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Originally Posted by Si
Great points 
Add to that: Electric cars cause more pollution in the build process, mainly from making the batteries with the materials being shipped all over the place. |
Part shipping occurs in every manufacturing process, not just electric cars. The batteries used in electric cars contain no heavy metals and can be recycled.
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Originally Posted by Si
The electricity going to that battery is only green if it is green energy making that electricity. If that electricity is being produced coal or oil anyway, what is the point?
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This depends on where you live. Canadians get most of their electrify from clean hydro electric dams and nuclear. Some Canadian electricity is sold to the US too, but you're right. The US gets 52.57% of its electricity from Coal which is too bad. Only 20% is from Nuclear and 2.39% is from other renewable energy. If the US could bend these numbers that would be cool.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Si
Hydrogen is the way forward,
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Nooooo... A Hydrogen car is still an electric car - it just uses a Hydrogen fuel cell to seperate protons and electrons from the Hydrogen fuel to generate electricity instead of a battery. One cool thing: While the electrons are used for energy, the left over protons become a hydro ion (a hydrogen atom with a positive charge) which will then bond with oxygen atoms, making your car's exhaust drinkable water! (Steam actually because its very hot, but still)
The problem with Hydrogen is that it is expensive. The best way to make Hydrogen is by passing electricity through water in a process known as electrolysis and it takes alot of energy to do it. It's also very explosive, requires special handling, takes up much more room in your car than batteries do, and requires an expensive delivery infrastructure.
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Originally Posted by Si
or bio-ethanol.
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No..! This means converting farms to grow fuel instead of food. It too is expensive and polluting and is a "big a health risk as gasoline" according to Stanford University.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Si
If you can't see how bad electric cars are then you need a wake up call, the technology isn't there yet and others are soon to take over.
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Maybe you want to take another look. Electric isn't "here, yet", but its definitely getting a little closer every day. I drove a Tesla Roadster twice already and besides the speed, the "thrill" for me was that it finally felt like a piece of the future had arrived. I'm really looking forward to seeing electric cars on the street.