How would you like to see hybrid cars like the Chevy Volt lose their auxiliary "gasoline-powered, range-extending" engines to become less expensive plug-in electric commuter vehicles?
by 
palmagma
ANSWERS: 4
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Sure, it would be great to have to build more coal-fired power plants to run all of the little supposedly clean electric cars. Or maybe we could really poison the planet by building more nuclear plants so that every little town could go through what Marietta, PA and surrounding counties, and Chernobyl and its environs suffered. Electricity doesn't just magically come out of the wall. It is generated somewhere, and usually with dirtier fuel than gasoline. What I'd really like to see is a return to interurbans and streetcars. The tracks are still being used in my town. All we'd need is a small locomotive and a couple of cars and they could deliver us to the neighboring city several times a day to within a half mile of the city bus depot. The infrastructure is still there and it would take so little to get it up and running. All we need is leaders with some sense. In many cities, they just paved over the old streetcar tracks. All they would need to do is grind the pavement down and replace the sleepers.
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Good thought, but they would still SUCK compared to these. <www.engineair.com> Imagine an Air Compressor "Sandwiched" betbeen a "Lawnmower Engine" & an "Electric Motor". These cars run on Compressed Air (no $$$ exotic batteries) just a Modified "Rotary (Wankel) Engine". When out on the road & running low on "Air" the small gas engine kicks in filling the "Air Tanks". Staying overnight, just plug it in. John
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Although the the "Volt" and others like it will help to reduce oil dependence etc. the fact that you still need an energy source ie. electric, is still something that R&D has not perfected quite yet; nor has the public in understanding that they will have to plug in their cars every night before bedtime--increased elcetric bills, expansion of energy grid platforms, and more raw energy needed to produce electricity....I don't think we're quite there, but it looks like we may some day!
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Consumer clinics say very few people would buy a car that is strictly limited to the electric only range of a volt. The term Range Anxiety is used to describe the feeling people get when the know their vehicle will just stop and need to be recharged for at least an hour to get gouing again. If you can drive within the limits of the battery the gas engine will never run. BTW what you propose IS being worked on.
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