[GRLUG] OFF TOPIC Electric Car

[Dennis Kaminski]

On Wed, 2008-11-19 at 14:35 -0500, Matt Michielsen wrote:
> 
> 
> On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 2:29 PM, Collin Kidder <adderd at kkmfg.com>
> wrote:
>         
>         
>         An electric motor can be made darn near 100% efficient. As a
>         bonus
>         electrical lines are found almost everywhere. It's like a
>         built in gas
>         station in every building you see. So, I do believe that
>         electric cars
>         will end up being the way forward.
> 
> I agree with this completely.  And while AC motors are more efficient,
> I believe that DC motors are at least the short-term answer to this
> problem due to the complexity of the battery-to-AC inefficiency
> problem.  I'm going to start investigating motors and controllers and
> try to start putting something together.  As I discussed last night
> with Casey, maybe we should start some sort of local electric vehicle
> enthusiast group.  It sounds like there's plenty of interest here
> alone.
> 
> -mm

I disagree with the statement that AC motors are more efficient. I have
a high end furnace from Waterfurnace which has a DC motor for the
blower. There is always a loss when converting AC to DC or DC to AC.
Even with the loss, it was more efficient in ongoing electrical usage to
use a DC motor rather than an AC motor.