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Who Killed the Electric Car?
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Just saw it yesterday. Anyone else? Comments?
Personally, I thought they could have toned the movie down a little. The whole "guilty" and "not guilty" stamps really looked as if the movie itself was accusing these companies. A good documentary should set up all the information, but to be really convincing, they need to let the viewer actually formulate that connection themselves. However, I still thought it was an interesting story, to say at least. Really makes you think about all the lights you leave on and all the energy we waste. I'm seriously going to look into those solar panel shingle roofs when I buy a house though, taking myself off the grid would be so cool. As long as I didnt get too cold in the winter I guess.
Also, I really want to start seeing some electric cars in production. Not just because they're better for the environment or because they get us off foreign oil. EC's can be DAMN fast, and with less moving parts, easier to maintain. Theres no lag at all in acceleration either, so electric cars could make Ferrari's and Aston Martin's a whole hell of a lot more quicker and better. If electric cars of today, with little research and funding, can already perform as well as gas cars, which have taken 100 years to evolve to what they are today, then think how freaking fast and outrageous the sports cars of tomorrow could be?
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i was listening to a peice on the radio a while back tlaking aobut this subject. Genral motors made a fully electric car that was way ahead of its time and didn't really catch on. they stopped making it saying that not enought people were interested in buying it. technically you couldn't buy it they were leased out and there wern't many to lease but there were thousands of people in likne to get their hands on one. they said the real reson that it was taken off the assembaly line was because it would have completely revamped our economy. like no more need for gas, mechanics and pretty much all the big things that cars are tied with.
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Yeah, that was one of the main points they concluded in the movie. Its really a good movie, go and check it out if you want to watch something interesting.
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an electric ferrari would sound gay as hell. electric sports car in general are stupid. has a concept ever been made?
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Dude, why not? Electric cars can accelerate quicker, weigh less, have a lower profile and less space needed for a powerplant, and plus there is no need for complex intake vents to cool the engine block. It sounds stupid until you realize that they could blow away old gas powered cars. Plus, they have a sweet sounding whine like a jet engine when the amplifier's kick in after you step on it. Sounds like an awesome idea to me at least...
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i want to see a video of one, until then it sounds too good to be true. i support it but as i just said it sounds to good to be true
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they have gas engines with no lag in acceleration already, i think its called CVT, or something to that effect
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CVT has nothing to do with "lag". "Lag" as you are decribing it has to do with throttle response which is a product of the weight of the engines internals, bottom end, the flow through rate in and out of air, ECU, throttle body and finally the transmission.
a "CVT" is a continuosly variable transmission. It is sort of like a centrifugal clutch on a snowmobile. The faster the speed the more centrifugal pressure pulls a chain or belt up or down a cone in order to change gear ratios in the tranny without actually ever "changing gears". Audi has had a good version of this for a few years. And it doesn't have anything to do with "lag"...which by the way is usually used in reference to forced inducted cars that take a certain amount of time through the rpm range to reach full boost.
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by lag i meant the time lost when changing gears, but im just talking out of my ass really
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good reply, very complete description. you in the car cult? haha
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Running cars on electricity is still overly expensize and not as efficient as most people think. Bio-fuel is where it's at.
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Right now, good quality electric cars are. But if we develop the technology more and give it a few years, they'll be great. Bio fuel really doesnt solve too much, as you're still polluting and still using old dirty combustion engines.
They really are efficient too. Theres that myth that if we all use electric cars, we'll pollute much more by having to produce more power through burning coal and oil. Thats simply not true. Think of all the power it takes to harnes that gas you burn in your car? Energy is used to draw it out of the ground, pump it miles to a refinery, process it, load it into a ship, ship it across an ocean, load it into a gas plant, process and seperate it more, distribute it and then finally getting it pumped into your gas tank. Besides, at least with electricity, some power can and will come from non-polluting sources, like wind and hydro that are already installed.
Think about this as well: If you put solar panels on your roof, you can collect energy during the day and then plug that energy into your car overnight so you can drive somewhere tomorrow. You can produce your own energy for your own car by yourself, which would be freaking awesome.
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i've seen posters and i just saw this trailer http://youtube.com/watch?v=MSBykAngDpY
i really want to see it, it looks so interesting
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exactly.. think about how much more efficient a full scale 20+ megawatt power plant is than your little car engine.
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i say that a group of brilliant environmentalists get together and just say they hate the whole thing and work on making engines totally separate from gas. I would think that the chances of having a large source of some burnable material would exist on the earth. Just don't get bought out by conoco or exxon!!! I would think there would be a large source of income for this and for the most part its morally correct.
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you's quote "better for the environment" is not actually 100% true. yes the cars will eliminate smog, but the batteries used in electric cars are EXtREMELY toxic to the environment, but that's a lil secret not many people realize
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i saw that movie at a special premier and met the director. i thought it was interesting, it had some flaws but all in all it was good and if nothing else it's important to see how corrupt and sneaky the oil companies and the government is.
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No way, my brother saw it at a special premiere with the director too in Washington D.C. Ralph Nader was at the premiere too apparently, and when the director asked for comments Nader said to the his face that he thought the movie was terrible.
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an electric car is stupid. you'd have to plug it into a wall outlet or whatever and the electricity from that wall outlet comes from crude oil power plants and what not so basically it really doesnt help any thing. what we need to do is move away from crude oil and start utilizing the vast reserves of natural gas that we have in our own territory so we dont have to rely on forgien oil. by giving all our money to forgein oil we are essentailly selling america out and making the dollar worth jack shit. hurray.
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sorry for the double post
the thing about electric cars is that they get the energy equivalent of 100+ miles per gallon.
and another thing is that when oil is burned in a power plant, it is used much more effeciently than when it is burned in your car. when your engine gets hot, it is because all that heat generated from burning gas in the engine is wasted energy. when the gas is burned in a power plant all that heat is used to make electricity.
and another thing is that our electricity distribution system is way more effecient than our gas distribution system. think about it. how many gallons of gas are burned by tanker trucks/trains/ships just to get that gas to your local gas station? a whole fucking lot.
so i wonder after all of this, "why the hell havent we switched over to EC's yet?" The answer lies in the fact that oil companies would lose trillions of dollars of buisness if we did and they hold an enormous amount of political power throughout the world. The Iraq war is a pretty good example if you ask me.
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I saw the guy who made the movie on letterman
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I knew electric cars would be efficient and good for the environment and all, but until that link I had no idea how awesome they would be.
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