Originally Posted by aquaman
Solar costs are too high to justify their use even with State rebates. If you calculate how much power is needed to cruise around in a car and look at how big of a solar panel you need to generate it, its cost, and its ROI, you'll quickly see why nobody is doing it already.
Something else that most people probably don't know is the cost of replacing those batteries in hybrids when the time comes. We all know how long rechargables last in our laptops and how much they cost when they can't hold a charge anymore. Well, guess what folks, hybrids use the same and I bet most will wake up to a rude surprise that when they sell their cars in a few years--they've lost most of their resale value because the next dude has to cough up $4-5K for a new set of batteries.
Buying a hybrid might save a few bux at the pump and do good for the environment in terms of emissions, but what folks fail to see is long term costs as well as the toxic waste of dumping out their spent batteries... Are they as environmentally clean as they think?
I'll stick with my 15mpg truck until someone can manufacture a flux capacitor that runs on trash. In the meantime I'll be cruising around in something that I can use and actually have some fun instead of driving a tiny hybrid that can't haul much more than a few bags of groceries :-)
Aquaman: Being a 24/7 dad right now, I don't have the figures readily at hand, hope to in the future to post.
But if you consider that most vehicle trips for most people are less than say, 30 miles (for those groceries you mentioned), you can certainly get enough charge or credits from a decent solar array.
Next, I believe several states have laws which regulate how many miles a battery pack MUST get before replacing for an EV car to be certified. And the economies of scale (mass production) could certainly drive the costs of both solar cells and batteries down.
And I think there are (and should be) regulations regarding the recycling of spent batteries so they are not "dumped"...and from what I've read the technology is there to do a decent job of it. Especially with the lead acid types which are simple and still being improved.
Furthermore, it's not like oil burning is the cleanest thing around either...along with the incredible amount of motor oil runoff from city streets into the rivers coastal areas after it rains. The amounts are boggling. If the cleanup and costs of environmental destruction were factored into a gallon of gas as a user tax, you'd be paying a lot more.
Believe it or not, I'm not a raving greenie...but there's too much disinformation and mythology being passed around on all sides of the issue. I hope to research and post some of my findings as I go.
For me, the real kicker is independence from foreign oil, and having existing technologies for when the real oil depletion crunch happens.