Quote:
Originally posted by EarlyPorsche
Yes, good electric cars use lithium poly and nickle metal hydride batteries. These are incredibly efficient batteries that can be recycled over and over. The pollution factor is non existant. Currently a big problem is having lithium poly batteries that can be charged without getting too hot which can lead to other problems.
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Battery technology has certainly improved over the decades. Unfortunately the electricity with which we recharge them doesn't fall from the skies. The cleanest/greenest ways to generate electricity are from hydroelectric dams, wind, solar and tidal energies. Personally I like having lakes nearby ( dams) but I hear that migrating salmon don't care to hike up those water ladders to get upstream. And here in Canada many native (First Nation) peoples don't want to see their traditional lands turned into recreational waterfront for the well-to-do. Wind is free, but I don't really want to have one of those great big windmills in my yard. I guess we could cover the local golf courses with solar panels... would give us some shade up the fairways at the same time.
The other more common ways to generate electricity, coal and nuclear, well... if you're going to burn coal to generate electricity to recharge a battery it would probably be more efficient to simply develop a coal-burning car, as there are energy losses at each step. And I don't think our local recycler knows what to do with uranium or plutonium and all those other 'iums' yet.
Not to say that there won't be advances in technology that will make supplying electricity to cars more efficient and feasible. But right now California has had rolling blackouts due to insufficient electricity during high-demand periods. Imagine on a hot night when everybody's air conditioner is on at home AND millions of cars are plugged in for the morning commute? We'll definitely need more capacity to generate clean electricity than we have at present and I hope we find it (I vote for more lakes!)
And as far as hydrogen fuels go, I understand that it takes a fair bit of electricty to hydrolyse water, so we're back to mining coal and oil for a source of H, leaving tons of carbon as a byproduct.
But I love my CO2 belching car and I'm glad I got to live in a time when it is possible to do burnouts and hear the exhaust rumble. I wonder what my grandchild's first 'sportscar' will sound like.
Hopefully I didn't take this too far off topic.