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My point with the convertable, wasn't anything except for the size. Where are you gonna put a battery big enough?
I just want to point out that Tesla Motors already has a working demo car. It was shown off in Santa Monica about 2 months ago and people were able to take it out on a track and test it. If you check the Tesla website click engineering and then click under the skin they show you just where everything is inside the car. The batteries are right behind the two seats. In the Tesla car the motor is part of the rear axle. So you don't have the bulk of a normal engine, fuel tank, drive train, or gear box.
The mini I linked earlier uses an interesting design that has the wheels mounted directly to the motors. Doing this means you don't have a regular motor, drive train, axle, or gear box to worry about. By taking all of this out of the car you can fill the front end with batteries where the motor would be in most cars. The Mini just needs a small gas motor to charge so it has an corner of the truck taken up by that.
That Lexus you are talking about could easily fit enough batteries by removing the standard motor to have a 200+ mile range. Fiting a small gas generator in the back and you would not have to worry about charging it unless you want to. Using 4 motor in wheels the car would produce over 600 horsepower. The Lexus RX400h right now only can produce 208 HP. This would take its 0-60 times from 7.2s into the 4's. Top speed would be around 150 though. The car right now gets 31/27 MPG and I am betting it could get 50+ MPG just by switching to all electric with a gas generator. Plus if you had a chance to charge it the first 200+ miles would be all electric.
I expect in 10 to 20 years we will see a standard for the power plug to charge a car. Then we will see companies install chargers at hotels, malls, and restaurants (if they are on the highway). Until battery technology improves I think the best next gen car will be all electric with a gas generator. I suspect the next big think in cars will also come from a company no one has heard of before, did not produce cars before, or a brand new company. Just want to point out that GM, Toyota and DaimlerChrysler have both said they are working on designs for and are going to build in the next few years plug in hybrids.
I expect in 10 to 20 years we will see a standard for the power plug to charge a car. Then we will see companies install chargers at hotels, malls, and restaurants (if they are on the highway). Until battery technology improves I think the best next gen car will be all electric with a gas generator. I suspect the next big think in cars will also come from a company no one has heard of before, did not produce cars before, or a brand new company.
See that was just my point on real life situations and not just live from empty to full charging each time, I mean those who us who drive at times charge our phones or PDA, just because we know we can "fill it up" even though its not nearly empty at all. So in real life situations how many people take a 200mile trip with NO STOP what so ever, and when the surroundings get accustomed to these new needs every place someone typically stop at will have such a "filler post" that you swipe you card in and pay $1 or something for 15mins. Just as we see starbucks and hotspots pop up now here and there...
ecsk, please tell me where you got that.... As far I as I know, our number and stuff is unlisted.....
And Kenban, please tell me how a motor, thats generating power at the same time, can get so much less than just the batteries + motor?
And one more thing. Are you sure by removing the standard motor would give enough room to add enough batteries? I don't know, but I doubt it.
Besides, batteries grow hot, and that wouldn't be good in a car crash to put it up there :)
And Kenman, do your research, yes?
Horsepower - 268 (total system)
0 - 60 mph (sec) - 6.9
(Yes, I know, you are talking about the FWD model. Well, perhaps you should read page 2 of this thread.)
But I do see now how putting an engine on the rear axle would help....
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Kevin, like I said I am not a genius nor do I have all the answers. I'm sure if you ask you're dad he can tell you his age or whatever it was you're asking about?
And Kenban, please tell me how a motor, thats generating power at the same time, can get so much less than just the batteries + motor?
Not sure what your asking here. A motor thats generating power can get so much less what then just batteries + motor?
My best guess is your asking how a hybrid gets can get so much worse MPG then a pure electric car with a generator. This is a complex issue but it comes down to the huge number of things that are more efficent in a pure electric car. It starts from brakes and goes therough the entire car. When you apply the breaks in hybrids they use the electric motor to generate power to charge the batteries but they still need standard friction brakes to stop the car. In a pure electric car there is no need for friction brakes to stop the car the electric motors are just used as generators and regain a large amount of the power that was used to accelerate to speed. In stop and go driving, or city driving this savings can be HUGE.
Engine design also is part of the differance. The generator that would be placed in pure electric cars would be designed for one thing and only thing only generating electricity. The standard car engine does generate power but its design is to propel a car.
It depends on the car but there is a loss of between 15 and 25% of a gas engines power before it gets to the wheels. Electric cars with multiple motors have no need for a drivetrain including gears, differential, and many other parts that kill your gas milage but are needed when using a single motor.
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And one more thing. Are you sure by removing the standard motor would give enough room to add enough batteries? I don't know, but I doubt it.
As I have said before that Mini is a REAL CAR. It has enough space under the hood for batteries to power it for 250 Miles. A mini while small is not a light car and most cars would have a much larger space for the batteries. I am more worried about the weight and expense of the batteries then having enough space for them.
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Besides, batteries grow hot, and that wouldn't be good in a car crash to put it up there :)
Your right batteries do generate heat but you can cool them pretty easily. I suspect that you are going to just need to make sure that you leave room in the front end to crumple in case of a car crash. I suspect with some time you can design the battery storage to be as safe as a gas motor in a car crash.
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And Kenman, do your research, yes?
Horsepower - 268 (total system)
0 - 60 mph (sec) - 6.9
(Yes, I know, you are talking about the FWD model. Well, perhaps you should read page 2 of this thread.)
But I do see now how putting an engine on the rear axle would help....
I actually did do research because I really knew nothing about that car. The information I got was from an article about the car on the Automobile magizines website. I believe the horsepower is actually just the gas motor which I would have listed total if I had seen it on the site I got it from. The 0-60 time I guess is wrong (although its possible the magazine tested the car). I should have gotten the data from the Lexus site to start with but I was not trying to use bad data. Looking at the Lexus site I noticed the HP is the same for both models and the 0-60 time for the FWD is 7.5s so I am unsure if the 7.2s is a mistake or what they found during their testing or might even just be the average of the two models.
One thing I am surprised no one has talked about yet is the ability to put solar cells on the roof of a hybrid or electric car to get better range and mileage. I read an article about someone who put one on a Prius that was unable to charge the batteries and only supplied power while the car was turned on and he still got 10% increase in gas milage think about what a differance it would be if there were batteries to charge and could charge them if the car was off.
One thing that we have in the military on our vehicles are solare chargers that recharge our batteries. It isn't a one shot charge, but rather a slow build up. I have often wondered why these haven't made it to market in the hybrid market to assist the battery charging of the brakes. With a few of these strips running on the hood, you could park your car at the mall and have a little extra juice. It doesn't solve the problem, but it helps. This can also be used to make regular car batteries last longer. Just a thought.
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