Going electric

[88merkurXR4Ti]

So just a thought, I have an 85 with no motor in her right now and got to thinking. J am getting tired of spending money on gas that I could be spending on my 89 haha. Has anyone ever thought of converting their Merkur, or any other car to electric?

[milehighXR]

Nope, last math I saw showed me it was still cheaper to by gas... I also have serious doubts about where we are going to get power for all the hypedbrids, and pure electrics since the eco-nazis will not allow nukes, they don't like hydro, they don't like wind, and I'm sure they have something against solar too. And they really don't like coal. So without a steady/stable source of really cheap electricity, that leaves gas/diesel/biofuels as our most efficient transportation fuel source.

I'll go put my fire suit on now, as I know there will be fire coming my way now

[John Brennan]

Not from me you won't-- you're exactly right. Petroleum is, at this point, by far and away the most efficient, economical, and eco-friendly means of providing fuel for transportation.

[Rocky Leitch]

No flame throwing from me either. Well stated. Petro is still the way to go!

Rocky

[xr4man]

yep, agreed here.

a few months ago i ran into a dude with a tesla roadster. he told me that when he hooks it up to charge it, that it consumes about the same amount of electricity as runs his house for 4 or 5 days. since he has a $95k car, i suspect he has a much bigger house than i do. and going by my electric bill, it still makes gas cheaper.

and like johnny said, where are we going to get this extra power from? then there's the fact that the infrastructure in neighborhoods can't handle more than 1 or 2 electric cars plugged in before blacking out.

[John Brennan]

You could always just go buy a golf cart, if that suits your needs. Please don't do that to an XR!

[DPDISXR4Ti]

A better idea would be the BMW N47D20 Turbo Diesel. Now twice awarded (2010 & 2011), as an International Engine of the Year, what's not to like?
204 HP
295 lb/ft torque
57 MPG
355 lbs (all AL)

This engine was the driver behind the recently announced technology sharing agreement between Toyota and BMW. Alas, there are no immediate plans to put this engine in anything coming to the States with either a Bimmer or Yota badge.

[milehighXR]

I wonder if that is because of the emissions standards here, or because mostguy americans still have a bad rates in their mouths for small diesels.

[AMXSC]

I know this is a old post but I was doing research on converting a car to electric because I'm also tired of paying $4.04 for a gallon of gas.

Anyway after reading the responses to the 88merkurXR4Ti it really just made me think about what you guys said, and I though I would get out my flamethrower because some of the information just didn't make any sense.

Here in NW Wisconsin (from my electric bill) I'm charged $0.12 cents per Kwh.

Tesla Roadster uses an average of 280wH per mile

So the Tesla uses about $.0336 of power to drive 1 mile ($.12*.280KwH)

My XR4ti gets about 25mpg @ $4.04 per gallon.

So my XR4ti uses about $.1616 of gas to drive 1 mile ($4.04/25mpg)

Look to me it is like 4 times cheaper to drive a Tesla Roadster then my XR4ti.

Well If you think about it and if I converted my XR4ti to electric and got an average of 500wH per mile. It would cost $.06 cents to drive saving me about $.10 a mile and I if drive about 12,000 miles per year it will save me $1200 per year. So if I could convert my car for $3600 it would only take 3 years to get the money back.

But the problem I see is that it could cost a lot more than $3600 to convert to electric and I drive my XR4ti a lot less then 12,000 miles a year, but I do see a time when all cars will be electric and gas prices will be over $10.00 per gallon. So I think that converting a XR4ti to electric is a good idea.

[John Brennan]

Knock yourself out. Who knows, maybe coal power IS better for the environment.

I have no doubt that someday, the wheels of our vehicles will be powered by electricity. But until there's a major breakthrough in power generation and storage (batteries), it isn't going to work for those of us who do any real driving.

[C-Rock]

How about this, we convert the cars to run on coal/wood. This means we need to add a boiler to the car for steam. Seems like this has been done before or there is always the 88 MPH theory and the flux capasater

[milehighXR]

I know this is a old post but I was doing research on converting a car to electric because I'm also tired of paying $4.04 for a gallon of gas.

Anyway after reading the responses to the 88merkurXR4Ti it really just made me think about what you guys said, and I though I would get out my flamethrower because some of the information just didn't make any sense.

Here in NW Wisconsin (from my electric bill) I'm charged $0.12 cents per Kwh.

Tesla Roadster uses an average of 280wH per mile

So the Tesla uses about $.0336 of power to drive 1 mile ($.12*.280KwH)

My XR4ti gets about 25mpg @ $4.04 per gallon.

So my XR4ti uses about $.1616 of gas to drive 1 mile ($4.04/25mpg)

Look to me it is like 4 times cheaper to drive a Tesla Roadster then my XR4ti.

Well If you think about it and if I converted my XR4ti to electric and got an average of 500wH per mile. It would cost $.06 cents to drive saving me about $.10 a mile and I if drive about 12,000 miles per year it will save me $1200 per year. So if I could convert my car for $3600 it would only take 3 years to get the money back.

But the problem I see is that it could cost a lot more than $3600 to convert to electric and I drive my XR4ti a lot less then 12,000 miles a year, but I do see a time when all cars will be electric and gas prices will be over $10.00 per gallon. So I think that converting a XR4ti to electric is a good idea.

Doesn't sound right, I heard those things require the equivalent of about one months worth of power for a large house to charge once.

I do recall that when dad was working at Ford in the late 80s early 90s on electric Escorts that he did the math ans it did not make sense to do electric. Seems to me that it still doesn't. It just moves the pollution from the area around the car(LA basin which is what Nancy wants) to somewhere else. Sorry but fossil fuels/renewable fuels such as bio diesel/alcohol are the most efficient ways to move vehicles.

[AMXSC]

lol......

I have looked into woodgas also. The thing that gets me is every time I need to fill up my truck. The Merkur is not a problem but my truck has a 40 gallon tank so it's like $160.00 when it's empty.

Also about 2 years ago I switched from burning LP at the house to burning corn and wood pellets. This saved alot of money that I can now spend on gasoline so there are options. The debate over what is better coal or gasoline for the environment. Both are bad, but I don't see anything wrong with putting up a few solar panels or a windmill up to help with the electric bills.

And I feel that some people could build an electric car and really use it. My example: Over the last month and a half I kept track of all the trips I made (109 trips) about 1200miles and the longest trip was 28.9 miles with an average of 11.2miles. 92% of these trips were under 18 miles. How much battery storage is really needed to travel 18 miles? And most of my driving was at speeds under 35mph. So for me I could do a low cost conversion and I would be fine. My future brother in law on the other hand commutes to work 70miles round trip 5 days a week a conversion for him would cost a lot. So I am forced to agree with you John, that people who do real driving it's not very practical.

What I would like to know is how many people are tired of high fuel prices?

FYI: Doc Brown told Marty in Back to the Future III

Mr. Fusion powers the time circuits and the flux capacitor. The engine runs on ordinary gasoline. It always has.

To bad Mr. Fusion won't help out here.....

[AMXSC]

More info 4 u.

Doesn't sound right, I heard those things require the equivalent of about one months worth of power for a large house to charge once.

I do recall that when dad was working at Ford in the late 80s early 90s on electric Escorts that he did the math ans it did not make sense to do electric. Seems to me that it still doesn't. It just moves the pollution from the area around the car(LA basin which is what Nancy wants) to somewhere else. Sorry but fossil fuels/renewable fuels such as bio diesel/alcohol are the most efficient ways to move vehicles.

Here is some information from the wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster

Sorry but the battery in a Tesla Roadster is 53kwh so it uses the same power as a 100w lightbulb left on for 530 hours. My electrical rate is $.12 per Kwh so to charge the battery once it takes $.12*53Kwh or $6.36. Electric is more efficient then burning dinosaur juice.

Although I hate to admit it I'm old enough to remember the 80s and 90s and I also remember when gas prices broke a dollar a gallon and I also remember the oil crisis in the late 70s. Here is a history lesson for you. Do you know why Ford motor company added a turbocharger to the Lima 2.3L engine in the 1979 Ford Mustang? FYI: It was to improve the MPG rating while retaining the performance of the Mustang in responce to the oil crisis and it wasn't to Hot Rod some Merkurs in then mid to late 80s.

Take a look at Hybrid cars now, also a responce to the price of fuel.

Pure electric cars like the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leif. Same......

I'm not saying the fossil fuels and/or renewable fuels are bad. The reality is that fossil fuels/renewable fuels such as bio diesel/alcohol are very energy dense and very easy to use. But, we are at a turning point in our history of the automobile our vehicles will need to become more efficient compared to the burning fuel ancestors of the 20th century.

[Firefox]

Do remember that charging a lion battery is about 80% efficient. Power generation/transmission probably equally so. Then discharging the battery is about 80% efficient. Then you MUST make sure you take care of your battery, unlike an internal combustion engine, because it will turn into a huge brick if you let it sit discharged for more than a couple weeks. Finally, if one uses half the available power to a standard 200A/240V feed, it will still take 3 hours to charge a tesla roadster's battery, assuming 100% efficiency. It's not an insane amount of power, but it's nothing to sneeze at either - a standard driver of the masses would likely at least double his monthly power consumption owning one.