New Era of Electrical Cars (EV) - Who Sells Them?

[Airtight]

I have heard so much about the new modern breed of electrical vechice, does anybody in Ireland sell them?

What are the brand names and what do they cost?

I have heard that it only costs 1 - 3 cent per mile, also the cars need little or no servicing or repairs, due to the simlicty of the motor etc..

Any experts out there who would care to enlighten us?

 

[ollie323]

There's these guys:http://www.greenaer.ie/ (no connection)
And there was this list in the Irish Times: [broken link removed] (no connection either)
Some of the makers listed should be releasing EV models here if they have any brains!!
As to the cost of running them, it's probably true but may not include the replacement of the battery when it cannot hold a charge anymore. Regular maintenance will also be greatly reduced. Have you seen "Who killed the electric car?" The compared servicing both an EV and regular car and there is no comparison. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to the battery. Time will tell.

 

[werner]

There's these guys:http://www.greenaer.ie/ (no connection)
And there was this list in the Irish Times: [broken link removed] (no connection either)
Some of the makers listed should be releasing EV models here if they have any brains!!
As to the cost of running them, it's probably true but may not include the replacement of the battery when it cannot hold a charge anymore. Regular maintenance will also be greatly reduced. Have you seen "Who killed the electric car?" The compared servicing both an EV and regular car and there is no comparison. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to the battery. Time will tell.

These cars are neither "green" nor safe

They do not have Euro ncap rating e.g. the G-Wiz to be seen on the http://www.greenaer.ie/ It's not classified as a car by the EU. They call it a quadracycle, which means it can be sold without having to pass the usual Eu Ncap safety tests. I drove this in London and is unsafe at pretty much any of its speeds. It has top speed if you can coax it, of 60 mph but it is really dangerous beyond 5 mph and itonly has a potential range of 40 miles. If I was an environmentalist I would not buy this car. It is too small, too dangerous just like all of the rest of the electric "cars" it simply shifts the carbon source from oil to a power station.

At least if the power is from a negligible carbon producing Nuclear power station it would have some merit but these things are usually marketed to people who imagine that wind turbines provide power that is somehow green and that will be used to charge them. The best wind turbines are 20% efficient, the rest of the time the base load of electricity has to be supplied from either coal fired or gas turrbine power stations, hardly environmentally friendly at all.

 

[Slash]

Also greenmachines.ie in Terenure.

 

[ollie323]

These cars are neither "green" nor safe........

I have to agree there but the op did ask who in Ireland sold EV cars. They are the only ones i know of for now. Have you seen the crash test done with the g-wiz? I think it took an hour or something to get the well broken up dummy out of what was left of the "car". So yes, safety is not big on their list. Or good looks.......now Tesla on the other hand have a 4 door saloon due out in the near future that is BMW gorgeous and is a proper car. Here's a link:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/article5985010.ece

Regarding the carbon output of nuclear power, what are the figures on total carbon released? That is, from digging it out of the ground to storage after it's spent. (However long that'll take?!?)
In your opinoin, what would be an environmentally friendly solution to power generation and/or motoring?

 

[Paulone]

Was fascinated enough to go check the claim about windpower out. I have noted that windpower’s variability and efficiency mean it is described as a fuel-saver rather than a fuel in itself. Looking at it in this context, then I think it does in itself fit the definition of green and is very useful.

Betz’s law apparently states that even the ideal turbine (i.e. can’t possibly exist because it’s so efficient), can capture just less than 60% of the total energy contained in wind, and that modern turbines can capture 70-80% of this. Rudimentary layman's maths suggests that a modern wind turbine field might be able to capture about 40% of the energy available in wind – which is free to start with - so that has to be better than a kick in the teeth.

Power supply has to be supplemented by more traditional energy sources when the wind’s too calm. but Ireland has to be the windiest country in Europe so, on balance, if a car uses electricity as its fuel then it at least has the potential to be using a portion of green-generated electricity and is a lot ‘greener’ than a car that uses only fossil fuels. Whether you could say it was totally ‘green’ is perhaps stretching the point (using the way electricity is generated at the moment). In the future, it might be a different story and I suppose it has to start somewhere.

Given that cars (even electric ones) and the road network etc., require a lot of non-green inputs – plastics, oil, other chemicals, land consumption, long-distance transportation etc., it’s a whole other question whether car’s can ever really be completely ‘green’.

However, we all have to live in the real world and if you don’t have time for or don’t have public transport available, or it’s too far to go or you’re carrying too many/much for the bicycle, then it would be good to do it in the ‘greenest’ way possible. At the moment, electric cars may not always be the answer but some of the time, they might.