Electric E30

[YAN-3]

Pretty damn neat, how do they get vacuum for the brakes?

thats the downside, no brakes sorry!:p

[z31maniac]

Are you sure?

Better check under the bed and in the closets.

This is a true story:

In the early 80s there was this grad student at Cal Polly (weird guy, I can't remember his name to save my ass at the moment).

His whole thing was batteries and energy storage. He had this project going trying to develop TMF Batteries ("Thin metal Foil" I think).

He had this job offer from some big ass oil company (Exxon I think) and was in great turmoil over whether or not to take it because it was something like a bigger salary than God gets for running the universe.

Being the Socially Conscious, Raised by Hippies, Northern California kid he was, he turned the job down.

About a month latter he disappeared without a trace.












(now let's wait a few months and see if this story takes off)

Hi DC.

[norcalE30]

whack... well done tho, but still whack

[hendrixvodu]

cool! so how fast is it?:p

faster then an m10 hhhahah

[CorvallisBMW]

Wow, I've never seen this thread before. So cool!!!!!

[E30 Cabrio]

Are you sure?

Better check under the bed and in the closets.

This is a true story:

In the early 80s there was this grad student at Cal Polly (weird guy, I can't remember his name to save my ass at the moment).

His whole thing was batteries and energy storage. He had this project going trying to develop TMF Batteries ("Thin metal Foil" I think).

He had this job offer from some big ass oil company (Exxon I think) and was in great turmoil over whether or not to take it because it was something like a bigger salary than God gets for running the universe.

Being the Socially Conscious, Raised by Hippies, Northern California kid he was, he turned the job down.

About a month latter he disappeared without a trace.












(now let's wait a few months and see if this story takes off)

I call BS

[Kruzen]

i call bs

wow really??!!!!

[Liam]

I call BS

wow really??!!!!

Really, picking on the handicapped.

Be nice, he must be near sighted and can't read the fine print.

[TexasTerp]

Because hydrogen is now just used as an excuse to keep using oil while we wait for the technology to "develop". (for an indefinite time). Electricity is a known technology.

This is very true, most of the problems with hydrogen right now is centered around distribution, and completely new engine development. Diesel conversions are already available.

Wrong. Do you have any idea what it takes to keep hydrogen from leaking everywhere?

Electric cars are the future. The only thing we are waiting for is greater battery technology.

I dream of an electric car with four intependent brushless DC motors, a well programmed controller and at least 150 miles range.

for short range, electricity works, city driving is fine, but you're forgetting about Cargo and Shipping freighters and basically all large machinery in general. You also have to take into account that in order to provide the necessary voltage to millions of Americans alone would require the complete uprooting of the current Transmission infrastructure with a brand new one that would cost Trillions upon Trillions of Dollars to be "efficient". You then also have to make the necessary changes that have to be made in order to generate all of that new electricity, which means more plants, if you want them to be "green" (i.e not Coal) you have to build nuclear. Wind and Water power generation has proven to be useful under smaller loads but even the largest Wind Farm has shown to be inefficient under full load and is inconsistent considering that there is no useful power generation under 10mph. Also have you taken into account the necessary disposal and recycling issues that would be caused with Lead, NiMh, or any other type of battery?

Current hydrogen/diesel hybrid conversions allow for exponentially longer travel, for instance there is a business in SoCal that does these conversions for anywhere between $10-20k, and the owners personal H1 Hummer gets 100mpg with with a travel distance of over 2400 miles on a single tank!! It also makes something like 700hp and has less than 2% CO2/Monoxide gas output. There is an article on the Owner and his Company that came out last year in Fast Company magazine. You can probably find it on their website.

Regarding the casing and transfer of hydrogen, that technology has been around for decades and has been miniaturized for use in many machines, not just cars. It's not like you're re-inventing the fuel line for this application, just reinforcing it. Also have you ever seen a Hydrogen fueling station? To my knowledge there are 6 in California, 4 in Nevada and 6 in Texas. Mostly owned my BMW and Mercedes Groups. There are two BMW specific ones in Houston, they are safer to use than current gasoline setups with almost no spillage, better valve and pressure systems.

Yes, Hydrogen only systems are somewhat of a ways off (considering BMW and Mercedes advancements in that field) but the over all cost to the American people (and the world over) is FAR Far less for a hydrogen/hybrid on existing technology than trying to switch to electricity on such large scale.

Lets see what happens to Tesla Motors. Hopefully they wont go under, and at least at this point the larger car companies have more to worry about with what to do with their bailout money. I wish all that bailout money would have gone to Tesla for R&D. Screw the big three, because of mismanagement and lousy product, who buys American cars anymore?
I WOULD BUY A TESLA IN A HEARTBEAT! But Tesla doesn't sell them on the east coast yet.

I completely agree, the Tesla Roadster is a fast, beautiful car. Range is short but you would never use for long range driving anyways. Too bad the "econo" model is still $50k base.

[decay]

back on the subject of the cars- i'm wondering if the lack of vacuum for the brake booster could be compensated for by using regenerative braking (think engine braking, but you're effectively turning the motor into an alternator and recharging the batteries). i read an article on one electric car conversion (i think it might have been the scion-based "e-box"), regen was variable and if you turned it all the way up the effect was pretty pronounced.

gf's dad has a tesla roadster on order. no idea when it's going to arrive, but i'm desperately hoping his AP2 S2000 becomes a hand-me-down to daddy's favorite daughter when it does :D

[Paukert11]

That is fucking sick.

[TwoJ's]

back on the subject of the cars- i'm wondering if the lack of vacuum for the brake booster could be compensated for by using regenerative braking (think engine braking, but you're effectively turning the motor into an alternator and recharging the batteries). i read an article on one electric car conversion (i think it might have been the scion-based "e-box"), regen was variable and if you turned it all the way up the effect was pretty pronounced.

Regenerative braking does not affect braking power. You are right in that it acts like a generator, but all it does is induce current to charge. You may be thinking of braking with the motor, which is entirely possible. I'm not sure if it is just induction motors, but you can definitely brake with an electric motor and controller.