<VV> Fast electric car - no corvair

[FrankCB at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/30/2006 9:30:24 AM Eastern Standard Time,  
ricorvair at cox.net writes:

http://www.wrightspeed.com/x1.html



The difficult part of any electric car is the  BATTERY.  Certainly the 
lithium ion type that this uses is probably the  best commercially available and the 
same type that powers modern laptop  computers but it's very $$$$$.  Plus 
you'll notice that it's only good for  100 miles of driving and permits only 112 
mph top speed.  If they can get  this power source cheaper (and lighter 
weight), they might really have something  here.
    While these cars get an infinite miles per gallon,  the question in my 
mind is how efficient is the entire power concept, i.e., of  the KW electric 
power put INTO the batteries, just how much comes out and turns  the drive 
wheels.  Electric power energy is lots more costly in the USA  than the energy in 
gasoline (even at $3 per gallon).  But the efficiency of  the electric drive is 
much higher than an internal combustion engine.  So  it comes down to what 
percentage of the electric energy that goes INTO the  battery comes OUT of the 
battery.
    The ultimate spec. is how many miles per  energy $ it costs to run.  
    Frank "intrigued"  Burkhard