I've said for years that I have some very specific requirements of an electric or hybrid car that have to be met before I would consider buying one.
It has to have performance at least comparable to a gasoline powered car - in every way.
It has to have the range of a gas powered car, or better. This is based on the assumption that the charging/refueling infrastructure will lag behind the cars
themselves. If I'm going to use an electric car, I want to be able to take a long road trip with it out of state, just like I could a gas powered car.
That's REALLY important in Texas, where drive times are longer than most other places.
It should be able to have some room inside the car, and not be super-heavy due to batteries. Some reasonable cargo space. If I'm going to make that cross
country trip, I should be able to carry some luggage with me.
The thing should either be rechargeable in 10 minutes or less, or have an on board recharge system.
While we're at it, make the braking system into part of the recharge system.
Folks? That car has now been made!
I'll be looking forward to giving the Oil Companies the middle-digit-o-doom as soon as I can get one of these things!
It has to have performance at least comparable to a gasoline powered car - in every way.
It has to have the range of a gas powered car, or better. This is based on the assumption that the charging/refueling infrastructure will lag behind the cars
themselves. If I'm going to use an electric car, I want to be able to take a long road trip with it out of state, just like I could a gas powered car.
That's REALLY important in Texas, where drive times are longer than most other places.
It should be able to have some room inside the car, and not be super-heavy due to batteries. Some reasonable cargo space. If I'm going to make that cross
country trip, I should be able to carry some luggage with me.
The thing should either be rechargeable in 10 minutes or less, or have an on board recharge system.
While we're at it, make the braking system into part of the recharge system.
Folks? That car has now been made!
Quote: A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW's Mini Cooper. The PML MiniHell, this thing gains MEGA-ULTRA geek points for having motors in all 4 wheels, JUST like a Car Wars car!
QED has a top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. The car uses a small gasoline engine with four 160 horsepower electric motors - one on
each wheel. The car has been designed to run for four hours of combined urban/extra urban driving, powered only by a battery and bank of ultra capacitors.
The QED supports an all-electric range of 200-250 miles and has a total range of about 932 miles (1,500 km). For longer journeys at higher speeds, a small
conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) is used to re-charge the battery. In this hybrid mode, fuel economies of up to 80mpg can be achieved.
I'll be looking forward to giving the Oil Companies the middle-digit-o-doom as soon as I can get one of these things!