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Ford Pulls The Plug on Electric Cars
Cytos writes "Apparently Ford has called it quits on their EV program Th!nk Mobility, stating "... we don't believe that this is the future of environmental transport for the mass market." Ford had purchased Think in 1990 and did a short run of advertisments in California for it's lease trial, even involving Hertz in helping out. I was really hoping to see this pan out, I guess our only hope for an EV now is the Toyota Rav4 EV." From the sound of it, most companies are looking at hybrid cars.
ok if you are after torque and speed then Electric car is the way to go in terms of cheap and easy
Lotus had a contract with a mod company that pulled out the petrol engine and stuck in 2 electric ones (I forget the name) but they rocked they where kind of crazy 0-60 Mph in about 3-4 seconds which is bike speed
the problem of course is how far they can go which is batterys
fuel cell cars use Electric motors the differance is the way you generate and store it
regards
John Jones
p.s. the U.S. Guv should be funding alot seeing how you guys are the biggest poluter and also one of the cheapest for fuel wait 10 years and then see how cheap your it is (-;
Efforts to develop alternative fuel vehicles were spurred on by having an environmentally conscious President and Vice President (Clinton and Gore). When Bush and Cheney took office, they let it be known in no uncertain terms that the country's "energy policy" was being written by big oil companies and automakers. They have fought against CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards, pushed to turn over public lands to oil companies for drilling, and dismissed the notions of improved energy efficiency and practical mass transportation. Their lip service to fuel cell vehicles is a ruse because auto industry experts know that those vehicles have little chance of being commercially viable in the near future.
If they had been successful at giving their buddies in the oil industry free access drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, the oil would have been sold on the world market to the highest bidder. That's how oil prices are set. Exxon doesn't give special discounts when oil is sold in the same country where the drilling took place.
So expect to see lots of efforts at alternative fuel vehicles go by the wayside. Biodiesel, electric vehicles, CNG (compressed natural gas), and hybrids will solely be developed based on consumer demand -- not environmental needs. Low sulfur diesel, which would radically reduce pollution and give U.S. consumers access to high-tech European diesel engine technology, won't be mandated here any time soon. Oil companies can mysteriously refine it in Europe while claiming that it is somehow impossible to produce in the U.S. Go figure.
P.S. I figure that this will be modded down in anger by right-wingers. Silencing people on Slashdot is easier than intelligently debating them.