• Question: Do you have an electric car

    Asked by kylehowden350 to Aggelos, Andrew, Eileen, Naomi, Shane on 13 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Eileen Diskin

      Eileen Diskin answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      Hi! Nope, I dont have a car at all (I’m a PhD student, and we don’t generally have lots of money – so I can’t afford one!) But this is probably better for the environment, because I can walk, cycle, or take the bus/Dart/train to most places I need to go. And I have some nice friends who have cars, so we go on weekends away sometimes.

      When I was living in the USA (I had a job there just before I started my PhD), I did have a car which was a hybrid. Like an electric car, it is also really environmentally friendly. It does some really cool things (like energy conversion) to make sure it uses as little petrol as possible.

      One day, I think I want to build a solar-power car. Though I’m not sure how well that would work in Ireland! I also once heard about some researchers who powered their car on the used oils & fats that McDonalds fries their french fries in – how neat is that!?

    • Photo: Shane Bergin

      Shane Bergin answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      no. i have driven a hybrid car though. this uses the energy from when the car breaks to power a battery. in 10 years time i think we’ll all have hybrid cars

    • Photo: Andrew Jackson

      Andrew Jackson answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      no, but I think we will all have one soon, or at least a hybrid one with electric and petrol/diesel engines combined. I am thinking of buying a new car and am looking for one that does not need me to buy lots of very expensive petrol so am looking at hybrids. If we had more places to recharge them on the roads, then i would be even more tempted to buy one.

    • Photo: Aggelos Zacharopoulos

      Aggelos Zacharopoulos answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      @kylehowden350
      I dont have one myself… I mostly walk or ride my bicycle. Electric cars are a good solution for using especially in cities. Car manufacturers are coming up with new ideas how to make them even more practical and efficient. There are even ongoing research looking into recharging the cars as they stop at traffic lights. So they need smaller batteries and can travel longer.

      Don’t forget however that we first need to solve the problem of producing cheap electricity without polluting the planet. Then electric cars will be an ideal trasport solution.

    • Photo: Naomi Elster

      Naomi Elster answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      I don’t have a car at all, but I think electric cars are a great invention, especially if we can power them using something like solar, wind, or hydroelectricity, which is cheap, clean and renewable. Whatever about the sun, there’s no shortage of wind or water in Ireland!!

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