Hybrid cars that run on electricity - What happened to them?

[have2fly]

One of the video's on this forum with a lecture of some professor has the explanation. Nikola Tesla (famous Serbian inventor), who lived in NYC for some time at the beginning of 1900's actually found out a way to generate electricity out of air! And also transmit electricity without much loss through air between large electric towers. To this day there are pictures of his experiments with electric current that no one is able to imitate or even come close to imitating/repeating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

However, Tesla's research was financed by Rockefeller (duh). When Mr. R. found out that Tesla created a "free" energy that could be freely transmitted, he took away all (or most) of the funding and made Tesla shut down the research.

Nearing his death, Tesla was working on government research of some mind controlling weapon, he was also slowly losing his mind due to being old and sick. Right after he died in his hotel room, FBI had confiscated all of his documents that were locked in his private safe in his hotel room. So guess what? In those Top Secret papers there could be answers to all kinds of energy solutions and maybe weapons.

After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents.

So why is it locked away? Yes, Lj1221 is right that oil companies are making huge profits and don't want to lose them. That's one of the main reason why Rockefeller took away funding from Tesla and put a stop on his research. BUT the picture is MUCH MUCH bigger!

Just imagine - in one beautiful day on TV the tell you how to convert your engine into electric motor that never needs refueling (or buy electric motor for cheap, whatever). What is going to happen? No one is going to buy oil, stock market is going to crash, oil companies will fire thousands of people - also mass layoffs of car producing plants, car repair shops, gas stations, parts producing plants, service and maintenance etc.

In addition, there will be no need to coal, nuclear, water-based electric power plants. All those companies will go bankrupt too! What happens next? Dollar crashes, Euro crashes, Russia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait - ALL of those countries GO BANKRUPT because no one is buying oil any more.

This is a way to the anarchy or a new world order! New history, new powers, new wars, new ideals, new economies, new goals and needs in life... God only knows what would happen!

So just think for a moment? How much research out there in the world exist that we don't know about? I saw a sci-fi movie on Russian TV that talked about a cure for diabetes and that there is a drug that is sold on the black market for $20 000 or $50 000 bucks that takes away need for insulin shots!

The world we live in is engineered and geared towards concentration of power in the hands of the rich, in the hands of the few. We depend on oil as much as we depend on hospitals, banks and currency (unfortunately). Whole world runs on oil, oil is power, oil is money, oil is economy of the world. You take away oil - you take away world economy. Of course IT WILL NOT happen! Yes, there is a way to slowly decrease consumption and introduce "green" energy and hybrid cars, but everyone knows that taking away oil will crash the world we live in today.

P.S. I saw another movie about GM killing USA trams and trolley's in 1950's and 1960's. SO SAD! Hands up to Europeans for saving and enlarging their tram and train network. I had a ride on high-speed French TGV train - it is flawless, comfortable, quiet, fast... loved it. All of the Europe is actually using trains very extensively, but USA always lagged behind through the history and built cheap rail network to cut costs, but sacrificed speed and quality.

P.P.S. A few days ago I test drove a brand new Honda CR-Z sport 2-door hybrid coupe. Stick option is really fun to drive, interior is really cool and futuristic. Much better than bland boring and ugly Prius. However, Lexus 400 hybrid is a pretty good vehicle, as well as his cousin Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

[globetrotter]

Well, I watched a video entitled "What killed the electric car."

It was in fact, the gas companies, they actually gathered up all the efficient batteries, and patented them, then locked them away.

This is what happens when a nation abandons STEM education.

The reason the electric car is not everywhere is because it wastes fuel.

Automotive Engineers ran the numbers back in 1880 and concluded that there needed to be a better source of energy than a battery.

[momopi]

The reason you dont see that many Hybrid cars that run on electricity is cause THEY ARE NOT PROFITABLE. The car parts and repair indutstry make over a 100 billion dollars a year .Hybrid cars that run on electricity you rotate the tires check the fluid hookup the computer and your done. no money to be made thats why. in my opinion
ps dont forget big oil they stand to lose trillions from gas and oil

The consumer "hybrid" car today is a gas-electric, like the Tokyo Prius. It has both an internal combustion engine, plus an electric propulsion system. So, yes, you still need to get an oil change every 3,000 to 5,000 miles, replace the water pump, and possibly replace some belts (unless if it's timing chain).

All-electric cars, such as the Tesla Roadster and Nissan Leaf, are usually not referred to as hybrids. Yes, batteries are expensive, and cars like the Nissan Leaf are made affordable by government tax breaks and subsidies.

Our cars run on oil today simply because oil was relatively cheap through the 20th century. Despite all the fears about "running out of oil", there's actually a lot of oil deposits out there, it's just a matter of being economically feasible to recovering it. Same goes for gold. If it costs you $1,000/oz to dig gold out of a mine, and the gold price is $500/oz, then it's not worth your effort. But if the gold price goes to $2,000/oz, then it's worth your while to invest in the mining operation.

In Alberta, Canada, the oil sands there has estimated deposit of 1.7 trillion barrels of oil, but its' expensive to extract the oil. At 2006 prices of $63/barrel, it was estimated that only 10% of that (near the surface?) is economically recoverable, or ~173 billion barrels. As oil prices rise, I think a larger % will become economically recoverable, off-setting the rising prices. Two companies involved in the operation, Shell and Suncor, are my customers.

[globetrotter]

The cost of oil does not matter.

If you create electricity you need to burn oil or coal (most US electricity is from those sources) to make the electricity to transport it hundreds of miles to your outlet to charge your electric car.

Again, guys. Not conspiracy.

Science.

[momopi]

The cost of oil does not matter.
If you create electricity you need to burn oil or coal (most US electricity is from those sources) to make the electricity to transport it hundreds of miles to your outlet to charge your electric car.
Again, guys. Not conspiracy.
Science.

Here's some data on the subject:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricit ... le1_1.html

Power generation in the US:
44.9% from Coal
23.4% from Natural Gas
20.3% from Nuclear
6.9% from Hydro
3.6% from Solar/Wind/etc
1% from Petro

Power generation in China:
70% from Coal
20% from Petro
6% from Hydro
3% from Natural Gas
1% from Nuclear (expected to rise to 4%-5% in future)

The reason the electric car is not everywhere is because it wastes fuel.
Automotive Engineers ran the numbers back in 1880 and concluded that there needed to be a better source of energy than a battery.

Electric cars did not make sense in late 1800's due to the size, bulk, and cost of the batteries. But it did make sense for mass transit systems. Here in Los Angeles, we had electric rail cars in 1890's that replaced the old horse drawn cars. At its peak the Pacific Electric Railway had 1,150 miles of track, 900 electric rail cars, and over 100 million passenger rides in a year. Unfortunately, the coming of the automobile and freeways made it obsolete in post-WW2 era.





Red cars:
http://www.oerm.org/pages/pe.html

Yellow cars:
http://www.oerm.org/pages/lary.html

[pete98146]

The Nissan Leaf is scheduled to be released in certain US cities last quarter of 2010. Very much looking forward to seeing them in real life.

Looks like a nice car. If the car is a hit, other car manufacturers will follow suit. Next step would be installing electric recharging stations at the existing gas pumps.

[globetrotter]

They still don't make sense because they waste electricity, fuel and btu's.

The battery is just one step in a dozen or more steps from the power plant to the wheels of your car, and the one that has most of the energy waste is the original burning of fuel to the generator.

Next is the transmission line system.

Third is the chemical:electricity conversion of the battery.

With best systems we have today a gas auto saves about 30% or more energy.

If the USA was willing to build 1,000 nuclear reactors then I suppose we could waste the energy to electrify all autos, but the USA has not built a new nuke plant in almost 35 years.

Science, not conspiracy.