[paul.fr]

http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/videos/view/56-Electric-Drag-Racing

[Make it Lady]

I never thought they were slow. It is the need to be constantly re-charged that is the problem. They are great for short journeys but as a family car that could take you long distances....no chance.

[DoctorBeaver]

Have you seen this?

[Pumblechook]

They are slow.  They crawl along.

[LeeE]

Have you heard about this?

Although the ten minute charge stuff must be nonsense - the current required would be silly.

[Chemistry4me]

That looks like a nice car. Really nice.

[Pumblechook]

A real electric car which real people drive on real roads...

It crawls along and has a poor range.

http://www.goingreen.co.uk/store

[DoctorBeaver]

Quote from the article on the SSC Aero:-

Now we at Vulture Central don't claim to be top-flight electrical engineers but that claim sounds like bollo... er... suspicious to us.

Very likely.

[DoctorBeaver]

A real electric car which real people drive on real roads...

It crawls along and has a poor range.

http://www.goingreen.co.uk/store

Did you see Clarkson driving 1 of those?

[Pumblechook]

No.

Did he nearly turn it over?

Hammond drove a small elec and found it to be rubbish.

[Karsten]

I rode along in a Twike once. Swiss made electric three-wheeler with human power option. We got the wheels squealing in the parking lot. It was quite fun!

(Of course you have to consider that I am the most boring driver ever. If you want traditional driving performance in any vehicle you sacrifice fuel efficiency.)

[lyner]

I can't believe the claim in the original link about recharging in ten minutes on a standard 110V outlet. We've been into the kWh needed on several occasions and, even overnight, is a bit of a problem.

[DoctorBeaver]

I can't believe the claim in the original link about recharging in ten minutes on a standard 110V outlet. We've been into the kWh needed on several occasions and, even overnight, is a bit of a problem.

That was revised to 240v. But even so, I don't see that it's possible from a domestic supply.

[LeeE]

Nope, like I said, the current required would be silly.

[Pumblechook]

The Tech Director of Lotus, Simon Wood, (Lotus/Tesla cars) reckons for electric cars to be viable the battery pack would need to be 100 kWh which unless there is a significant breakthough in batteries will be pretty heavy.  

You would need something like 130+ kWh of mains energy to charge a 100 kWh pack as the charger (AC-DC converter) is not 100% efficient and the charging process is not 100% efficient.

So a one hour charge would require a 130 kW supply which is nearly 10 times that of a domestic supply.

A ten minute charge would require a 780 kW supply which is ONLY 56 times a domestic supply.  High voltage and high currnet would be needed...I doubt it would even be allowed on saftety grounds even if it could be done technically.  Current battery technology would not allow it on battery life considerations.

I think 3 hours would be the minimum you could ever get away with.   240 Volts at 180 Amps x 3 hours.   Not a domestic supply though.  12 hour min on a domestic supply and even then no cooker or shower etc while charging.

[teragram]

Paul (original posting):-
Now you’ve rattled some cages!!

Carefull!! To imply that electric cars have other than milk float performance is a serious heresy on a technology forum, sorry, on THIS technology forum.
 
The drag racing movie (there are others) proves the superiority of electric motors as vehicle movers most convincingly.

[paul.fr]

Paul (original posting):-
Now you’ve rattled some cages!!

Sorry but other than four wheels and a steering wheel, I know nothing about cars. I just thought the link was interesting and that others may also find it interesting.

[Make it Lady]

A real electric car which real people drive on real roads...

It crawls along and has a poor range.

http://www.goingreen.co.uk/store

Did you see Clarkson driving 1 of those?

I saw Clarkson test this and although he actually loved it, it proved not to have the battery life the manufacturer claimed. Surprise, surprise.

[teragram]

Paul (original posting):-
Now you’ve rattled some cages!!

Sorry but other than four wheels and a steering wheel, I know nothing about cars. I just thought the link was interesting and that others may also find it interesting.

Paul, Pardon my sarcasm, no need to apologise. It was to me a very interesting link. I love to see high performance electric cars in action

[Pumblechook]

I haven't seen Clarkson driving a G-Wizz which he seems to have nothing but contempt for (love it???) but he did drive a Tesla and was quite impressed but it a was big thumbs down after concluding the batteries would be flat pretty quickly driving it flat out and a drive to Scotland from London would take over three days with all the (slow) charging stops required.