23 E MINI ME Electric Conversion of 2009 Mini Cooper Clubman

[tridg91607]

Its less then 6% of gas is used for mechanical energy the rest is all heat.

[JRP3]

Just a note, you can get the Katz water heater from Amazon for less than $40.

[randycarter2001]

Gas car energy efficiency breaks down like this:

1/3 goes out the radiator as waste heat

1/3 goes out the exhaust pipe as waste heat

1/3 turns the crank shaft

Now from that final third subtract mechanical frictional losses and power to turn water pump, oil pump and alternator. You're lucky if 20% of that energy you paid for hits the ground.

[marionrickard]

There's about 37 kWh of energy in a gallon of gasoline/ethanol blend. A third of that would be 12,300 wH. An electric car quite typically gets about 4 miles per 1000 wH of energy. That means a gasoline car with 1/3 of the energy turning the crank gets 49 miles per gallon. Do you know any cars that get 49 mpg???

Try 12% on the crank...

[randycarter2001]

I should have said 1/3 pushes the piston! But most people don't understand the relationship. Did I mention mechanical losses? The point is a lot of the energy you pay for is lost as waste heat. So little of the chemical energy actually gets used.

[marionrickard]

That's kind of the point of the electric drive. It is simply more efficient - as much as 8 times the efficiency. This is where all the other "advantages" of low noise, low cost, low emissions, and low maintenance derive. We have known for a 100 years how to convert electricity into rotary motion using 3 moving parts, a rotor and two bearings holding it up. Unfortunately, the batteries only hold the equivalent of a gallon of gasoline or less.

[ecoheliguy]

lots of audio feed back