Lightning Car

[HappinessNow]

Perhaps the sexiest EV yet...take a look (http://www.lightningcarcompany.com/home.php)!

[ankspo71]

"...the Lightning GT could be charged in approximately 10 minutes for up to 300km of motoring..."

Excellent looking car.:cool:=D>

[rapidog]

Top gear did a small review of that car, be on youtube

[Mark76]

I wonder if the name was inspired by this? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Electric_Lightning)

[Chilli Bob]

Sweet looking, but here's the problem.....

Q. How much will I have to pay to own a Lightning? A. We are aiming for a price of £120,000 (inc. VAT) excluding options. Circa €137,000 (as at 14/09/09)

[Mark76]

Early adopter price.

[sandyd]

the first thing i thought of when i saw the thread title was back to the future lol.
when they used lightning to provide enough electricity to get the car back to present time.:P

but holy.... that thing is expensive, even if it is electric

[sdowney717]

vaporware comes to mind.
Henry Ford built cars real people could own.

[audiomick]

vaporware comes to mind.
Henry Ford built cars real people could own.

And Ferrari still doesn't.

Sure it is expensive, the Tesla Roadster is a bit cheaper but still so expensive that it doesn't make any difference to me.

I think it is good that things like this are appearing. It will help to establish the image of an electric car as a viable alternative.

In my opinion, it is the only alternative, but it is going to be a while before that is general opinion.

Apart from that, someone has to start selling the technology.

[amazingtaters]

Looks a lot like an Aston Martin. A very good looking car.

[Maheriano]

Great, just what the environment needs. Another car full of batteries that will take a million years to break down. Why is it so hard to see electric cars are worse for the environment than gas?

[audiomick]

Great, just what the environment needs. Another car full of batteries that will take a million years to break down. Why is it so hard to see electric cars are worse for the environment than gas?

where I live there is this thing called "recycling". And there is another one called "renewable energy source".

[blur xc]

where I live there is this thing called "recycling". And there is another one called "renewable energy source".

Some batteries don't recycle as well as others. Old school lead acid batteries are the best, I hears somewhere that they are made of 99.9% recyclable materials... LiIon? I dunno...

Right now most electricity is made form burning oil and coal. Every time energy changes from one form to another there's an efficiency loss.

Standard petrol car- chemical energy in the fuel, is burned, creates heat, and the heat is transfered into kinetic energy.

Electric car- fuel is burned, creates heat, heat is turned into kenetic energy, which turns a generator to make electricity, tranfered across powerlines, transformers, etc., to a battery where it's turned back into chemical energy. Then, when you drive the car, that chemical energy is turned back into electrical energy, to a motor, that turns it back into kinetic energy again.

It's a lot less direct- but the battery to motor chain is more efficent that the internal combustion engine. Most of the chemical energy is lost to heat coming out of your exhaust pipe, radiator, and radiant heat off of the engine components. then factor in the frictional losses you get from the transmission differential(s)....

Renewable energy is the key- not electric cars. Right now they are just an exensive novelty.

BM

[sdowney717]

http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/journal/?p=545

flywheel hybrid engine.
materials science will allow for such an engine today.