Posted on 12/14/2013 3:59:04 PM PST by chiller
Engineering breakthroughs like the Tesla Model S may be burning up the electric car market (figuratively and literally), but they’re leaving drivers cold and under-powered in the face of Old Man Winter.
Cold temperatures have adverse effects on batteries, slowing down the incoming and outgoing flow of energy and inevitably losing some in the process. The 250-mile average range of an electric car in normal climate conditions can see its performance reduced by 70-miles on a single charge in average winter conditions. The colder it gets, the shorter than range.
Not only that, the average winter driver tends to turn up the heat — a function that also puts a draw on the battery uncommon during other seasons.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Wow. Just wow.
Unfortunately there is not a little ignorance about basics of energy supplies and vehicle technology here at FR as well, as we see in this thread.
>>The poster likely meant Inductance. Also not terribly efficient . . .
No, the poster meant resistance, and was completely correct in his usage. Induction heating, like in some higher-end electric stove tops, is another thing altogether. There is no reason to use induction heating for an electric car heater, electric resistance heating is used.
>> Don’t gas vehicles have less mileage due to the winter blend of gasoline?
The biggest seasonal effect on gas mileage is Summer air conditioning use.
I recently spent a morning standing on a street corner holding an election sign. I was surprised at the number of Leafs I saw during the morning commute on this heavily-traveled 2-lane. While still just a small fraction of the gasoline powered vehicles, there were at least half a dozen that went by.
Biggest extra gasoline consumption in the winter is long warm-ups and idling instead of turning the engine off. Modern engines don’t need the warm-up but old-fashioned bodies prefer it, not to mention deicing and defogging the windows.
Your first thought is to outlaw progress.
Your second is to tax it.
They needn’t add a special tax to electric vehicles; but they shouldn’t subsidize the purchase of them either.
Electric vehicles have their place, just like snow mobiles and surf boards. None of them belong everywhere and it’s not the government’s job to support any of them.
Agree with your comment.
The $7500 tax credit is wrong.
You have 1 percenters buying Teslas and getting the credit.
My vehicle (Ford Escape) averages 21 mpg in the summer, then in late September when the gasoline switches to winter-blend, it drops to 19. In the spring, back to 21.
How is the electricity to run your car generated?
Unicorn farts.
Of course, the coal is usually moved by rail with diesel locomotives.
I have visions of a debilitating snowstorm or any massive traffic delay along the NY Thruway or whereever if there are ever mostly electric car.
Suggestion....really good hiking boots!
Bingo!
If it’s a good idea, private industry will fund it.
If it’s a bad idea, they won’t, and neither should the government!
It’s electricity they buy from elsewhere, and therefore cannot easily determine which electron came from which plant where, as they are all mushed together on the western grid.
Doubtless some of it is oil, some nuke, some hydro, some wind/solar/biomass, and even some coal, but the mix varies day-to-day, hour-to-hour and minute-to-minute.
Can't wait for your next Big Gov Utopian anti Free-Market ideas.
Ahhhhh! That explains why I've never seen one! Thank you!
I feel so, so, so, uh, protected now!
See post #261. *sigh* Welcome to earthquake country...
69 Karmann Ghia. Loved that car. The engine was easy to work on and would run forever as long as you adjusted the valves and changed the oil.
Was able to get around during some of the heaviest snow storms in Colorado.
Should also be noted that that is *not* the only way to get fuel out of a station’s tanks. All you need is permission (duh), a fluid transfer pump (cheap, found in more than a few Texas pickup truck toolboxes or on farms) and about 40 or so feet of hose. It is possible to pump out of the hatches they are filled from as well as the inspection hatches. No electrical power needed.
OK. Did you have a point? The energy used in moving the coal around via diesel locomotive is a very small fraction of the energy in the coal train. The powerplant I worked at as an engineering coop student ~35 years ago took in 100-car “unit trains” regularly, as in a few times a week IIRC.
The vast bulk of transportation energy in the United States is oil based. Electric cars aren’t for everywhere / everybody / every situation. But to the extent they make it possible to use electricity generated from non-oil indigenous sources as transportation energy, it is A Good Thing in my book. I don’t see myself buying one any time soon, but for those for whom it works, good on them!
That vastly depends on what the specs are.
A full freeway legal, survive an impact at 80 mph, with every safety feature known to man, and every mandated geegaw installed would be quite expensive.
A surface street jitney, 30 mph safety rated local errand car could be little more expensive than a golf cart.
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