Who Killed the Electric Car?

[Aurora Black]

Then this is your lucky day - you can read all my posts, and henceforth have an informed opinion!

I respectfully decline.

 

[R. Richard]

Both steam cars and electric cars were available in the early twwntieth century. The electrics had too short a range to be practical but more efficient batteries would change that. People would probably be able to repower the batteries at home, much like they do with smaller devices. I don't know how this would compare economically with gasoline engines.

Steam cars took too long to operate. They burned kerosene and the driver had to light the burner and wait until the water in the boiler reached a high enough temperature before they could operate them. Although they had some advantages over internal combustion engines, that drawback was fatal.

If you want more on them, google Stanley Steamer.

I have already done a great deal of research on steam cars. The wait at startup WAS indeed a drawback. However, well before their demise, a technology called flash boiler was available. I suspect that the reason that the steam car died was that the manufacturers of gasoline/diesel cars managed to promote the weakness of the steam car and killed the competition before the improvments could be proven.

 

[CharleyH]

I'm remembering a joke I heard many years ago.

"When will we get solar energy? When Exxon figures out how to deliver it to us in a truck."

And in one hundred years most of us will be living lives similar to people in Nigeria. Lucky I won't be around to see it.

LOL Good one.

I had not seen or heard anything about this movie, but anything with Phyllis Diller is bound to be satire. Oil companies killed electric cars for various reason, but I am certain the American government helped them along into failure just as they currently help the Kyoto Accord into oblivion. Controlling resources, particularly energy, is power - propaganda is a part of the key. The electric car will never be a common commodity for a number of reasons in my lifetime, and currently I believe, in part, that the issue is not really "unlike" the Beta vs. VHS war, except that the implications of the oil vs. electric war is wider reaching, threatening to current powers that be and the outcome more serious to those same powers.

IMO.

 

[Boxlicker101]

LOL Good one.

I had not seen or heard anything about this movie, but anything with Phyllis Diller is bound to be satire. Oil companies killed electric cars for various reason, but I am certain the American government helped them along into failure just as they currently help the Kyoto Accord into oblivion. Controlling resources, particularly energy, is power - propaganda is a part of the key. The electric car will never be a common commodity for a number of reasons in my lifetime, and currently I believe, in part, that the issue is not really "unlike" the Beta vs. VHS war, except that the implications of the oil vs. electric war is wider reaching, threatening to current powers that be and the outcome more serious to those same powers.

IMO.

Without defending anybody, there was a battle between electric cars and gasoline cars that happened almost a hundred years ago. Electric lost because of the problems inherent in them. They are expensive, they have a short range, they take a long time to "refuel", and probably others that do not come to mind just now. If the auto manufacturers thought they could me made and sold at a profit, they would be doing that.

I just want to add that I am appy nobody has said anything about extrension cords.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

I just want to add that I am appy nobody has said anything about extension cords.

Excellent point. Related to that, from whence comes the energy to boil the water that becomes the steam that propels steam cars?
(Answer: Hotplate connected to long extension cord.)

 

[CharleyH]

Without defending anybody, there was a battle between electric cars and gasoline cars that happened almost a hundred years ago. Electric lost because of the problems inherent in them. They are expensive, they have a short range, they take a long time to "refuel", and probably others that do not come to mind just now. If the auto manufacturers thought they could me made and sold at a profit, they would be doing that.

I just want to add that I am appy nobody has said anything about extrension cords.

I never mentioned auto workers.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I never mentioned auto workers.

Neither did I.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Excellent point. Related to that, from whence comes the energy to boil the water that becomes the steam that propels steam cars?
(Answer: Hotplate connected to long extension cord.)

I think they were kerosene burners although some of the earlier ones might have used wood or coal.

 

[CharleyH]

Neither did I.

If the auto manufacturers thought they could me made and sold at a profit, they would be doing that.

Auto manufacturers/ auto workers - they are all tied to the same blue collar balls when it comes down to it.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boxlicker101
If the auto manufacturers thought they could me made and sold at a profit, they would be doing that.

Auto manufacturers/ auto workers - they are all tied to the same blue collar balls when it comes down to it.

When I refer to "auto manufacturers", I mean companies, such as GM or Toyota, that make automobiles. If I am going to refer to their employees, I would call them "auto workers" or similar term.

 

[CharleyH]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boxlicker101
If the auto manufacturers thought they could me made and sold at a profit, they would be doing that.




When I refer to "auto manufacturers", I mean companies, such as GM or Toyota, that make automobiles. If I am going to refer to their employees, I would call them "auto workers" or similar term.