Quirks & Quarks

So, obviously we must revert back to the distant past, way, way, back- to the time of the Jetson's cartoon's perhaps... and re-dream a better future with personal flight in silent, computer-controlled oil-free machines. It shoulda been no traffic jams, no brake dust, no tire disposal problems, no emissions...what happened?

This is a common theme for human civilization. We cant build out, we need to build up. And like our living conditions, our roads will eventually need to be built going up, i.e. skyways. Flying cars always was an inevitability. Unless of course we can 'force' people to take public transit every where.

Electric cars produce no emissions. Yes, they themselves are products, subject to decay, and their use results in environmental degradation to roads, rubber and refuse. Will they go from zero to sixty in milliseconds? No. Will they cut the journey from Windsor to Montreal from a couple of days to a couple of hours? No. But do they need to do those things? Absolutely no.

In other words, they slow us down, which is a very good thing, making us plan our time more carefully and eliminating a lot of unnecessary travel (we do have computers nowadays, don't we?) and thereby promoting municipal planning to reduce urban sprawl, building upwards instead of outwards, making a city into a collection of inter-connected villages instead of cheaply-built ticky-tacky boxes, row on row stretching interminably across hill and dale, covering creeks and meadows with asphalt and cement.

We must get rid of the internal combustion engine and its fuel, gasoline, diesel, ethanol, replacing it with a smaller, more efficient, non-polluting electric power plant with re-chargeable nanobattery packs to move ourselves from place to place. Existing service stations could be converted easily to neighbourhood re-charge stations pumping electricity from small nuclear plants, no combustion, no explosions, no shortages.

I live in Burnaby which for all intents and purposes is physically part of Vancouver, where I work. By car, I can drop my wife off at work and get to work myself, all in about 25 minutes in comfort. By transit, it is a minimum 45 minute journey that involves two buses and Skytrain. The buses are often late or do not run on the feeder routes. There is no shelter at the bus stop and the Skytrain, at 7:00 in the morning is jammed full and I am required to stand for the entire trip.
We are currently spending billions to accomodate a relatively small part of the population who will soon be able to take rapid transit right to the airport, but have done virtually nothing for the thousands of commuters who have to take their car to work every day, because there is no reasonable alternative. I am almost 60 and have arthritis, so a bike is not an option.

If we had transit systems that were efficient Like New York City - And other Metropolis' we would use them! As simple as that. When people aren't given an option like Bill D in Burnaby they are forced to drive. It's a convenience thing. If we could alter the workplace allowing mroe people to work from home and adjust work hours based on commuting time - things would change.

Will they though? Not while there's money to be made on oil, and the global warming scam.

Maybe beyond our lifetimes things will change. With the way our society functions today the only way thigns will change is if a great disaster unites us all FORCING us to change.

Bring on the asteroid!

Ryan from Ottawa is right on about no change being allowed for us while there is money still in Big Oil. Canada is not giving its approval to an all-electric car which is envy of the rest of the world, and you can bet that is due to the interests of Big Oil being paramount. And I'll bet that after the last drop of oil has been squeezed from the Tar Sands there will "suddenly" appear the new and improved all-electric car!

But, Ryan, you and I probably won't be here to appreciate it because Global Warming will have
long since removed most of the population of Earth from the equation. The CO2 produced by internal combustion will throw the natural cycles of the Earth into a warming trend much hotter, drier and poisonous than we conceive of now, though the icemelt underway foretells the future for those who read it rightly.

Electric cars are not pollution free. Electricity must be generated before being used. Fuel cells need elec. to provide Hydrogen supplies. Elec. cars have to be recharged and nuclear is only current source capable of supplying demand. What to do with nuclear waste is THE BIGGEST PROBLEM and we can't even get rid of used tires properly. How long before some idiot proposes shooting waste off into space. Long live your bicycle. Come Winter, you'll need a dog team. Murray

I think that a simple analysis of where we go shows that half our travel is from home to work and back. We have people in Chilliwack commuting to Vancouver and Burnaby. On the Island, where I live, we have people commuting from Victoria to Ladysmith or Nanaimo. That's insanity. The reason is the cheaper house prices farther out in the Valley or up Island. It seems to me that large businesses should be provided some tax incentives to build reasonable rental housing so employees can live close by where they work. Certainly increasing fuel prices are going to be disincentives to people doing long commutes. One family member on the Chilliwack to Burnaby commute spends close to $600 a month on gasoline. Electric cars would not help someone like him, not at the present state of technology. Then there's, as someone mentioned, the polution related to electric vehicles: disposal of lead, cadmium, nickle, sulphur, and chemicals plus the usual metal, plastic, and rubber in the shell and frame. Where to get the energy from? - nuclear, hydro? I'm more than a little disappointed at the rate new power technologies are being worked on and brought on line. Wind and tidal power are two that come to mind but also geothermal. NIMBYs will warn about bird kill with wind farms and others will balk at disrupting fish migrations. It's hard to make those decisions, someone or something will be affected. If we don't get moving we will be left shivering at home in our uncertainty. The oil may not run out soon but it will get more expensive.

Powering electric cars will not be as difficult as many sceptics claim. EVs can be recharged during the night, when electrcity consuption (and price) is usually at its lowest. Recycling batteries, is also not a big deal, modern EVs have a single power module that can be easily removed from the car for recycling and replacement.

There is something worth examining. Efficiency.

The average gasoline powered car is 25% effecient under ideal conditions. So, for every $100 you spend on fuel, $75 is going out the tailpipe. Diesels are 30% effecient and up, depending on the type.

Gas turbine fired powerplants can be close to 90% efficient. Most fossil fueled powerplants are at least 40% effecient. Not great, but still better than a car idling in traffic.

Electric cars are at least 80% efficient many are well over 90%, so dollar for dollar, you get more distance for your energy buck with electric cars, while allowing central powerplants to produce energy much more efficiently than ANY oil powered car or SUV currently avalable.

With electric cars, it is also possible to make your own electric "fuel" at home As with advanced EV batteries, solar power is also getting better and more cost effictive every day.

Murray is rightly concerned about the disposal of used nuclear fuel. But, re-chargeable batteries are a different matter entirely. Hydrogen, as a gaseous liquified fuel, should not be considered for a gasoline replacement at all.

Small nuclear plants should be set up across the country to supply electricity in every region. Such plants will have used rods to dispose of, which can be accommodated in deep mines, to be kept until our descendants can figure out how to re-energize them. The electricity produced can be distributed by grid into our homes as is done now, but also can be "pumped" into convenient locations - the service stations extant - for 'fill-ups' for electric vehicles, buy a volt instead of a gallon. Nanobatteries to run the vehicle can be re-charged there in about as much time as a gastank can be filled now.

An electric car, designed and built by Canadians and which looks like a car, not a glorified golf-cart, was recently shown on TV. The producers cannot get government permission to offer it for sale. I wonder who is holding it back, hmmm???

Des, I think I know the car you are reffering to, but if you are talking about the ZENN EV, it sortof is a glorified golf car, unfortunately. Its governed to a maximum speed of 25 MPH, this was required for it to get FMVSS 500 status.

Having FMVSS 500 status means that it does not need air bags to be sold in the USA, and it also does not have to be crash tested (in canada, or usa), all of this reduces the startup cost of some one who wants to build a completely new car for general sale to the public.

The "official" story is that the regulation is under review in Canada, so thats why Transport Canada will not yet certify the car. Currently B.C. (my province) is the only place in canada that does allow such vehicles on public roads, Dynasy is another company that builds NEVs, they're in Delta.

I do consider myself a raving fan of electric cars, but I have to admit, I'm just not comfortable with allowing vehicles on public roads that can only go 25 MPH. But we may not have to wait much longer for practical electric cars, the Tesla Roadster proved that performace is possible from an electric car, and its not even powered by the best battery out there (search Utube to see the tesla roadster).

lionev.com will soon sell converted vehicles that can travel at full legal speeds for several hundred miles on a single charge (hyundai accent, tuscon, and ford ranger), they are not canadian, but they will ship worldwide. Lionev.com, is also a little more affordable than the tesla. With a range starting at 120 miles and possibly beyond 400 (optional battery packs, some with lifetime waranty), suddenly having recharging stations in urban centers becomes a smaller obstacle, just charge up at home and hit the road!

Its a lot cheaper than buying gas.

David - it is a bit late for me to answer your entry but here goes -- I think that the zenn is the vehicle I was reading about, though I recall a comment then about the fact it was not a 'golf-cart.' Perhaps the major obstacle is that Government approval can be held up for many years, regulations which may or may not be relevant. Speed limits can be altered immediately, either up or down; if traffic flow is too hectic for EVs then perhaps governors should be compulsory on internal combustion engines. Slow and steady could be an answer to more of today's problems than we realize, forcing cities to become more efficient rather than just catering to more 'efficient' speed needs.

The ZENN car has since been aproaved, as a low speed vehicle by transport canada, now the provinces have to agree....

But a simple solution to this problem would be to increase the legal speed of these cars to, say 35 MPH instead of 25, now they can hold pace with posted inner city speed limits. Some US states have come up with meduim speed status.

For my part, I have to make a weekly round trip of 320Km and much of that is on a highway (110kph), while towing a trailer for our home business. A speed governor would not be a good fit for my situation, but EVs are capable of keeping up, and I'm sorry to say, canada is being left behind when you look at achievements (political, and technological) in other coutries.