Here is an article on another electric car!  Read and then we will discuss the pros & cons...

 *** The maker of quirky plug-in electric minicars, which has been operating in Europe for 19 years, is among a number of small and large players looking to cash in on what is expected to be a growing market for electric vehicles.

THINK chief executive Richard Canny said at the Washington Auto Show this week that the company expects to begin work this year at an assembly facility in Elkhart, Ind., and begin production in early 2011, with the goal of producing as many as 20,000 vehicles a year.

Canny, an Australian who spent 25 years with Ford Motor Co. in various locations, said the tiny startup is able to compete against some of the automotive giants in the marketplace. “Unlike the market for conventional cars, the playing field is more level in the electric vehicle market,” Canny said in an interview with AFP. “THINK has 19 years of experience. We build cars that start in the Scandinavian winters. The speed of a small company like ours will offset the scale of the large companies.”

U.S. sales will begin later in 2010 from cars produced at a facility in Finland, Canny said. Initial sales are likely to be to company or government fleets, although some direct sales to consumers may take place as well, he noted.

The privately held group is backed by investors from the U.S. and elsewhere, with a large stake held by EnerDel, an Indiana manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries that will be the supplier for THINK cars in the U.S.

A boost for the startup auctioneer came with an announcement Tuesday by a developer of vehicle-charging systems that claims to provide an 80 percent charge in 15 minutes, at a price of just $2 to $3.

THINK will work with California-based AeroVironment, Inc. on the new charging stations that will be installed in major cities. The fast-charge system employs a protocol developed by Tokyo Electric Power Company and has been used on development vehicles.

“This is a major leap forward for electric vehicles,” said Canny. “The development and deployment of very-fast-charge stations will help speed the electrification of automobiles in the United States and globally.”

THINK has sold about 1,600 vehicles in Europe, but only a few hundred are the new generation THINK City, which has top speed of more than 70 miles per hour and a range of more than 100 miles per full charge.

Canny said the car is likely to be sold at under $30,000, and that volume may eventually bring prices down to the “low $20,000” range. Although the price is higher than many conventional cars, that is offset by the fact that it is virtually maintenance-free and has operating costs of about two cents per mile.

Amid surging interest in electric cars, Canny said the company is not yet profitable but “we are moving toward profitability.”

THINK is not alone in the race for the electric car market.

Another startup, U.S.-based Wheego, announced at the Washington Auto Show that it would begin sales of its all-electric car this year in the United States at under $35,000. “We’re five guys in Atlanta, so we don’t have the overhead some of the bigger companies have,” said marketing director Les Seagraves.

Some analysts say the road may not be smooth for electric cars in the United States.

A study by Boston Consulting Group found that electric-car battery costs are expected to fall sharply over the coming decade, but are unlikely to drop enough to spark widespread adoption of fully electric vehicles without a major breakthrough in technology.

“For years, people have been saying that one of the keys to reducing our dependency on fossil fuels is the electrification of the vehicle fleet,” said Xavier Mosquet, leader of BCG’s global automotive practice and a coauthor of the study. “The reality is, electric-car batteries are both too expensive and too technologically limited for this to happen in the foreseeable future.”

 The main thing the {the supposedly pollution free} electric cars does not elimenate exhaust pollution;  the pollution is just moved to the coal burning power plant some miles away!  HUH!  Just when you thought it was all fixed!

What a revelation!  Can you believe everything they tell you about the so called Carbon Cycle, man as the agent of most all pollution, and this is primarily a money making scheme for the select few?  

 Then you have the maintenance and upkeep of the battery plant...   A large battery plant cost lots, plus then you have the disposal of hazard wastes...   Not to mention the danger of corrosive chemicals that are in the Battery, the voltage, the heat, plus the weight...   Most large battery units weight from 50 to over a hundred Lbs per unit or jar...   Times from 30 to 90 jars or units, can weight from one to two tons...  The car may be small but it will still weight a few thousand Lbs...  We did not look at the cost, usually around a hundred $ per battery jar...   That is some where between $2k & $4K for each car...

 Then how about the average of around 100 mile limit per charge...  Then there are not that many recharge places to just hook up compared to Gas Stations...    Plus with the new "Crap & Trade" bill your electric bill will going through the roof,  plus it takes up to 10 X times as long to recharge a battery, than it did to discharge it...   If you ran out of Gas in a ICE car of today, no problem having to wait for fuel;  just go get your fuel when ever and it will restart!   But if you leave an electric car battery plant discharged for several hours, , most likely you can kiss it good by...  You just need to come up with several thousand $ just to replace the battery plant... Plus a battery hates cold, and many of our neighbors who live in colder climates will be sorry about the non use of their electric car in extreme cold weather.... HUH!  

 Gasoline or Electric?  HUH!!  

 Maybe we should rethink this battery thing?

 HHO, looks better every day!!  It will cut down on the exhaust pollution, increase fuel economy { more miles per gallon}, and clean up your engine...  WIN, WIN...    

 BTW: Just when you are not looking a fact hits you in the face!!   As an electrical engineer; we deal with things life the battery which is by the way just a source of electrons stored and generally should be ready for use!   Here is a tech note on some new devices available for Electric cars; note the high (600) volt DC being addressed...   

Expanding the company’s portfolio of AEC-Q100 qualified products for hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), the Analog Devices ADuM540xW family of quad-channel digital isolators provide magnetic isolation for high voltages up to 600 V, a safety and reliability requirement in HEVs, as well as data-signal isolation. The devices are based on Analog Devices’ iCoupler technology, which fully isolates data and power in a single package that cuts costs. The AEC-Q100 specification requires an operating temperature range from –40°C to 105°C.

  Do you still want an electric car? 

 Generally they are difficult and expensive, not to say dangerious, but what do I know having worked with the battery systems for over 30 years??  

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