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The truth of the matter is these are the tests electric cars will have to endure over a period of time in order to reach wide adoption. Despite what's been sai
by robomartin 13y ago
The truth of the matter is these are the tests electric cars will have to endure over a period of time in order to reach wide adoption. Despite what's been said here a full tank of gasoline is far safer than a fully charged battery pack with enough energy to go 300 miles. Before anyone mauls me, consider how many gasoline cars have been driven and, yes, crashed, world-wide since gasoline cars came into mass production. There have probably been millions of accidents without fires, even with fuel leaks. There's probably no imaginable way to compare the two at this time. We simply don't have enough data. And, no, linking to a horrible crash video on youtube involving gasoline igniting does absolutley nothing to support arguments on either side.
The one issue with electrics that is not spoken of is the fact that you have a several hundred volt high energy system that could very well electrocute passengers. I fully expect that to happen one day (in general, not necessarily Tesla). If and when that happens you can bet it will set the breaks on electrics for a while and relevant stocks will plummet.
I still believe electric cars are the future. We simply need to go though the evolutionary process that will make them really safe for hundreds of millions of electrics to share the road. What happens when you have a pile-up of ten or twenty electric cars on a fogg-covered highway? A pile of mangled wrecks with 400 Volt high energy systems is unimaginably dangerous. I can think of a few horrific scenarios under those conditions.
At some level part of me thinks that fuel cells are the future, not batteries. Having something relatively benign that can leak out would be a good thing.
- marvin 13y agoYour argument doesn't make sense. This is a question of carrying a dense energy source with you at high speed. A pressurized tank of hydrogen has just as big potential for causing massive damange as a fuel tank or a battery. Probably more, since hydrogen will violently explode if ignited in the atmospohere.
- robomartin 13y agoWhere did I even mention hydrogen?