I want an electric car.
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Bob_Robertson Jul 25, 2008 3:53 PM EDT |
Really. My commute is about 20 miles each way, but it's highway. 75mph is a must. Plug-in hybrid is nice, but $$$ with the looming depression the money for a new car is pretty much out of the question. I've seen plug-in hybrid conversions done, but only experimentally. Anyway, this will be interesting to watch. |
| dinotrac Jul 25, 2008 6:32 PM EDT |
I agree, at least if they work well.
My present commute is tooooo long at 40+ each way, depending on the route I take.
Still, being able to get one way before burning gas could save $$$, depending on electric rates. However...there is that initial capital expense. My current ride is an ugly, paint-burned 1993 Prizm that I brought back from the dead with a fuel pump and a steering column lock workaround. It is beautiful in two ways only: Paid for -- in fact, I've got a grand total of maybe $900 into it, and 34 mpg on my commute. Take a lot of time to make that conversion cost-effective. |
| thenixedreport Jul 25, 2008 6:57 PM EDT |
dino, Have looked up using acetone on your vehicle to boost gas mileage? |
| dinotrac Jul 26, 2008 3:18 AM EDT |
>Have looked up using acetone on your vehicle to boost gas mileage? No, but it sounds kind of scary. Isn't that stuff really volatile? At 34 mpg, hard for me to see much room for improvement, plenty of room to wonder what happens to all the little plastic doo-dads in the fuel system. |
| number6x Jul 26, 2008 7:36 AM EDT |
I have a co-worker who commutes about 30 miles each way to downtown Chicago from the burbs in a converted Corolla. All electric. His trip is mostly highway, but since it is a commute to downtown in rush hour the average speed is probably closer to 30mph. He uses a 220 line to plug in at home, but he uses a 120 line at work to top off. _Bob are you looking at bursts of 75mph or sustained? That makes a difference in your choice. There is a thriving after market conversion community that offers more choice than the production market, but it will be a used car. YMMV (literally) so researching the people doing the converting would be a good idea. |
| theboomboomcars Jul 26, 2008 7:41 AM EDT |
The most consistent way I have found of improving gas mileage, other than driving habits, is to use synthetic oil. I have done this on 5 different cars and all of them have gotten at least a 10% gain in fuel economy. The best one would be The Dodge intrepid, we standard oil it got about 29 mpg, after I put the synthetic oil in it got about 34 mpg. Not too bad for an extra $20.00 every 3000 miles. Acetone doesn't seem to be cost effective at all, it costs like $15.00 a gallon, so unless it like doubles your gas mileage or something, you wont really get you money back. I have not looked into it, but it seems that it wouldn't really work since you are basically just oxidizing you fuel when you put it in, which is why if you are having trouble passing an emissions test if you add it to you tank, when it's mostly empty so you have a high concentration of it, it will help you pass. It burns really clean. |
| gus3 Jul 26, 2008 9:42 AM EDT |
@boomboom: I added 3 mpg to my car (1988 Honda Civic CRX) when I got a huge hole in my exhaust system. I started babying it to cut the noise (and not draw attention to myself ;-) and went from 42 to 45 mpg average. Not bad for a car with over a quarter million miles on it. As for acetone, I will point you to Tom and Ray's comments: http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/2006/January/... |
| theboomboomcars Jul 26, 2008 10:46 AM EDT |
Thanks for the link gus. And it is amazing how much gas so can save by trying to keep you RPMs down :). Though the freer flowing exhaust may have helped as well, depending if it was too free flowing. |
| Bob_Robertson Jul 26, 2008 11:07 AM EDT |
6, the 75 is sustained, for most of the distance. I guess I'll just have to keep watching, to see what happens. |
| gus3 Jul 26, 2008 11:26 AM EDT |
@boomboom: I'm going to continue babying the car, just to see. I doubt the freer-flowing exhaust had that much to do with it; 42 mpg is what I got with zippy driving. After all, it's a 2-seater, so why not? Plus, if gasoline is US$4/gal, that's $0.035 difference per mile. It will add up. |
| thenixedreport Jul 26, 2008 12:02 PM EDT |
gus, If it's people saying why acetone won't work, I can say this much: I know of at least two people who use it, and it does work (now if it's the acetone from a hardware store.... wrong one.... what I'm talking about is finger nail polish remover). Edit: and of course one of the people advising against it works for one of the major oil companies........ |
| gus3 Jul 26, 2008 3:11 PM EDT |
@nixed: It isn't just "people saying," it's "MIT-degreed engineers who share a life-long love of cars saying." If you still want to call it "oil company in cahoots with The Man", I guess your mind is already made up. But if you want to melt your fuel line, who am I to tell you that you can't? |
| dinotrac Jul 26, 2008 3:33 PM EDT |
gus and nixed - Anecdotal evidence really sucks for something like this. People who do something to improve their mileage also become really aware of their mileage -- and without knowing it, may drive in a way that improves it. And, of course, there is one way in which acetone can improve your mileage: it works as a fuel system cleaner. After that first tank or two of enhanced gas, your car probably will start running better, acetone or no acetone. |
| azerthoth Jul 26, 2008 4:28 PM EDT |
However they do make fuel system cleaners that dont eat rubber. So again, acetone again looses out. Heck if your really curious, drop a line to mythbusters. Barring that, run your car out of gas, jack up the drive wheels, add 1 gallon of gas w/o acetone and set your cruise control, record mileage when you run out of gas. Rinse and repeat with acetone. Now you have your own evidence at the cost of 2 gallons of gas and an hour or two of time. Might want to run real fuel system cleaner through the system first, to guarantee that any milage gains from the test isn't just from a cleaner and therefor more efficient fuel system. nuff said on the acetone great kaka. I now return you to your regularly scheduled OSS newsfeeds and forums. |
| jdixon Jul 26, 2008 7:10 PM EDT |
My wife had a full electric car. It was a GEM (http://www.gemcar.com/). 30 miles round trip, charged off 120 plug and a top speed of 25 mph. Perfect for her needs except for one minor detail. We had it for about three years, and the motor burned up three times. It spent more time in the shop then on the road. The second time they replaced everything in the car and it worked great for about 5 months, then the motor burned up again. At that point it was out of warranty, and it would have cost almost half it's value to rebuild it again. We sold it to someone who wanted tor rebuild it. It's worked fine for them since. We have no idea why the motor kept burning up on us. |
| gus3 Jul 26, 2008 9:45 PM EDT |
@jdixon: Give the buyer a call. What you learn may be an article in itself. When my CRX turned over 250K miles, I called the guy I bought it from and left him a message. I'm sure he was pleased to know that his little "beater" had held on for so long. |
| jdixon Jul 27, 2008 7:14 AM EDT |
> Give the buyer a call. My wife emails him on occasion. The only thing he found wrong (besides the fried motor and electronics) was with the rear differential, which he doesn't think was related to the motor problems. He hasn't had any problems. |
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