Henry Payne for September 08, 2013

Electric cars do not even make sense to me. Like you said, where does the power come from to charge the thing. The only way an electric car is going to make any sense is if it is charged off a solar panel array. Charging it from the grid only transfers the pollution from the car to the power plant.

Hmmm, “Baker electric” cars were around when only wet lead acid batteries were available, and, actually, were quite popular, but commuting distances were less back then, because THERE WERE HARDLY ANY ROADS!

Hmm, two: a device, electric car, that draws less than the 220 volt wall heaters in my garage is “dangerous” and will overload the grid??? BTW, the “Volt” is still a hybrid, not total electric. But a Tesla is about to go cross country, driven by the CEO, to show it can be practical.

Yes, we generate electricity with coal, that just happens to be the dirtiest source, largely because more serious regulations on contaminants still haven’t been implemented.

Will our insatiable demand for power continue to be a problem if we don’t look for solutions like conservation and higher efficiencies, like well, mass transit, that includes the high speed rail we COULD have had back in the 1960’s, like Japan, had the government made the railroad companies keep up their maintenance and upgrades demanded in their original land grants? Answer is yes on all counts.

An “electrical engineer” who thinks a transformer isn’t sufficient to handle a toaster oven, isn’t getting hired by me! Not all ’electrics" are equal, and plug-in hybrids only use 110, or can be “dual” and use 220 for faster charge.

The pro-fossil fuel industry has run a strong con on Americans for right at a century now, and they have plenty of gullible “experts” out there!!

Your forklift has one more thing the electric cars does not have. Quick change batteries. 5 minutes (and a over head crane) and the forklift has a fully charged battery. The electric cars on the other hand have to be taken apart to change out the batteries.

Do any of you making comments here actually own an electric car? Well I do and have been happy with it. I have a Nissan Leaf that cost me $240 a month and about $30 a month increase in my power bill. So for $270 I have a commuting vehicle that will go 100 miles on a single charge and plugs into any 110V outlet to charge. I have about a 35 mile roundtrip commute so range is not an obstacle. Do I own more that one car? Yes. I have 4 drivers in my house hold so we have multiple cars. I sold my truck that was costing me about $300 a month in fuel cost alone. Did I buy it the Leaf to go green and save the planet? Nope. I do realize that those who push this and other cars based solely on green energy are missing the bigger picture. No matter what type of energy you use fossil fuels are used to either produce it directly or indirectly. Solar panels are made with plastics(fossil fuel). Uranium is mined with fossil fuel operated equipment. Wind mills are made from raw materials that needed fossil fuels. 95% of electricity is produced with fossil fuels. So are electric cars saving the environment? Not a chance. Big picture remember. What the electric car is doing for me is saving me money on my daily commute. Is it for everyone? No. If you commute more that 75-80 miles round trip then it is not for you. But if you commute less than 50 miles daily and own more than one car then it is something worth looking at. Besides if you live in cities like Nashville that has charging stations all around town that are free, then it is almost a no-brainer. Plus the feds are going to give you $7500 tax credit for going green (you gotta love liberals.lol) So yes I own one for the pure capitalistic venture of it saves me money.

Some good points from all around here. Charging your EV uses about as much power as running the AC. The grid will need serious upgrades in some areas, but others are already capable of handling the load, especially since most EVs are charged at night. We need to figure out how all the people who park on the streets would recharge, though.In some places like L.A. & Phoenix, displacing pollution from cars to a distant coal plant is a compelling need. EVs are responsible for less pollution than conventional cars, even when the electricity is coal generated. Hybrids are still better, though.In most places, getting whatever vehicle that suits your needs with the highest MPG, makes more sense. For most people, EVs are too little car, for too much money. In 10 years, that’s likely to change.Narrowminded & Payne show their ignorance. Your hair drier is probably more dangerous than an EV.http://content.sierraclub.org/evguide/myths-vs-reality

An electric car does not cost $70000 unless you buy a Tesla.

IMA 58: How many mountaintop removal sites have you seen? How many coal miners have you known who worked underground? Yes, we need coal, but it sucks, just like tar sands, which ARE dirtier, and even LESS efficient per BTU or KwH.

I’ve wired a lot of houses, and my son’s a qualified electrician, and nuke, HVAC, and other elements we’ve talked about, and worked on. I’ve also worked with a lot of electric “personal vehicles” called wheelchairs, as well as checked out some REALLY COOL electric RACING motorcycles, and talked with the engineers who designed, built, and ride them!

AC btw is a lot more serious drain on the grid than the phased introduction of EVs would produce. You ARE familiar with the west coast intertie, and other delivery grids around the country like the ones I’ve worked on giving rights of way to, right? Palo Verde/Devers provides a lot more electricity to L.A. than Phoenix (but they got the reactor). BPA provides lots of power- TO LOS ANGELES! Davis Dam and the other Colorado River dams deliver MORE power to L.A.. Water from the Colorado – Los Angeles. Owens Valley? Water to Los Angeles (back in the ’20’s the commissioners WERE ahead of the game!)

Which, a HUGE part of our “energy problem” is distribution over impractical huge distances, not just generating the power, like in the middle of Nevada and New Mexico, poisoning the air, to supply big cities that don’t WANT the pollution their “lifestyle” , creates.

Now, what do YOU know about distribution of resources? Apparently, zip.

You all enjoy beating a dead horse don’t you?