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Everyone should watch the movie/documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?". http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/ :roll: It has A LOT of insight of the auto industry and how we had a fully functional electric car in existence in the early to mid 90's.... and due to mostly the oil industry, government, the tie between the two, and the fact that major car companies can be influenced by what was probably a huge buyoff.... GM recalled every last one of them and crushed them all. There was also a fleet of electric Ford Rangers and a fleet of Toyota RAV4's that were mostly all crushed. These were vehicles that (in the later years) could get 100-300 miles per charge. That is way more than the average american drives per day. They had charging stations set up all over California, lots of them solar... now what are we just now seeing emerge... Hybrids... yay... that's great... but what about the fully electric vehicles... the ones that cost 4 cents per mile to operate, need virtually no maintenance, have almost no parts that wear out... the ones that use NO oil and would help us get away from needing foreign oil and could ultimately save lives.. Well, we had them once. "No demand for EV's" they said. Well, say that was true... what about now?!? http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/

i watch this the other day it was quite interesting to watch

This thing is not new. I remember reading about Ford buying out electric car companies at the turn of the century so that he wouldn't have competition with his gasoline powered internal combustion engines. I don't know if he thought steam would be as competitive, so I'm not sure if he bought any of them out.

Every once in a while, I will see a RAV-4 EV or a Ford Ranger EV around the Sacramento area. I also remember when a local grocery store (Raley's) used to have recharging stations along the outside of the building.

Its also sort of ironic that Toyota started the Prius project because they were excluded from the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) during the Clinton administration. They were concerned about not being competitive with the Big 3, so they decided to develop the "New Generation" vehicle on their own.

I think we are going to see a resurgence of the EV concept. It would make sense for my commute; I drive about 11 miles each direction. The Prius is just a step in the right direction, but its an important step because it is practical with the current infrastructure.

I know that the Prius can be easily converted to an EV. In fact, there is a space for a switch on gen 2 Prius dashboards that is where the EV only switch goes on models for another market (Japanese?). On those cars, the only difference is a plug in spot and that switch. The batteries and drivetrain are identical. The range is only about 30 miles, but with a gas backup, you don't need any more.

I know that the Prius can be easily converted to an EV. In fact, there is a space for a switch on gen 2 Prius dashboards that is where the EV only switch goes on models for another market (Japanese?). On those cars, the only difference is a plug in spot and that switch. The batteries and drivetrain are identical. The range is only about 30 miles, but with a gas backup, you don't need any more.

In the Japanese and European markets, the Prius is provided with an EV switch which tells the HV ECU to use the battery in preference to starting the ICE (internal combustion engine). The programming is present in the US version, but the switch isn't provided. Many Prius owners have added the switch; its a relatively easy mod to do. Toyota hasn't ever made any statement why they don't provide the switch; speculation is that it may increase emissions (they say this in the European manual) or that it may possibly lower the battery life (not as likely). Reportedly, you can't drive very far (maybe 3 miles depending upon conditions) before the ICE will kick on to charge the battery and cancels EV mode.

I'm considering making this mod, but I don't want to do anything to void the battery warranty (10 years, 150K in Calif). Its not clear whether this mod would void the warranty; there have not been many failures of the HV battery in the Prius to date.

Some people are converting the Prius to a Plug-in Hybrid, usually by adding another battery pack in addition to the OEM one. One of the Plug in conversions would be able to drive 30 miles or more without using the ICE. Right now, the cost is more than 10K to do the Plug in conversion; so its only feasible as a concept vehicle. Toyota frowns on the conversion; they are concerned that it will reduce the life of the HV battery and compromise the safety of the car (extra weight, what happens to the additional battery in a crash, etc. )

Somebody should make a fuel cell version to see how it is on efficiency.

Somebody should make a fuel cell version to see how it is on efficiency.

Toyota is working on a Fuel Cell Hybrid as part of the Future Vehicle program. I read a presentation on it. They say that the HSD concept extends to a Hydrogen-Electric vehicle. If I find the presentation again, I'll provide a link.

Are any American companies working on a fuel cell hybrid?

Here is an article on a FCHV (fuel cell hybrid vehicle)

http://www.worldcarfans.com/news.cfm/newsid/2070514.006/country/jcf/Toyota/toyota-fuel-cell-hybrid-vehicle

Its not the presentation that I read earlier, I'm still looking for that one.

Here it is, on Toyota's Japanese Web site:

http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/environment/fchv/

Are any American companies working on a fuel cell hybrid?

I know they are all working on hydrogen powered cars, but I don't know if they are specifically working on a fuel cell hybrid.

http://www.fuelcellpartnership.org/about_members.html

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=36282

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200707200126.html

They should do more research on super capacitors to replace those batteries. This would greatly reduce the recharge time.

Toyota is testing a plug in hybrid in Japan based on the Prius. They also will be demonstrating in the US:


http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/news/07/0725.html

Besides scrap piles alot of those electric Rangers and S10's ended up were else? the military of course, I know the Air Force used alot of those trucks on there bases in the 90's. Funny how the government could use them but we can't.

Here's a new EV from Nissan which is a concept car: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21146825/

Here's a new EV from Nissan which is a concept car: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21146825/

Nissan claims the robot can detect the driver's mood by analyzing changes in facial expressions picked up by its digital-camera eyes and using a microphone that picks up the driver's voice to detect volume and speaking speed.

The robotic head says preprogrammed phrases to deal with various emotions, such as, "Relax, don't worry," if the driver seems upset.


Does it have a road rage setting? :D

There were fully electric cars around in 1918.....

There were fully electric cars around in 1918.....

...And even earlier, Ferdinand Porsche was making electric cars until the combustion engine gained popularity and became more lucrative.

I was watching a show the other day on HDnet about Japan's electric super car Eliica. It had eight wheels each with it's own motor and was capable of up to 400 km/h. They couldn't go quite that fast on the track they were on though. They also did a 0-60 test against a Porsche 911 and the electric car smoked it:eek:

Related Eliica website:
http://www.i4u.com/article2473.html

And how about a video of the Eliica smoking a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo for giggles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6QYO1Vajw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eautobloggreen%2Ecom%2F2007%2F01%2F28%2Feliica%2D8%2Dwheeler%2Dev%2Dblows%2Da way%2Dmitsu%2Devo%2Din%2Ddrag%2Drace%2F

Here's another electric car designed by the same guy:
http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/kaz.html