Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hydrogen, Lotus, UK
VIDEO: Dale Vince explains hydrogen conspiracy, baits Tesla in latest wind-car update
The latest episode in the "wind-car" building saga is ready for viewing and Dale Vince, the man behind both this project and Ecotricity, has some interesting things to say. Although the discussion is mainly centered around the car and their attempts to make the Exige bodywork look a little more "tough," Dale also explained why he thinks there has been such a push for hydrogen. He says the oil companies like the idea of a hydrogen economy because, "...they make that at their refineries and they can ship it in their tankers, put it in their garages and it's business as usual." He adds that hydrogen-powered cars do one-third the miles of an electric vehicle for a given unit of energy.
Dale also continues to make light jabs at the Tesla Roadster. At the tail end of the video he grins and says, "Our car'll be special. Very, very special. Nothing like the Tesla." While we enjoyed the good-natured tone of the comment, we can only hope there will be an on-track race at the end of all of this taunting. Hit the jump for some British-accented electric-sports-car-making action.
[Source: Zero Carbonista]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Red 1:17PM (12/03/2008)
I dig documenting the build so we can follow it, but I can do without the arrogance of some of these start-ups. Friendly competition is great, but Tesla doesn't even seem like they're acknowledging it as they're trying to keep their heads above water. It's not like Mr. Vince's business model for the wind car is proven either.
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Doug 1:45PM (12/03/2008)
I like the part where they talk about not wasting Dale's money. Any word on how much they've spent yet?
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ryan 2:41PM (12/03/2008)
wind powered car? thats like connecting a generator to the front wheels and a motor to the back of a car and expecting it to just go.
are they expecting us all to have a downhill, mile long driveway to get started so that we can get to the office that is 1/2 mile away? and then how do we get home?
these guys need to go have a chat with their local high school physics teacher.
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jpm 3:08PM (12/03/2008)
You missed the point. The wind is going to INDIRECTLY power the car. Essentially he's saying that the car with run off "ecotricity" (clean electricity from wind).
Keith Wakeham 5:16PM (12/03/2008)
Can a high performance electric car be made with off the shelf components - yes, and actually its very easy if you have the money. Enough money will get you a pack, a charger, a big motor and controller and a lotus elise. Its not hard but it does cost money.
Whats funny is everyone things hydrogen is an energy waster. Fuel cell vs battery for efficiency the battery wins. Battery vs combustion engine guess who wins. Depends - There are combustion engines with millions of miles on them. Think a Li-ion pack will do a million miles? How about 200 thousand. No, maybe 80-100 if you are lucky with a big pack and drive frugally (because of the high current causes accelerated wear and heat) that is designed to give a car 250mile range.
Considering that even with a bad economy over a million of cars are sold a month. Thats a lot of batteries that are expensive to recycle in a landfill in a few years. Sustainable? Naw.
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jake 10:43PM (12/03/2008)
Isn't combustion even worst than fuel cells, and you said fuel cells are worst than batteries, so how is combustion going to be more efficient than batteries?
If you are going to spend a crap load of money on a one off car, you can surely spend some money on better li-ions. The 80-100k number for a 250 mile pack only applies to commodity cells, pretty much the worst in terms of cycle life. There a couple types that can get 5000+ cycles (e.g. altair-nano, a123) and that'll translate to 500,000 miles just with a relatively small 100 mile pack. Even that's total overkill. You can get some of the cheaper li-polys that get 1500 cycles and get 150k miles on a 100 mile pack, or even better with a bigger pack.
If you are going to dump them in the landfill that's not recycling. We have plenty of more dangerous lead acid batteries, and we have hybrid batteries too, and doesn't seem like we are having issues with recycling those.
Alexanderlopez 5:31PM (12/03/2008)
Let's see: this is a Lotus-based electric car. The Tesla is a Lotus-based electric car. How does he expect me to believe "it's nothing like the Tesla"?
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Doug 6:53PM (12/03/2008)
The photo looks like it's in Super Pursuit Mode.
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