It did not take long for General Electric to get on the News and start plugging for Obama and GMC (Government Motors Corporation). Like all other interviews, the person doing the interview and the producer did not know a thing about technology and thus played right into the hands of the spin doctors. Here are the fact.
The GE spokesman claimed that these new electric cars get about 100 miles per charge and that they can be recharged in 4 to 6 hours for about $3.00 for a full charge. I am going to use some 4th grade math and high school physics to analyse those comments. The interviewer showed a little knowledge when she asked if the car can be recharged from any electrical outlet? The GE guys was prepared for this question and told her that most people would have a "dedicated" outlet in their garages for the charging. Noticed that he used the word "dedicated" without ever answering the special spec's that the outlet would have to have. Most home outlets are good for only 15 or 20 amps. You would need an outlet with a lot bigger wires and circuit breaker.
Let me see how much I can decode the few facts that we got from the GE rep. He said that he could recharge for $3.00 and it would take about 4 hours. From these numbers and personal know ledge about the cost of electricity, here is what I can calculate. Figure your electricity costs is $0.12/kwh. Now, how many KWH can you get for $3.00. $3.00 / $0.12/KWH = 25KWH Now, if your charge takes 4 hours, you will need to charge at the rate of 25KWH / 4 hr = 6.25KWH/hr. If the outlet in the garage is is the normal 110VAC, how big of a circuit breaker does the circuit need? Now, 6.25KWH X 1000 / 110VAC = 56.8 amps. Now that is a very big circuit. I think that most electric close dryers only have a 50 amp breaker. The bottom line is that you are not going to be able to find a circuit just any place along the highway and you will have to hire an electrician to install a special circuit in your garage for recharging. Notice how the "spin doctors" make you think that every thing about electric cars is all rosie.
From these few numbers, you can calculate a few more things. Let's assume that it will take 2.5 hours to drive the 100 mile range and use the 25KWH that I calculated before. This means that the motor uses 10KW/hour. With 100% efficiency .75KW is equal to a horsepower, but from charging to driving, you can figure it really takes 1.0KW to equal a horsepower. Now, from above, if we only use 10KW/hour, the motor is putting out only 10 horsepower. That seems a little small for a real car that can run on the highway. I just don't think you can drive and keep up with traffic while only using 10 horsepower motor. Looks like more spin to me.
You have to ask yourself if we have all the fraudulent spin coming out of the electric car people, exactly what can we trust. I feel the only one you can trust is yourself based on your own understanding of math and science. The sad conclusion is that there are so few people who have the right to vote who don't know their ass from a hot rock about math and science.
