Electric PT at Kennedy Space Center

[robinjoe]

Interesting article about an electric PT Cruiser being used at the Kennedy Space Center.
http://tinyurl.com/py4db
It seems to stack up well against the electric "Smart Car". The PT can do 90 MPH, the Smart Car only 75 MPH.

Electricity costs 2 cents per mile. At $3.00 per gallon and 20 MPG with a typical driving of a gas PT, thats 15 cents per mile.

Assuming you drive 12,000 miles/year
12,000 miles X $0.02 = $240 per year for the electric model
12,000 miles X $0.15 = $1,800 per year for the gas model

[Hooligan]

But how much does the extension cord cost???

[bobs turbo pt]

thanks for sharing thats a cool article

[fritz_t_coyote]

"theoretically can cruise for 150 miles on one full charge."

1- The article did not tell us how many miles it REALLY gets on a full charge. Or what kind of cruising speed is necessary to get that theoretical 150 miles.

2- the article cited a price of 3.30$ to fully charge the pt, without specifying how many kilowatt-hours of juice that was, so there is no way to tell how much it might cost to recharge if you have to pay retail for electricity.

Ok, so we do 90mph for a little over an hour and a half (150 miles), then spend 4 hours recharging. That gives the electric pt a 'sustained cruising speed' of about 17mph. And that is presuming the availability of a 220volt charging station and that the max range can be acheived at max speed, which is not very likely.

This is another limited range electric car experiment, interesting, but not applicable to most of us.

[Sci-Fi]

Lithium ion powered EV's have a theoretical range of 250-300 miles depending on the number of or the rated capacity of the batteries. But in practical use, expect anywhere from about 40-100 mile driving range. People will use their radio, A/C, headlights, etc that will shorten your driving range. If there is a charging station where you work/park, then your range would of course increase. Everything depends on where you live. In a high density city, the EV driving range will meet daily needs/uses without worrying about recharging before getting home. Fuel cells may be an alternative to powering EV's. If one discounts the viability of the use of hydrogen, Methanol (wood alcohol) is the next best thing and can be stored, transported, and refilled in your tank/fuel cell like gasoline is today. Or gas engines can be modified/redesigned to use methanol as a gas replacement fuel. Champcars, sprint cars, top alcohol dragsters, etc already use methanol as their primary fuel. Emissions from methanol use may be another story.

[fritz_t_coyote]

The Range Issue: While a short-range vehicle may make sense for a commuter car, many of us need to use one car for long and short trips.

As global oil prices stay high, the market will come up with alternatives.

[strangelove]

I've been following Hybrid Technologies PT Cruiser experiments and I think it's awesome that they are going through trials with the Kennedy Space Center. Good high profile testing ground. The PT is a perfect choice for EV's since it's the perfect size for traveling around and hauling equipment. The Smart Car although interesting is to small of a vehicle to be practicle, it just screams out golf cart. Electric ATV's fall into that same catagory, too small to be practicle, although it would be a good choice for security guards since they could roll around the space center silently and sneak up on trespassers and be able to chase them all over the grounds. Still there's no roof to ATV's and with Florida's rain it could be a bummer for KSC staff. Hands down the PT wins in practicality, usability, speed and range.

If I could get one of those EV PT's I would probably outfit a roofrack to carry a weather resistant solar panel, like the ones you see on top of motor homes; charging problem solved, just park it in the sun and get a full charge while you work, 8 hours charge time should be enough. Best of all it's totally free, so the $3.00 dollar gas thing goes out the window. If that doesn't work for you then use any of the free charging stations that are still sitting in public parking places, like Costco, or even your large corporations. These charging stations were put into place when GM, Ford and Toyota were manufacturing the EV's, once again free electricity. Not only are gas alternatives available, guess what they are here, right in front of you to take advantage of, and guess what it's free for the taking.

[fritz_t_coyote]

quote:Originally posted by strangelove

...
If I could get one of those EV PT's I would probably outfit a roofrack to carry a weather resistant solar panel, like the ones you see on top of motor homes; charging problem solved, just park it in the sun and get a full charge while you work, 8 hours charge time should be enough. Best of all it's totally free, so the $3.00 dollar gas thing goes out the window. If that doesn't work for you then use any of the free charging stations that are still sitting in public parking places, like Costco, or even your large corporations. These charging stations were put into place when GM, Ford and Toyota were manufacturing the EV's, once again free electricity. Not only are gas alternatives available, guess what they are here, right in front of you to take advantage of, and guess what it's free for the taking.

OK, some estimates:
KSC says it costs $3.30 to charge the car.
Presuming they are paying the 2005 average price for industrial electricity in Florida, (6.53 cents/KWH per http://www.ppinys.org/reports/jtf/electricprices.html)

Thats 50KWH.

A typical commercially available 30inch x 60inch solar panel gives about 180watts in optimimum conditions ('Sunny Florida', not 'Foggy San Fran') so figure you mount a pair on the roof, and one on the hood, you can catch about 540 watts, or .54 kilowatts.

In about 92 hours you have a full charge.

Another way to estimate the battery capacity:

Honda's EV used a 26.2 kwh battery pack to get a 120 mile range.
http://www.hondaev.org/batt.html

Thats only 48 hours in a sunny parking lot.

And those panels are pricy:
http://store.altenergystore.com/Sola...r-Panels/c741/

figure about 2500$ worth...plus mountings, controllers, etc.

My point here is not to disparage research into alternative energy, but rather to cut thru the promotional hype to the real solutions.

Gasoline still costs a lot less than Bottled Water!

[strangelove]

Good to know that it would only take little over 3 days to charge a PT EV since that's how much time I have the car sitting between work days. I could drive back and forth from work for free... What I was trying to get at is that there are several ways to charge an EV. In reality you would probably travel 50 miles or so before you could let your car sit and recharge. If the PT EV gets 125 miles per full charge your well within it's operating charge. I think an EV battery system would get the same chargeing scheduale that your cell phone or laptop battery gets. So in reality there would be very few times that you would be close to no charge, not like waiting for your tank to reach empty; you get a full tank (charge) every morning. The use of a solar panel would maintain the charge.

Foggy SF is getting around $3.80 premium for gas, my limit is $4.00, then I'm going to do something drastic, like put a mast and wind sail on my PT