Comments on: Interview with Seth Leitman, Author of ‘Build Your Own Electric Vehicle’

By: Seth Leitman

Seth Leitman — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:15:55 +0000

Clay,

I honestly appreciate this discussion with you.

To note, people thought that nobody would buy hybrids because of batteries and now Prius has been selling extremely well. They have even made hybrid cars in the Escallade.

In addition, the car companies are now talking about and developing plug-in hybrid electric cars.

We are moving closer to the electric car and a conversion is the simplest way to get an all electric car.

By: RemyC

RemyC — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:12:30 +0000

Naysayers have always ranted against the electric car, because of its poor range. What people seldom talk about, is the active campaign in the works since the beginning of the last century, to keep battery efficiency low, specifically to keep them out of the running as a possible substitute to the internal combustion engine.

GE had an electric car prototype in 1968, with magnesium batteries, that went 90 miles an hour, with a 140 miles range. In testimony before Congress GE claimed they discontinued the program because they didn’t want to go into competition with their number one customer, General Motors.

Very high density advanced solid state chemistry for batteries has been available to military for decades, yet has never trickled down to the general public. Schools like MIT, who harbor the black labs where military technologies are developed, do not play by the standard rules of commerce. It can sometimes take 20, 30 years for a developed classified technology to reach civilian industries.

Being a resident of Connecticut, one should worry more about what the military is keeping from us in guise of superior battery design, than whether or not a few people won’t take their batteries to be recycled to their nearest Batteries Plus. We’re at war here with individuals who think in their misguided consciousness that national security is more important than the health of the planet, or lap tops that can go forever on one charge!

The same cabal which is now advocating a nuclear renaissance is governed by the same interest as those who have kept the necessary components to make the best electric cars possible from entering the marketplace. Books like this one, and the work of organizations like the National Electric Drag Racing Association and the Electric Auto Association are slowly, but surely forcing military secrecy from revealing their environmentally criminal history.

Enough is enough, we need a rEVolution, and now that standard Li-ion batteries are finally available, pushed into the market by the needs of mobile devices, the chemistries are becoming common place, and labs all over the world are developing better storage systems. Nanodesign and many new isubstrates will soon make the batteries necessary to take a standard passenger electric car farther on one charge than a tank of gas. But it won’t come easy, we need to fight for it. That’s the environmental movement.

By: Starre

Starre — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:23:56 +0000

Wow, it’s so interesting to read that there were women driving electric cars in 1898! I feel like sometimes people think that electric vehicles are super-futuristic, and while obviously will drive us into the coming years, the fact is that they’ve been around as long as there have been cars!

By: Clay

Clay — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:15:30 +0000

You are obviously optimistic that people will take the same care of the batteries that you are. LOL.

The truth is that Honda makes a zero emmissions car, and it’s still not good enough. You still want to push these crazy battery power cars that few want.

By: Seth Leitman

Seth Leitman — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:09:58 +0000

to address some of the concerns addressed in the previous comment:
1) Batteries should be treated with care and not like trash. Also, most companies work to recycle as much of the battery content. In fact, the book talks about how 99 percent of the battery content is recycleable.

2) As for cfl’s, they should be treated with the same care. They have mercury but are recycled in IKEA and municipalities so that they are not put into the water. As when they break (if they break) you can open the windows and carefully remove the bulb.

People can care for energy costs and our environment and do it in an intelligent, sensible manner that does not harm our environment ever.

All the best.

By: Clay

Clay — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:16:30 +0000

And what are you going to do with the batteries once they expire. You may feel good about your electric cars and hybrids, but they pose a much larger threat to the local environment than my SUV ever did. Disposal of the batterys threaten to put heavy metals and acid in the soil and water supplys. Still feel good about yourself? It’s just like those stupid new lightbulbs the environmentalist ogle over. How stupid are the environmentalist? Do they not know these bulbs were once called mercury vapor bulbs? The potential mercury problem isn’t worth the envrionmentalist feeling good like they have done something good. All they have done is tripled the cost of a lightbulb and created a problem for the rest of us when these things break. It’s time for you and the rest of the environmental dunces to get wise.