There are many alternative energy sources out there, but none that are readily available, cheaper then gas, and easy to retrofit on an automobile. Electric cars are great but have you seen any recharging facilities near your home? No.
Joe Cool- Yes I have seen a wall outlet, but you need to research electric vehicles. A regular 120 wall outlet will take about 10 hrs to full charge a SMALL car, 4 to 5 hours to charge with 240.
They do have magna-charge inductive charging paddles which are the "facilities" that I am talking about, and take a few minutes to fully charge a car. How many of those have you seen?
I dont think that electric vehicles are economical at this point, because electric cars energy is definitely cheaper then gas, but an electric cars range is about 50 miles on the liberal side, before you have to charge it for 5 hours. You cant go on a road trip with an solely electric car, unless your stopping constantly and recharging which is an inconvenience, and the opportunity cost definitely outweighs the benefits.
Joe Cool- I think change will occur, when consumers drive demand for these alternative fuel vehicles. Right now hybrid vehicles are more expensive then regular gasoline cars.
And also as you suggest the charging times takes a few hours, which is for a small euro car which typical americans dont want. And even if they did, how many americans take road trips? No one has time to take in the local flavor and spend more time and money to wait 4-5 hours to charge their vehicle just to drive a few hours and repeat the process. Typical Americans wont go for that unless there are "facilities" that are readily available.
Change wont happen, until consumers drive demand that forces businesses to put out alternative energy vehicles that are more economical and efficient then gas. So I ask my question again. Also what do you all think of biofuels and biodiesel?
Lazez Faire- Mile per gallon on an electric vehicle is not applicable to that vehicle, there is no gallons of anything in electric, it all depends on charge. Unless you show me a source, I highly doubt that a person can ge 100 miles off of one charge. Also you make it seem like electric cars are cheap and most American families can buy another car to drive, to offset their gas counterpart. So if it is so economical and cheap then why dont you have one? Also those batteries you talk about, cost a couple thousand dollars to replace, and you need to replace them every few years.
Dont get my wrong, I believe in electric cars but I dont see the efficiency in them. I drive over 80 miles a day and once a month I drive 500 miles round trip for business trips. I dont think electric cars are viable at this point in time. A company needs to come along and make an efficient electric car, with networks in the US to charge these cars within a few minutes.
