Electric cars still suck.

[ernunnos]

Taking the charge out of Chevy's Volt

...one of the main justifications GM offers for its long-term survival, "leadership in advanced propulsion technology," has been shaken by a report from Carnegie Mellon University.

The study concludes that plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt - GM's most publicized technology project - "are not cost effective

Comments

[vyus]

and the 20mph version only becomes economical time-wise if the charge rate is under an hour. maybe less, for real in-town commuting.

[atek128]

>You can promise all the unicorn farts you want, but physics >and chemistry-reality-still gets the last word.

true dat

[andysocial]

Next you'll be calling for Americans to become science-literate. Insanity!

[jspurlin]

to make electric cars work, battery technology (that is, the ability to store energy) has to change. Has to. big and heavy is still the issue. the little, light batteries suck for efficiency, and the heavy ones aren't good enough to make up from the penalty that gravity extracts.

[heypete]

The little, light ones (like lithium ions) also have a tendency to catch on fire if mischarged. That's a rather bad result. :)

[jspurlin]

Solar cells are bad about that, too, if not properly wired. I worked on a solar car in college, one semester.

Apparently if the diodes aren't properly installed (diodes being one-way, and all) the solar cell will GLOW RED and then burn up.

but yeah, between cell memory (which is better in most things other than 1st-gen NiCd batteries) and weight, and "you need to charge it the right way or everyone dies"... batteries need some work, man...