Tiny cars, microcars, a cinquecento & an EV future

[spinchance]

I think (I could be wrong) hybrid cars will do well in the future. You have a cgoice there. If you run out of battery you can switch to petrol mode & vice versa. Anyone knows something more on hybrid cars?

[kirstendirksen]

@spinchance I think hybrids are a nice way to get people used to the concept of EVs, especially to get people thinking about battery range. I did a video with a friend who has a Chevy Volt- it's a hybrid, though the gas engine is really just for backup. But he now is very conscious of how far he's driven on one charge, when he needs to recharge, etc. Though it helps to have an iPhone app for all this. The video is called "Chevy Volt at home: Linkedin exec charges at 120V".

[kuma982]

did i understand right, one wheel drive???

[kirstendirksen]

@kuma982 Yeah, it's a typical feature of microcars, according to wikipedia. wikipedia . org/wiki/Microcar I'm guessing it's referring to the 3-wheeled microcars (the case for many).

[YaMoBeThereAbout]

@kirstendirksen No it means that the motor only drives one wheel. It can still be 4 wheels but three of the four are free-wheeling. Think of a front wheel drive car - the rear wheels are just along for the ride and only do the braking well one wheel drive is the same except 3 of the 4 wheels are along for the ride

[kirstendirksen]

@YaMoBeThereAbout Thanks for the explanation. I had no idea that one wheel drives in that sense (driving 4-wheeled vehicles) existed.

[ClunnEVs]

Compete with Gasoline in every way... hmmm lets see 70% of American Gas money going overseas.Global Warming, dripping oil on roads, which leaches into the ground and into the water table, Yes electric cars have a long way to go to get to where Gas cars are now. Good thing is, it takes the same amount of Electricity to refine a gallon of gasoline as it does to charge an Electric Car to go the same distance, so the Electric's will still be using the same amount of electricty as gas.

[XCritonX]

Lets be honest, the future of tiny cars is getting smashed by bigger cars.

The future of electric cars is limited by battery technology. The bright spot is that battery technology is improving quickly. If the pace of private technology investment continues, in 20 years electric will be able to compete in every way with gasoline.

[ADMIRALSCORNER]

Honda Clarity sounds like the future to me, non poluting hydrogen for fuel and range limited only by filling up at a refuelling station. No delays for charging, no expensive batteries which are needing replacement

[ADMIRALSCORNER]

What a great video! Its good to be brought up to date! Thank you!