100% Electric Mazda5

[en3rgy]

I wish my Mazda5 was 100% electric powered! I'm SO sick and tired of fossil fuel technology. That SHOULD have been obsolete 30 years ago. Now here I am with my '07 Mazda5 and ONLY getting low 20's MPG in the city. At the very LEAST I should be getting 100+ mpg in the city.

If Mazda were to make a Mazda5 that was 1005 electric, I wonder how many people would buy it?

Currently there are electric SUV's that can go 95 mph, last 150 miles before needing a recharge, 10 minute full recharge time (with optional fast charger) and dont need new batteries for at least 250,000 miles or 12 years, which ever comes first. Surely Mazda and other big car makers can mimic this!

[cheapmiata1600]

Electricity is still generated mainly by fossil fuels. You'd only be moving the consumption/emissions from one point to another.

[MD5]

I'd buy one and hook it up to this:
http://www.turby.nl/

We've got so much darn wind here it'd be like having free fuel.

[perfecto]

Electricity is still generated mainly by fossil fuels. You'd only be moving the consumption/emissions from one point to another.

Not up here!

[BadKarma]

Not up here!

Go BC Hydro! :)

Aren't they raising our rates soon though? Or am I confusing that with the water rates?

[jandree22]

Mr. Fusion for teh F1ux C4pacit0r! :D

[Kid Red]

I'm not as concerned about a 100% as I am having cars get double the MPG they currently get and burning a cleaner fuel. Electric cars have to be charged, so your local power stations will be tapped for the energy your car no longer uses gas to produce. There's got to be a better solution and during the years needed to find out our cars should be getting much better than 20 mpg in the city.

[jandree22]

Fuel cells are the answer, but the biggest problem would be setting up the infrastructure to support it… logistically, financially, and politically.

[Boosted03MSP]

E-85 Ftw!!!

[Kaian]

I'm not as concerned about a 100% as I am having cars get double the MPG they currently get and burning a cleaner fuel.

This is how I feel. Vastly increase the MPG and make as low a footprint as possible on the environment, and not worry as much about the exact technology it takes.

[bulwnkl]

Fuel cells are the answer, but the biggest problem would be setting up the infrastructure to support it… logistically, financially, and politically.

I'm sorry, I think fuel cells are one of the biggest boondoggles going. You have to put far more energy into breaking water molecules apart than you get back on the flip side. Plus, we'd probably end up breaking the water up with electricity which, as someone already pointed out, is mostly generated by fossil fuels, so you still haven't solved anything, just moved it around and tripled the cost for no particular reason. Now, you could use solar cells to break the water up, but frankly I have a gigantic amount of concern over the climatic repercussions of sucking up that much solar energy (or tidal energy if you generate the power that way) if you're really gonna fuel the entire global fleet that way.

[jandree22]

No energy source is perfect, and some are far away from implementation (ie fuel cells). But what's the harm in investigating/researching other possibilities when fossil fuels' days are obviously numbered. And calling solar/wind/hydro energy "environmentally-unfriendly" when compared to petroleum/coal processing is laughable at best. ;)

[bulwnkl]

Petroleum energy sources ARE solar energy, they just were stored long ago. Thinking or saying they aren't is what's laughable at best. ;)

I'm all for exploring new ideas. My issue is with the concept that petroleum is "bad" and then taking things in a completely different direction just because of that (often at a much greater cost, and I don't mean just in money). And, with any concept that takes the petroleum away from vehicles but continues to use as much (nearly always more) of it in a concentrated place and trying to convince oneself or others that that's "environmentally friendly."

[Wytchdctr]

wow, 95 mph top speed... 150 mile range... sign me up......... (doughpoke

Internally combusted hydrogen FTW. Something mazda is working on now.... now to find a cheap/clean/easy way to fill our tanks with hydrogen. (headbang)

(edit: to clarify I dont take my 5 to 95 often, lol. BUT if that thing tops out at 95.. I can't imagine how long it takes to get there)

[jandree22]

heh, my father-in-law just bought a Escape Hybrid last year... when he's moving in electric mode I feel like I'm in a golf cart, plus with the CVT it never shifts. Very wierd sounding car to be in.

[rodslinger]

Walking is the only real answer...

You want to be a real hippie then think about everything else involved.

Whether the car is electric, gas, or LP there were still other natural resources used to build the car or the facilities used to produce the energy to run that car.

[boytoys]

Stop driving and take more public transport, walk and cycle to work..work from home, commute less, don't go for that trip, sell the cottage, so many ways to save energy...but what relevance is there with Mazda5. Mazda will never have the R&D dollars to match with the bigger competitors and even if they had, it will never be perfect or bug free. I have never seen so many cars except in North America. One house near my residence had 10 cars cramped to the treble driveway.

If my wife can live with sharing a car. I wouldnt mind. Less insurance, less administration, less maintenance.

[Wytchdctr]

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/editorial_item.asp?NewsID=188

then they forgot to mention, wtf are they going to do with the bad batteries?

[tajabaho1]

We should use hydrogen energy, but ofcourse we won't need clean up crews if we get in an accident, hell we won't even need ambulance, mini tactical nukes going off every now and then

(OOOOOOH AHHHHH)

[Wytchdctr]

what? nukes? What in the world are you talking about? Do you understand how a "hydrogen bomb" works?

Hydrogen is about as volatile as gasoline fumes. The only issue now is finding a leak after a wreck would be a lot harder. They would have to do something like they did with natural gas and make it smell freaking horrible or something.

[TheMAN]

stop feeding the trolls

[tajabaho1]

oh, sorry I have to stop listening to crappy intel >.<

[en3rgy]

We should use hydrogen energy, but ofcourse we won't need clean up crews if we get in an accident, hell we won't even need ambulance, mini tactical nukes going off every now and then

(OOOOOOH AHHHHH)
Hydrogen = bait-and-switch tactic by the oil companies. Why you may ask? Well for one, there are no Hydrogen filling stations. Two, today, Hydrogen would cost 4X as much, per gallon, as gasoline and third, there are no hydrogen fuel cells in existence that would fit a real world driving/living scenario... today.

Electric technology is here now. There are "filling stations" all over the place (plug in to a/c outlet) and batteries keep getting better every 3-6 months thanks to the laptop industry!

I even read about a new battery tech that runs on sugar and is 100% biodegradable AND lasts 4x longer than a Lithium Ion battery. It's being developed in Chicago right now. You'll see, 100% electric cars are the only true technology that makes any sense. Hydrogen is BS and car companies + big oil companies are using the media to fool YOU.

Hybrid technology is semi-acceptable but 100% electric is the way to go. The more 100% electric cars/trucks/suvs that get sold, the more this form of energy will emerge with newer and greener ways to produce it.

[en3rgy]

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/editorial_item.asp?NewsID=188

then they forgot to mention, wtf are they going to do with the bad batteries?
The Prius is an interesting idea with lots of room to grow but for the most part it's a tin death trap with a high price tag. Let's see where Toyota goes with this in the next two years.

[Wytchdctr]

Look at its mileage ratings next year and see how great of an idea it is. The EPA is finally changing the way they rate cars gas mileage to something that makes a little more since. The little hybrids are about to loose 35-45% compared to the 10ish% of a normal car. Want to really make since put that technology on larger vehicles like GM. They are putting hybrid stuff to work on bus's in Seattle, I think (that might be the wrong city). The amount of fuel saved and the reduction in C02 from doing that to something like a bus or other large vehicle makes crap like the prius look like a joke in the green way of thinking. Not to mention its easier to find a place for the batteries and pad the cost of the technology into the sticker.

[dommo_g]

You thing batteries are manufactured and disposed of with no harm to the environment?

[jandree22]

The only environmentally sound mode of transportation... unless your in PETA

http://www.jimtardio.com/amish/amish-horse-buggy.jpg

[Wytchdctr]

^- lol your always going to piss someone off.