5 EV Rentals Secrets You Never Knew

Extended Range Electric Vehicles (EREVs), or Range Extended Electric Vehicles (REEVs) like the Chevy Volt, might be the up-and-coming, but are they the answer in the high-efficiency vehicle race?

The Challenge: Find an alternative fuel vehicle that is cost effective and efficient.

The Contenders: the fully electric vehicle (EV) and the plug-in hybrid (PHEV).

The Problem: traditional EVs have a limited range, usually 100 miles or less, requiring extensive highway and city infrastructure to support longer trips.

The Solution: Integrate another fuel source to supplement and extend the variety of the EV.

The Caveat: The requirement for additional infrastructure for the supplemental fuel source.

Obviously the infrastructure for gasoline as a fuel source is already established, so that is the logical choice. On the flip side, as the gasoline-based PHEV may reduce consumption, it will not eliminate the usage of polluting, petroleum based substances. You'll notice that I am not even discussing typical hybrids, because, as I have said in other articles, they can be not an alternative fuel vehicle. They run on gasoline only. You can not supplement them with any other form of energy. They merely use the electric drive system to reduce fuel consumption (which is, incidentally, a testament to the very fact that electric motors are highly efficient). Thus the rising popularity of enthusiasts who convert their Prius' into PHEVs. As such, the PHEV seems the best intermediate solution to weaning us from simply click the up coming website oil and gas companies. But it comes at a price. While retail prices have not been released, most experts are anticipating plug-in hybrids to cost between $30,000 and $40,000. You may add a Hymotion plug-in kit to your Prius today for around $10,000.

The electric hydrogen hybrid seems a great candidate for extending range. Hydrogen cell vehicles use an electo-chemical reaction in the fuel cell as the hydrogen is mixed with oxygen to make water to produce a powerful electrical current. Conversely, most hydrogen fuel cell vehicles being produced and slated for production use only the single fuel source, requiring a hydrogen infrastructure to support them. It has been shown that hydrogen can be quickly produced with domestic sources, but fueling stations has to be implemented or they are going to run up against the same problem as the EV - short range travel only -- albeit a bit longer than the EV (200 miles or more). Even to make a plug-in hydrogen vehicle wouldn't address the range/infrastructure problem. But it will make it more versatile.

You can find a multitude of other combustible fluids that can be used as being an alternative fuel source. Some examples: compressed natural gas (CNG), Propane (LPG), ethanol, methanol (and all the other 'anols), ammonia -- remember that hydrogen is additionally a carrier for combustible fuel and also a usable supplement when mixed with one of these other sources, making it a diverse flex-fuel and fuel-efficiency option as well. Each has their own advantages and drawbacks. When each solution will be considered against public goals of pollution control, independence from foreign oil and improving domestic economy, each of them ranks differently for each goal. Alternative fuels will be the future. It's not a question of "if," it's really a question of "when." Which car you will be driving in the next 10 years will likely come down to regional alternative of fuels and which option your community and region embraces.

But electric cars have a universal advantage: Electricity is everywhere. There is already an infrastructure in place that is quickly accessible at small capacity and requires only the "fueling" facilities as well as the "quick-charge" technology to scale up to larger capacity. Granted, you can not take a cross-country trip in your electric car today. But tomorrow is approaching faster than you think. The initiatives seem to be in place in many states to launch the infrastructure that may handle larger capacity electric driving. As it catches on, it really is only going to be a matter of time prior to deciding to can drive across country in your EV.

Buy a PHEV if you must, but first think about the alternative: convert an automobile to electric for short range driving and keep a gas or diesel powered vehicle for longer trips. Or, even rent a vehicle for longer trips. That is something you may do today, and after that you will be a step in advance of tomorrow.