Electric Porsche 911 by Ruf

[teatako]

From TreeHugger:

Ruf Automobile GmbH, a German automotive company that has been tuning Porsches for a long time, will make an electric version of the Porsche 911 called the eRUF Model A.

Under the hood, a 150kW (201hp) brushless three phase A/C electric motor that can generate an impressive 480 lb.-ft. of torque and a lithium-ion iron-phosphate battery pack made of 96 160Ah Axeon cells and a sophisticated monitoring system to make sure it doesn't overheat.

But the battery pack could be replaced as new technology comes out. In its press release, RUF says: "The generation of batteries available from Axeon represents by no means the end of the developmental curve. Current performance improvements in battery technology indicate that end of this improvement spiral is nowhere near.

[Ferrer]

Am I the only one who finds electric vehicles boring?

[Wouter Melissen]

Am I the only one who finds electric vehicles boring?

Have you ever driven one?

[Rockefella]

I find the hype about electric cars exciting but the end results seem to cater to those with deep wallets or suffer through impractability.

[Dino Scuderia]

Am I the only one who finds electric vehicles boring?

I find them boring and almost as pointless as ethanol.

[digitalcraft]

Actually I find electric cars really interesting. One of the things they illustrate here that is a huge benefit is the ability to change the energy source, in this case the battery, and not have to change the engine.

Even bigger, they are completely source independant. Nuclear, wind, solar, coal, it doesn't matter to the car, as long as the energy gets to the grid. It means that you could completely revamp your power source grid and you wouldn't have to replace every car and refueling station like we currently face with gasoline engines.

It would allow the market forces to work on lowering energy costs. One of the biggest prohibitions right now to alternative energy is the refueling infrastructure changes. The costs involved in that make gas relatively cheaper even though on a one-to-one comparison its not. However, if the whole system was electric, those costs wouldn't be there. If one energy source was found to be too expensive or undesirable, it would be incredibly easy for the cheaper one to be used instead.

[Wouter Melissen]

Actually I find electric cars really interesting. One of the things they illustrate here that is a huge benefit is the ability to change the energy source, in this case the battery, and not have to change the engine.

Even bigger, they are completely source independant. Nuclear, wind, solar, coal, it doesn't matter to the car, as long as the energy gets to the grid. It means that you could completely revamp your power source grid and you wouldn't have to replace every car and refueling station like we currently face with gasoline engines.

It would allow the market forces to work on lowering energy costs. One of the biggest prohibitions right now to alternative energy is the refueling infrastructure changes. The costs involved in that make gas relatively cheaper even though on a one-to-one comparison its not. However, if the whole system was electric, those costs wouldn't be there. If one energy source was found to be too expensive or undesirable, it would be incredibly easy for the cheaper one to be used instead.

One problem is that they can not be filled up in 2 minutes. As long as that is not solved, they really are not a viable option. They are very interesting to drive though. That torque is addictive.

[Rockefella]

That torque is addictive.

Constant acceleration?

[Wouter Melissen]

Constant acceleration?

All the torque at 1 rpm. I tried a Tesla for a very short spin and was different, but very quick.

[pimento]

One problem is that they can not be filled up in 2 minutes. As long as that is not solved, they really are not a viable option. They are very interesting to drive though. That torque is addictive.

They can't be filled in 2 minutes, but they can be filled while you're asleep at home overnight. As long as they have enough battery to cover your standard day's travel plus about 20% then you're covered for 95% of the time.... good for a second car I suppose.

[AERO_HDT]

A standard day for me is about 15km. If you add 20% to that, you end up with 18km for the life of a battery before it has to be recharged.

Even if you were to extend that to 100km (60miles) you still wouldn't end up with a battery that's sufficient for the enthusiast driver. How are you supposed to go on long 600-1000km trips without wasting hours recharging the battery?

[Ferrer]

Have you ever driven one?

I'm not complaining about the performance, I'm sure it's great.

But for me a big part of the experience when driving a car is the work through the gears, matching my revs while double-declutching and listening to the melody my engine makes.

[digitalcraft]

I've always sort of hoped for a battery transfer station type infrastructure. You have interchangeable, sealed by some sticker batteries and when you go to a station, you just swap out the old for a charged one. They charge the one they take.

You pay electricity and a little extra for maintenance because the stations will have to buy a new battery every now and again as they get older ones.

Stations could either try to work for a standardized battery or perhaps have a brand specific. Like you'd have to go to texaco stations to swap your texaco battery for instance, I don't know the best model for this, but the fundamental idea is swapping a battery is much faster.

[pimento]

A standard day for me is about 15km. If you add 20% to that, you end up with 18km for the life of a battery before it has to be recharged.

Even if you were to extend that to 100km (60miles) you still wouldn't end up with a battery that's sufficient for the enthusiast driver. How are you supposed to go on long 600-1000km trips without wasting hours recharging the battery?

That's why I was saying it's a second car. Use it for commuting, shopping, whatever, but unless there's a battery swaping infrastructure set up as mooted above there, long trips are obviously out of the question.

[teatako]

I've always sort of hoped for a battery transfer station type infrastructure. You have interchangeable, sealed by some sticker batteries and when you go to a station, you just swap out the old for a charged one. They charge the one they take.

You pay electricity and a little extra for maintenance because the stations will have to buy a new battery every now and again as they get older ones.

Stations could either try to work for a standardized battery or perhaps have a brand specific. Like you'd have to go to texaco stations to swap your texaco battery for instance, I don't know the best model for this, but the fundamental idea is swapping a battery is much faster.

I hope for hugely efficient solar panels in my roof that charge my battery as I go along.

electric vehicles aren´t my idea of the future either, but my ideal future is currently illegal: engines running on methanol extracted from homegrown cannabis FTW. bioethanol is just an economic bubble.