked up to it (I twisted the speaker cables together, because it doesn’t have any extra speaker ports. Also, i have an AV cable that hooks up the Red and White auxiliary jacks of my stereo to a headphone jack on my computer, so i have my stereo be the speakers of my laptop. Usually, when i unplug the headphone jack from the computer, it makes some loud noises as it’s coming out, and then it gives a hum… probably because now that it’s out of the computer, it’s not grounded. After i take the cord off, i just turn the stereo off and it’s fine till next time. Today, when i unplugged the cord, it gave a different hum. When i turned off the stereo, the sound still stayed on. Then i smelt a strong electric-burning smell, so i unplugged it and the sound stopped.

Now, not even one speaker hooked up to the stereo works. I’m almost certain it’s not the fault of the speakers… is the stereo fried? I’m surprised how long it lasted anyway.

If i do have to fork over for a new one, i am going to get a real stereo receiver, and possibly some new speakers. Does anyone have any suggestions on specific models? I don’t want to spend too much money.

Thanks

The burning smell and the different sound suggest you fried something important. While the kind of jury rigging you describe is risky it might or might not have been due to what you did. maybe it’s time was "up". Anyway .. 8 years for cheap "boom box" isn’t bad going. It certainly won’t be worth fixing.

It’s difficult to recommend any specific models without some idea of budget.

I’d suggest going with a brand name HTIB (Google: best+HTIB), or if you are willing to spend a bit more, look for brand name separate speakers (e.g. yamaha, Klipsch, Polk), A/V receiver (e.g. Pioneer, Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo) and source device (e.g. DVD, Blu-ray player). You can get a reasonable HTIB for $500+, or separates for about $700+.

How long before someone brings out a basic car wthout sat - nav, air - con, electric widows, delayed action interior lights, wipers that come on when it`s raining etc etc and would anyone buy it. I think not somehow.
I like the car ads that say this car is available from £6995 and in small print under the ad it says "model shown £18,995"
The car makers must make a fortune out of the extras and add-ons

This could be one positive aspect to having to protect the planet.

Take air con as an example. It adds weight, decreases efficiency, increases service costs, adds packaging complications, increases development effort (and therefore indirectly CO2), increases build energy and increases recycling effort. These are all things that the EU is putting pressure on manufacturers to address.

Have a look at the VW Up! (that’s their exclamation mark). The 3L Lupo (3 litres per 100km) and Bluemotion Polo are other, older examples from VW.

The time is coming when you will be able to buy a car that does car things and only car things.

I suspect they will be good fun to drive as well.

All things considered though, we’ve probably got a long wait for another car with a rear mounted, air cooled V8 with a petrol heater under the drivers seat, packaged to look like a UFO.

Why has there been no UK media coverage of the Tesla, www.tesla.com, being built by Lotus, Norfolk; and why is it not for sale in UK where petrol is much more expensive than California
first UK report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/inbusiness/inbusiness.shtml

Why did "top gear" race a jet dragster when there is a professional British team with an electric car that should do 350-400 mph http://www.speedace.info/bluebird_electric_3.htm

I answered this one once already unless i forgot to press submit.
Its a tax thing . the government takes more money from petrol than electricity so would prefer to keep it quiet its like the cigarettes issue

I saw on the internet that there’s a company that makes a kit that turns hybrid cars into plug in hybrids. I think I read those modified hybrids can then go up to 30 or 40 miles on electric power alone. Given, those kits cost about $4000. Here’s my idea…. If a company can build a kit like that to upgrade an existing car, why can’t one of the big automakers build an electric car that goes 30-50 miles on a charge? They just have to market it as a "30-50 mile a day" car because there’s always those people that whine "but you can only go 50 miles….". What percentage of the population actually drives more than 50 miles a day - maybe 10%? That means the "50 mile a day car" is useable by 90% of the driving population (other than people who use pickups, but they could make those too). Plus, electric cars are much simpler which means they’re more reliable and less expensive to manufacture. I guess my question is why doesn’t any of the big car companies build one already? Who agrees with me?
Yeah, the batteries take up alot of space - so? Build the car in such a way it can accommodate those the battery. And I’m not taking about HYBRIDS - I’m talking about a strictly ELECTRIC CAR.
I don’t think "hondab" can read - I said 30-50 miles a day. And those kits I mentioned, it said it would raise your electric bill 65 cents a day…
And that $100,000 figure the big car companies threw out there - I’m sure that was for a car with a 200 or 300 range. Make one that only goes 50 miles a day….. I know it can be done for less than $20,000.

Have you seen the film "Who Killed the Electric Car"? It will explain it better than I can. The car makers had electric cars on the road but in pursuit of greed they destroyed them. Believe me the car makers weren’t playing fair. I’m including a link to a video on Comedy Central, listen to what happened to this guys electric car.

GM is trying to get a car on the road called the Volt. It’s a 40 Mile Per Charge (MPC) electric car with a gasoline powered range extender. Compared to their previous product, the EV1, it is pretty crappy with less than half the performance. The 1999 EV1 could go an EPA certified 140 MPC and now GM wants to make a 40 MPC electric car (improvment?).

Plug In America has the graph with the stats you’re reviewing in your question. GM thinks it will sell lots of Volts based on the statistic 85% of the people drive less than 40 miles a day.

It’s not uncommon for a well made elctric car to get 100 MPC. In 2010 Mitsubishi plans to bring its little iMiEV electric car to the US. It can go 70-80 MPH and 100 MPC and never use a drop of gas. Nissan is building the Denki Cube a larger car like the Scion xB (2006 and erlier) with better specs. also in 2010.

It only cost more to make an electric car because they don’t come off an assembly line. The way the EV1 was built: you place the chassis on a stand, 2 guys pull up a cart full of parts. After mounting the parts they go get another cart full. There was no assembly line, no robots, no single task work station etc. When you build cars this way they are going to be expensive. This is how they build Bentley, Rolls Royce and Ferrari cars.

I’ve been following hybrids and ethanol cars for a while, but just recently I stumbled upon the Tesla Roadster sports car. It’s100% electric and can go 245 miles without a recharge. It gets .12 on the gallon. And you can generate electricity through a large amount of sources, such as solar or wind power. My question is, is the future of alternate fuels actually not a fuel but electricity?

Yes. I think hydrogen fuel cells are not a long-term solution to global warming. You need to produce the hydrogen from natural gas, which emits CO2. In the end, you’re trading the CO2 emitted from the cars, to the CO2 emitted from a hydrogen production plant.

For electric cars, you’re now using electricity that is typically being produced by coal-fired power plants. This will change, however, by the conversion from coal power plants to nuclear, solar and wind. When this happens, electric cars will not be causing emissions of CO2 at all.

My rec club has an electric gate that stays closed after sunset. it will let people out but not in. I assume it have censors to tell if a car is approaching. Sometimes i show up very late and dont want to park outside of the gate. Im used to hopping the fence (which is fine with the business) to get in yet my car still stays outside. Is there any way i can hop the fence and trip the censors to open the gate so i can bring my car it. Remember it will open to let a "car" out but not in. how do i make it open from the inside without having a car trip the sensor? Also i dont want to bother with a key because i probably wont be given one. what do the censors look for? magnets? weight? mass?

Most likely is a loop under the surface that detects the large metal body of a vehicle.

These can be "fooled" but you need enough metal. I have found that rolling around a scaffold tube works but hardly the thing you would keep in your purse.

Why doesn’t anyone promote the electric car ?

Is it because the oil companies have made a backroom deal with manufactures to trash the idea ?

Will the Japanese turn to it ?

Any thoughts here ?

There are several companies working on electric cars. Look up Tesla, Zap motors, and Phoenix. They are all going to be selling all-electric cars in the near future.

The only real sticking point right now is the batteries. The technology to build reliable batteries that have a decent range is not quite there, but it is very close. I doubt it will be more than 5 years before you can but an all-electric car that goes over 300 miles per charge (the Tesla has a range of 220 miles, and is coming out very soon, like in the next month or so).

They built it in 1888. In 1896 the Woods Motor Vehicle Company became the first American manufacturer of the electric car. It was a good product; by 1904 one third of all the cars in Chicago, New York City and Boston were electric powered. And then by 1912 there were 20,000 electric cars and 10,000 electric trucks and buses in the United States. What happened here? Where did they go? And why am i paying 3.45 a gallon for a gas powered vehicle?

The people who had leased the ones from Ford loved them. They fought to buy them after their leases were up, but were not allowed. Big Oil wanted those cars out of here so they could inundate us with huge SUV’s and get everyone hooked on massive gas consumption. They went out of the US.

Too bad.

ok well im 13, so iknow what most kids want….last year, i got an electric scooter, and found out that soetimes whenu go over bumps, it feellik ur riding a horse, so i thought, y cant taht place, irobot or w/e ( the place that makes roboraptor and robodog or something) make a mechanical horse that u can ride so ehres my ideas…
-it would b abit smaller that a regular horse
-water proof, so incase it rain swhile riding it wont mess up
-can walk on grass, paved areas, and thru a bit of water ( such as a small creek), and also thru some bumpy areas, like thru leaves in the woods
-the hooves would b a very strong metal, maybe the type of metal the use to make cars, and theyd b rather big, bigger than a noraml horse, but thats so it wont tip
-the ears on the horse are there because they have a voice recording system, kinda like voice dials on a phone, and theyd understand only ur voice, and when u turn it on, u say the horses name and …(continued in details)
…they react to it by neighing, or perckingup their ears
-theyd come with no manes or tail, because the hair would get stuck, or in ur way, and when riding u may not be able to see, plus itd get seriously nasty
-they controls for making it go faster and slower are on the reigns, which is leathe that is attahed to the horses head, and when pulle right the neck will turn, making th body turn with it, and on the reign there will b slow walk, walk, trot, gallop, idk about canter that may b a bit fast
please tell me what u think!! i want to get it copyrighted or seomthing so maybe i could sell it to a company and theyd make it because its my dream to have one!!! theyd have to stay out sid and it comes with a cover up that u put over it and zip so it wont b wet….my dad said i have to make one so i can get it copyrighted, not jsut the idea, but idk…please help
dont call it stupid i dont see u even thinking of anyhting like this, its not stupid, ur blind

That… is the most stupid thing I have ever read on this site. Our robots can BARELY walk, let alone support a human over rough terrain… scrap your idea before you make a fool out of yourself