[V8] electric cars

[Mike Arman]

Its coming . . .

We are going to see electric cars soon, not hybrids like the Volt or the Pious, but 100% electric 
cars, battery powered, just like a four-wheeled laptop.


Doesn't scare me in the least, as a long-time Audi owner I have gotten pretty good at 
troubleshooting and fixing balky automotive electrical systems ;-)



Nissan plans to make the rather pretentiously named "Leaf" (cue green-gasm), but despite the dumb 
name, it is actually a pretty usable vehicle. They're talking about 2 million of them a year. Top 
speed will get you arrested in most states, and range is 100 miles between recharges. Quite frankly, 
that range covers 95% of the driving I do, and I have the V8Q if I need to go further. Cost expected 
to be comparable to present cars.


All the other car companies are jumping on the bandwagon too. We are going to see some SERIOUS 
competition for range, there is a LOT of money at stake here. Battery technology is advancing 
rapidly (like any technology that you pour money into), and I'd wager that inside of five years, 
we'll be able to buy an all-electric car with equivalent range, performance, and price as a Ford 
Escort or Hyundai or similar. Nothing spectacular, but a 100% electrical replacement for the average 
gas powered econobox.

Remember that MOST people aren't interested in cars, they just want to get somewhere (and back) for 
the least amount of fuss and lowest cost. We're the strange ones here, who in their right mind would 
put up with the consummate weirdness and expense of the V8Q unless it was a fetish object?


Advantages of the electric car are legion - obviously, no gasoline. Electricity comes from the local 
utility company, which is A) regulated by the state PSC or equivalent, so no $4.00 a gallon 
surprises based on commodity futures or other manipulation (but remember Enron), and B) while power 
plants do emit pollutants, it is much easier to control them at one central, professionally 
monitored and run location than at 20,000,000 end users (the cars). We may find ourselves back in 
the nuclear power plant business after all.

The vehicles themselves are FAR simpler - no engine, smog controls, OBD-II, ECU, MAF, catalytic 
converter, exhaust system, muffler, fuel tank, fuel pump, fuel injection, oil and filter changes 
(which are another prime source of pollution), no more tuneups, no oxygen sensors, no heavy, 
complicated, expensive and unreliable transmissions (maybe a differential), no spark plugs, no 
radiator, no water pump, no serpentine belts, rollers, tensioners, alternators, and on and on and on.

The only significant problem right now is battery capacity (range) and expense. Hybrids such as the 
Pious and the Volt have auxiliary gasoline engines (with the attendant complexity and expense) 
simply because current batteries are inadequate - but that is changing and it is changing rapidly. 
These hybrids are a dead end - once we have adequate battery capacity, the game is over for them.


An electric car is a simple machine: A four wheeled box with brakes, a battery, an electric motor 
and associated controllers, and creature comforts.

Since the battery capacity is limited, the various power consumers need to be optimized. No more 
incandescent headlights - so all LEDs or HID or compact fluorescents. (I have a dozen light fixtures 
in my hangar, each one takes two bulbs. If I use 24 75 watt bulbs, that's 1,800 watts an hour, 15 
amps draw at 120 volts. If I use 24 CFLs, they are 18 watts each, or 432 watts, or 3.6 amps - just 
over 1/5th the current for the same amount of light.)

Car entertainment systems draw next to nothing unless someone goes berserk, call it an amp or two.

Air conditioning does take some power, and it is difficult to sell a car without A/C - impossible in 
Florida and Texas. Small motor driving a high efficiency compressor might work, someone has 
developed a SONIC compressor with no moving parts at all, that might work better.

Heat is also a power hog - while a resistance space heater will do the job, you'll kill the battery 
trying to stay warm. Possibly a heat exchanger on the electric motor? Maybe even better insulation 
in the car, just like we now do in houses?

The motor controller is interesting - all solid state, one module. I can already buy solid state 
relays that will switch 220 volts at 15 amps (3,300 watts, 4.4 hp) for a $20 bill, they are the size 
of a deck of cards. The capacity of those is going up and the price is coming down.

Electric cars are now at the point where computers were just after the TRS-80 and the Apple II were 
announced - they have moved out of the hacker's garages and are just entering the mainstream. 
Remember that computers cost $2,000 back then, and the market was small. Cars cost ten times that 
and the market is HUGE - tell me about all the R&D money that is going to be POURED into electric 
cars by the major car companies and some governments now that they are beginning to be mainstream - 
it is going to be HUGE, and whoever gets it figured out best (and first) is going to make Bill Gates 
look like an absolute pauper.

Now - when can I buy an all-electric Audi A5 Cabrio for the same money as the gasoline model, and 
with the same performance? I'm thinking it may be sooner than we expect - five or ten years and the 
gasoline automobile will be a curiosity as in "People actually drove those things?"

Best Regards,

Mike Arman
V8Q (looking more and more like a dinosaur, big, fast, expensive, belongs in a museum because the 
CLIMATE CHANGED!)