A fad that shall soon face.
The leftists won't stop until we're all on bicycles.
...or public transportation
Using an electric motor to provide traction power for road vehicles, in fact, for self-propelled vehicles of many types, including off-road and industrial/agricultural use, has a large number of advantages, in that the motor may be located close to the traction wheel, and every wheel on the vehicle may be a traction wheel. There are no complicated transmissions, or differentials, or vulnerable drivelines.
The answer was almost right with the introduction of the hybrid ICE/electric vehicles, and the concept was highly adaptable. Power was generated on-board with an ICE driving an attached generator, which in turn supplied power to each of the traction wheels.
To allow for differential speeds of each of the wheels while turning, a computer-guided power supply to each of the traction motors, slowing those wheels with the shorter turning radius while applying more power to those with a longer turning radius, should work reliably. Because electric motors have maximum torque at stall, unlike most ICE engines, complicated transmissions with multiple progressive gear ratios would be unneeded, and with the electric motor located close to the traction wheel, driveshafts and axle housings would be eliminated.
The concept is not new. Railway locomotives have used a similar Diesel-electric system for what is now nearly a century, and the steam locomotives, highly complex mechanisms on the best of days, were virtually eliminated by the early 1950’s as the greater efficiency and reliability of the Diesel-electric locomotive was proven over and over.
EVs which rely on batteries alone for power storage are a dead-end, suitable only for niche applications, and are no more applicable to wide adoption than the mini-car designs from the 1950 to 1960 era, and which were little more than glorified motorcycles.
A fad that shall soon face.
I agree somewhat. I thought abought getting a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) instead of an EV (BEV). The two reasons I didn't are: 1) I have tons of solar and I'm trying to be more energy self-sufficient, and 2) since my wife and I need two cars anyway I want them dependent on two separate energy sources (oil or power) so not all my transportation eggs are in one basket (on trips even PHEV plugin-hybrids need gas).
Most people don't have #1. But #2 IMHO is a reason for everyone to consider not getting a hybrid unless it's their only car, or if they have 2 cars the other car is a BEV. Of course, that's from a free market perspective.
From a control-freak government perspective, alloysteel is right that hybrids are best at achieving the transition without putting a demand on the grid as long as they aren't PHEV's (plug-in hybrids). PHEV owners try to do all of their local driving on electric because it's cheaper. So they'd be as much of a demand on the grid as BEV owners (except that BEV owners need the grid for long trip driving too).
Another benefit of hybrids is that they actually make some noise. So they are a bit less likely to murder pedestrians who don’t notice them bearing down on them.
A fad that shall soon face.
The leftists won't stop until we're all on bicycles.
...or public transportation