CO2 emissions on electric car

[tex]

Just taken a look - from just under 14k on the road it seems and out in the summer. £70 a month battery rental which will eat into fuel savings, but then you don't have to worry about the battery losing capacity I suppose.

i dont think batterys losing capacity or efficiency is a problem so far - from what iv heard so far the leaf has been out for a few years [in japanese form] and hasnt had any issues with battery life. the UK version comes out in few months which is cheaper by a quite a few grand and your not renting a battery. it will increase the price of course but with charging costs of around £200 - £250 / year based on 12k thats significantly better. you pay for installation of a charge socket at your home. all but the base models allow you to use fast chargers out and about wherever you find them, which can charge in just 20 minutes from 10% left. gives you another 100 - 110 miles of normal use. of course night time winter driving will reduce it due to lights , heater etc.

tbh driving them is quite fun, they are quite zippy with boat loads of room and kit. the all camera system is nice.. huge screen in dash center gives brilliant parking views

[Martin Keene]

My Escort Mk2 is the greenest car in my street. It hasn't been built 15 times like my neighbours cars who change them every 2 years or so and it still does 40mpg.

And there is the key. Somebody did a whole life cycle carbon foot print study of a Land Rover defender against a Toyota Prius.

 

The Land Rover won massively, I can't remember the numbers but it's total carbon foot print over the life of the vehicle was about 50% of the Prius. Why? Firstly massively less carbon to produce because of the lack of batteries, etc. But mainly because the Defender was deemed to have a huge design life because of how many of the total production where still in existance.

[KerryS]

i wrote it in this thread!

LOL well only sort of...I think I read it in my IMechE mag years ago...but you can have the credit 'coz it's probably true.

[Norman Verona]

If I remember correctly electric motors accelerate to speed quicker than piston engine so acceleration should be OK. Didn't Ferdinand Porsche build an electric car with a motor in each 4 hubs before the war?

[KerryS]

When I was at uni DC motors gave max torque at zero rpm and AC motors were pants. Now with chopper control all new trains use AC motors and produce max torque at low rpm something tomdomwith slip angle....I don't really know what I'm talking about :-(