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Happy Wednesday!
<br> I am not as knowledgeable as many others in
the group, but I am a big fan of electric vehicles. I will be happy
to answer your first question, "What do <b>I</b> like about EVs?"
I can also point you to a few excellent resources I have found. We
are a very diverse group, so my list will be different than others.
Some in our group are into racing, while some (me) just want to get to
work. My list:
<p>1. <b><u>Climate Change and pollution!!!</u></b> This is
my first reason for trying to get an all electric vehicle. I'm saving
my pennies. If you look at the science you will find many have figured
out that it would be less polluting for everyone to have an electric car
(<u>even</u> if they plugged into a place that gets its electricity <u>from
a coal plant</u>), than for everyone to have an internal combustion engine
(ICE). If you add to the mix places like my house and others in Austin
who get their electricity from 100% wind power, it becomes much less polluting.
<br> A few people still don't believe climate change
is happening and/or that we have anything to do with it. The head
of General Motors is, unfortunately, one of those people. You might
ask this question in your paper, "How many people made an A in science
in the US?"
<br> I believe a big part of the answer is mass transit.
A very interesting thing happened in the 1950's. Most cities of any
size in the US had a mass transit system in place before 1950. In
the 50's National City Lines bought up most of these systems and promptly
destroyed them! It turns out they were a front company for a conglomerate
of oil companies, etc...
<p>2. <b>Asthma</b>. Doctors are seeing a large increase in
asthma cases especially in areas where pollution is worse. Their
studies have concluded that pollution is a large factor.
<p>3. <b>Efficiency</b>. Resources are dwindling and the human
population is exploding. It does not make sense to continue to use
vehicles which are as inefficient as standard gasoline engines. All-electric
vehicles are already ON THE ROAD. General Motors made the EV1, Tesla
is currently making the Roadster, our Austin EV group has made... how many
cars, trucks, etc...?? It would be interesting to try to find out
how many all-electrics are in operation and use today. The plug-in
hybrid, such as the Prius with the Cal-Cars module, should not be ignored
either. It gets much better miles-per-gallon than the standard Prius.
I know some have a top end of 100 MPG or better.
<p>4. <b>Etc</b>... Henry Ford's wife put it best when she
refused to give up her electric car for the gasoline model, "...they smell
and they're too noisy"!
<p><i>Resources:</i>
<p>Union of Concerned Scientists (I believe they have a good article on
electric cars):
<br><A HREF="http://www.ucsusa.org/">http://www.ucsusa.org/</A>
<p>Austin Electric Vehicle Group (our website):
<br><A HREF="http://www.austinev.org">http://www.austinev.org</A>
<p>Electric Auto Association (national organization which we are a part)
<br><A HREF="http://www.eaaev.org/">http://www.eaaev.org/</A>
<p>Timeline of the electric car:
<br><A HREF="http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html">http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html</A>
<p>I also encourage you to view 2 videos (both available at Blockbuster):
"Who Killed the Electric Car?" and "An Inconvenient Truth".
<p>There are many other excellent resources I will be happy to find if
you need more.
<p>Have fun!
<br>Tuna
<p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<p>John Komp wrote:
<div class="MsoNormal">Dear AustinEV members and readers,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I am a college freshman at Concordia University
just north of Milwaukee, WI. Presently, I am working on a research
project about electric vehicles (EVs). I’m actually
trying to answer the question, “Why don’t we
have a practical EV on the market todayâ€*?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I came across this website from someone I interviewed
who is thinking about an EV conversion. Mr. Franklyn Berry (Milwaukee)
advised me that there are a lot of knowledgeable, “hands-onâ€*
people who frequent this website. I hope that a few of you can take
the time to respond to some of the questions below. Any responses
will be greatly appreciated.</div>
<ol>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="">
What do you like most about EVs?</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="">
I gather from my reading that a homemade EV will cost in the neighborhood
of: $2000-$5000 donor car, $5000-$10,000 parts, 500 hrs labor. Is
this in the ballpark?</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="">
Do you find it a problem to find places to charge your vehicle?</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="">
I have seen estimates of about $0.05/mile operating cost, including periodic
replacement batteries.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="">
Does this seem close to your experience?</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="">
I see ranges of 40-80 miles. Does this seem reasonable in your experience?</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="">
Are repairs much of an issue?</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="">
How many miles have you put on an EV?</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<div class="MsoNormal">Thanks in advance for any information you can share.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Emily Komp</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">kompfamily@hotmail.com</div>
<p><br>
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