i'll be waiting patiently for the factory-made all-electric smart...
hopefully, i'll have those electric roof panels installed on my garage/house and my wind turbine in place by then...
then, maybe by 2015 or so, i can be the "econo-eco-science-teacher-dude" who basically gets most of his power from the sun and wind...
electricity is, overall, so much cheaper...and easier on our environment...
The PHEV factory version of the smart is due in a couple years for fleets in the US and two years later for consumers.
Until then I can't stomach (or afford) to buy a car that the aftermarket company throws away the powertrain and does a wholesale swap with their electric technology.
If electric car batteries will function anything like laptop batteries we are in real trouble. Unreliable after a year or two and never the same even after you replace them with another overpriced battery. I like the idea that companies are considering leasing the battery pack so that they reduce the risk and can rebuild them as needed.
the plug in electric smarts (200 units in London )(150 in Paris ) are already being tested. they will be for sale in 2010 in the US market. It will compete with Norway's Think and GM's Volt slated for sale in 2010.
Last edited by 74AMX304V8; 06-27-2008 at 10:13 PM.
The economics of electric cars are changing very rapidly. Batteries are getting better while gas gets more and more expensive.
Electricity is rising too, and that rise would accelerate with the rise in demand with a growing number of plug-in electric vehicles. From an environmental point of view electrics don't seem to make much sense, except in very polluted cities ... where it would be beneficial to transfer the point of exhaust from the tailpipe to the outskirts of town where the power plant is located.
Hydrogen fuel cells, yeah, that's the ticket. Although it costs energy to generate the fuel, it appears to be extremely efficient. I hope the price of this technology drops rapidly along with the infrastructure to support it.
So I just got back from a road trip in Germany. Gas for my Honda Civic Type S rental, $11 a gallon. Avis didn't offer any electric cars for rent. Didn't see any electric cars on my travels. Did see a lot more small gas cars, like the smart, along with full size BMWs, Audis, & MBs. Very few SUVs though, X5, X6, Q, and G class SUVs once in a rare while. Multiple traffic jams and heavy traffic on the Autobahns and A roads. So someone is driving in Germany with $11 a gallon gas. They just seem to drive smaller gas and diesel cars. Lots of big rig truckers too, but not as bis as our 18-wheelers.
Germany has a lot of wind power and solar (thanks to government incentives for land owners) for generating electricity (way ahead of us in the USA). So why is it all of a sudden in the USA, with $5 gas, electric cars are the answer when they have yet to be the answer in Europe where they live with $9 to $11 gas?
I'm not against electric cars, Tesla Roadster is great if it is ever real. I just don't get why all of the sudden, electric cars are the answer, when clearly the economics at even $11 a gallon gas favor gas cars.
And I am skeptical that electric cars (without growth in solar, wind, & nuclear) are any greener globally. They may help LA pollution at the expense of someone else when the extra electricity is made still from fossil fuels in someone else's backyard.
On the greener front, long term, moving away from fossil fuels may make sense, but for fear over $5 gallon gas, I don't see the economics yet.
Look over there! It's a shiny penny! Nothing to see here- move along. Same song and dance won't change anything but the subject. The american car industry got caught AGAIN with the wroung product at the wrong time and now has to look like they are doing something although it is the wrong thing. They cry that thay can't make a small car but if you have ever been outside of this country you know they're lying. I have always driven small cars and for the longest time my selection was slim to none. Times are a changin !
This is just the start and when Penske starts getting these (maybe next year?) I am sure the price will be dropping considerably.
Where is the sign up? I want one.
Daimler to offer electric Mercedes in 2010
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Daimler (DAIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to roll out a Mercedes-Benz model that runs on electricity in 2010, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview.
"We plan an electric Smart for 2010 and for the same year a Mercedes (electric) model as well," Dieter Zetsche told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in comments to be published in the Saturday edition.
Daimler currently has in London a fleet of 100 first-generation Smart cars that run on electricity.
rest of story here:
[url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKL2045048020080620]
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Daimler plans to roll out a Mercedes-Benz model that runs on electricity in 2010, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview.
"We plan an electric Smart for 2010 and for the same year a Mercedes (electric) model as well," Dieter Zetsche told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in comments to be published in the Saturday edition.
Daimler currently has in London a fleet of 100 first-generation Smart cars that run on electricity.
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