BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET: Drive 2

Test driving an electric sports car.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• sundance
• channel
• green
• alternative
• fuel
• environmental
• clean
• race
• car
• big
• idea
• small
• planet
• biodiesel

[Libervurto]

@DEKAROHHO

I think the Japanese are more aware of the need for sustainability in business.

Of course they want to save you money, if they do that you will do business with them. Of course they want to make money, they are doing so by being innovative and offering quality products, what's so bad about that? Just because a company is successful doesn't make them evil.

[DEKAROHHO]

Seeing the new ad dreaming only means that the big players are yer to come on line.. Toyota and Nissen are coming out wiwth electric cars and hybrid cars. they are each investing in battery production. Do you think that is because they want to save us money? Not on your life, the new technologies are the new oil and like mining coal they intend to mine our pockets.

[Anothercoilgun]

Not interested.

[lewisian]

I wondered the same until I watched "Who Killed the Electric Car?" (which is a totally different film to what I expected). There are increasing numbers of cheap electric vehicles appearing now: from the 4 seater suburban models in the States (PlugIn America) to little personal transit models like this one (YouTube link): watch?v=a399fIxp9-E

[lewisian]

Hmmm - I dunno - if you're looking for a sports car with some real zam check this little baby out - looks like it was built on the same frame as the Atom. (YouTube reference) watch?v=BqqtJpfZElQ

[terrorist420x]

Amen.

[terrorist420x]

The only reason they cost more to produce is because they are currently produced in much lower volume. This makes labor costs, and per unit non-recurring engineering costs go way up.

An electric car is even less hazardous than a gasoline one in a crash. LiIon batteries are safe compared to all the fluids in a gasoline car and the explosion risk is greatly reduced. Hydrogen isn't yet viable due to cost, but biodiesel works very well.

[terrorist420x]

This comment by SEAMUS is incorrect. There are studies that have verified a coal fired plant if used to run an electric car would still produce less CO, NOx, CO2, HCs, and other emissions over comparable gas cars. Nevermind that only half of U.S. electricity comes from coal, and the rest is from natural gas, hydroelectric, nuclear, and other sources. From hydroelectric, solar, and wind, air pollution is effectively zero.

[ujdo]

It's funny they didn't mention that this Tesla will cost around $100,000. When it gets down to around $30,000, that's when the masses could really get their hands on one. BTW, where will all the extra electricity come from??

[chaosphobia]

Yes but they are still cleaner than gas...besides as the grid gets cleaner that won't be an issue