Okay - NOW I'll buy an electric car!

[Logan Darklighter]

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!

A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW's Mini Cooper. The PML Mini
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.

Hell, this thing gains MEGA-ULTRA geek points for having motors in all 4 wheels, JUST like a Car Wars car!

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!

[OpMegs]

Okay, the "all-electric mode" for in town driving with ICE/hybrid mode of 80 miles per gallon for long distance travel? Makes this absolutely perfect. I want to see a price tag, because this is totally something I'd start saving for.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Sweno]

If the price of this car is not outrageous, there is a good chance you could save the difference in cost in gas over the lifetime of the car.

And Electric tech has matured enough that i'm not afraid of the car developing massive problems 5 years down the road.
-Terry
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"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[VladimirTherin]

"Hell, this thing gains MEGA-ULTRA geek points for having motors in all 4 wheels, JUST like a Car Wars car!"

Actually, this is fairly common for electric cards.

The motors themselves have a performance curve where this just makes a lot of sense.

Its a lot more efficient, and you can skip a lot of weight otherwise spent on gearing.

[Black Aeronaut]

Hrmmm... Seems that it is not so much as the car being a package deal. It's a conversion kit of sorts. Sure wish they'd make it readily available for
all makes and models. It's not like that sort of thing wouldn't fly in the good old US-of-A. We already have a few people that have swapped out the gas
engines for straight electric on their daily drivers. They figure it's a good trade-off: no pollution, no buying gas and lower maintenance for a little
less performance and a range of about 75 miles - perfect for just getting to and from work.

Now, as efficient as this little sucker is, all you gotta do to make it free of carbon-emissions is to give it hydrogen fuel-cells instead of a gas engine. And
as small as that gas engine is, you can't tell me that the fuel-cells we have now won't cut it.

Now, if only we can get pebble-bed reactors going in conjunction with a superconducting power-grid, then we'll be golden as far as our energy needs go. Big
investment of capitol? Yes. But one this country could use right about now, and it would be one with excellent returns.