Meg1;
I am interested to hear about the friend who has a work supplied
electric car. Who manufactured it ? I was not aware that there were
any on the market yet. The only ones I have heard of are conversions.

One of the converters here is Blade Electric Vehicles http://www.bev.com.au/

The other I know of is a member of the AEVA who will convert to order.
He had a converted Mazda four door car for sale a while back.

There is a recharging point at Dural shopping centre at the supermarket I believe.
The Reva was banned by the government and ordered its crushing.

I agree that the 100km is limiting, but since becoming interested,
I have noted my trips and I have not done one trip that was greater
than about 80Km return in the last couple of months.
I will be doing one on Saturday that will be longer.
However I could get a charge at the destination.
Car fitted with Lithium Iron batteries are getting much better ranges
and I have seen ranges of 200 MILES quoted.
They are more expensive.

Sitting in traffic is no problem as no current is used when stopped.
Sitting at lights etc no problem.

Blade Electric had a demo car and for interstate trips he had a small
trailer with some extra batteries and a petrol generator.

Bazz, the Blade Electric car with the trailer and extra batteries sounds like it will be really popular and ? practical to operate...NOT!

Lucky he didn't need to carry a family or any luggage, huh?

I'll enquire about the electric car my friend was supplied with...no idea if it was a conversion or not, just remember it seemed more trouble than it was worth for the kms she was travelling.

I'll get her views and details and respond again when she gives them.

Thanks Meg1; I will be interested to hear the details.
The whole field of electric cars is changing rapidly with newer types
of batteries being available.
There are a couple of expensive electric sports cars that have much
better 0 to 100kmph times that are much better than Ferraris etc.
It is those cars that are getting 200 + miles per charge.
The GM car is expected in 2010 and the Toyota is expected about the
same time.

Hi Bazz, it turns out she has had two 'electric' cars. Not sure of the first, but the second was a hybrid Toyota Prius, which she no longer has...new job. This one she didn't have to recharge, the car ran on battery and fuel. She was happier with it than the first.

Practicalities dictate that electric cars will not suit many situations, biofuels are an environmentally sound and renewable alternative.

Thanks Meg1,
Well the Prius is not an electric car.
Toyota has designed one, based it is believed on the Prius platform
but using Lithium batteries and no petrol engine.
If you are in the city or large town, take note of your daily milage
I know I was surprised at how small my milage averaged out.

Things are changing very rapidly in that field at present.
Cheers

Hi Bazz,

The Prius hybrid is indeed an electric car...starts using petrol and then runs on the battery and recharges by switching to petrol when it needs to recharge, so my friend tells me. Toyota promotes it on its website as THE electric car, etc...it's method of recharging may use fossil fuel but generation of electricity for the grid uses coal fired power stations also.

Toyota has sold a fair number of these hybrids to Government agencies around Qld which is where she works.

While this car would suit even if you travelled distances, I wonder how they would perform as a commercial passenger vehicle in constant use or even for someone travelling regularly over 150km per day?

I have no doubt that electric cars will improve dramatically but electricity generation (recharged from the electricity grid) will still cause some convenience problems for some and electricity supply is likely to become a less reliable commodity as the electricity infrastructure falls into greater disrepair and demand outstrips availability.

Biofuels have been proven in Brazil for numerous reasons and still remain the most cost effective, environmentally friendly and renewable form of energy for fuel.

While supporting one form of energy, we should not overlook the others...