Model 3 Vs Elio

[Rickb]

Guilty as charged here.

Hey, I threw out a bunch of stuff on Toyota's hydrogen cell prototype and nobody seems to want to play with me.

Bummed.

I looked the Toyota Mirai info over and follow Toyota closely because of their I-Road EV Concept, but the hydrogen cell platform looks complicated. I need to see these on the road, read real world owner reviews, and see some fueling stations before I get overly excited about this alternative vehicle option. Frankly, I appreciate the need for a variety of alternative vehicle options. Best not to focus on only one.

 

[Rickb]

Battery packs are as expensive as many people think. Relatively cheap if you have a few multimeter skills and know how to change out individual cells.

As for harder on bakes, um, no. The Toyota Prius routinely goes 120-200 k between brake pad replacement.
(via the aforementioned regenerative braking)

The SRK is estimated (testing underway) to have a 5-6 year battery life expectancy, with an estimated $2000 replacement cost. That would add $350-500 to the SRK everyday electric's yearly operating cost.

 

[ThreeWheelBurnin]

While the Elio vs. Tesla Model 3 discussion is interesting, neither of them are currently available, so I'll happily split the difference and continue to enjoy my gently used Chevy Volt in the meantime -- No range anxiety for the rare road trip, and for the daily commute, I'm using it as a pure EV. I've put over 1300 miles on it and still haven't burned through a tank of gas. In fact, I haven't burned a drop of gas for the last 350 miles.

That said, I still want my Elio...

 

[3wheelin]

Overhead wireless charging........courtesy of Mother Nature.............you may be on to something there.

Only if I don't "toast" myself first!

 

[3wheelin]

I hope everyone knows this is a joke. There are some who could take it seriously.

Blame Emmett Brown (back to the Future) for harnessing the power of lightning bolt to catapult his DeLOrean to the future...and the past!

 

[3wheelin]

What do you mean? We all know lightning can provide 1.21 gigawatts of power. That should be enough to drive across the country. Duh!

....and back!

 

[Marshall]

They already use regenerative braking.

Maybe that's why they are so expensive. Thanks for the info.

 

[Marshall]

Blame Emmett Brown (back to the Future) for harnessing the power of lightning bolt to catapult his DeLOrean to the future...and the past!

Back to the FUTURE was a favorite of mine. But like Superman flying, some in the audience sometimes confuses fiction with reality and think they can fly.

It's just my inner lawyer speaking.

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

Maybe that's why they are so expensive. Thanks for the info.

The expense is actually the battery. The rest is relatively inexpensive.

An electric motor that has generator capability is at least a 70 year old technology used in turbine engines for quite some time.

Meaning, the only component limiting the electric vehicle is the power supply (and the infrastructure but that's another discussion)
Best case, a "super" capacitor that is cheap, reliable and safe. It would charge in 5 minutes.

 

[Marshall]

The expense is actually the battery. The rest is relatively inexpensive.

An electric motor that has generator capability is at least a 70 year old technology used in turbine engines for quite some time.

Meaning, the only component limiting the electric vehicle is the power supply (and the infrastructure but that's another discussion)
Best case, a "super" capacitor that is cheap, reliable and safe. It would charge in 5 minutes.

Well the basis of the computer revolution is the transistor (which replaced the vacuum tube) which is just two diodes. Perhaps the same revolution will occur with capacitors.

Energy storage systems are always a compromise between efficiency and safety.

But sometimes the big picture gets lost and people forget the Law of Conservation of Energy and design perpetual motion machines.