Would an All-Electric yaris be cheaper in the long run?

[why?]

Originally Posted by captainm27

I am surprised that with all the advances in technology we have today, that battery technology seems to be at a standstill. I remember when 10 years ago the average new laptop would last for 2 hours. The same still holds true today. If you buy your average HP or Dell, you'll still get only about 2 hours of use out of it. I wonder if other factors (such as greed and evil) have kept battery technology from really growing.

Battery technology is not at a standstill at all, they are trying and figuring out new things.

You can't compare it with laptops. A brand new laptop today makes a laptop a decade ago look like a rock. In the computer industry, battery technology is struggling to keep up with the demands from newer power sucking computer technology.

People keep saying that battery technology for cars is just about to hit a breakthrough, and become truly usable for the mainstream. Although they've been saying that for quite a while.

[captainm27]

Originally Posted by why?

Battery technology is not at a standstill at all, they are trying and figuring out new things.

You can't compare it with laptops. A brand new laptop today makes a laptop a decade ago look like a rock. In the computer industry, battery technology is struggling to keep up with the demands from newer power sucking computer technology.

People keep saying that battery technology for cars is just about to hit a breakthrough, and become truly usable for the mainstream. Although they've been saying that for quite a while.

True, I know what you mean. But at the same time, we've got Netbooks using Atom processors, which barely use the energy that laptops used a decade ago, but they still get only about 2 hours charge.

[jambo101]

Wonder what ever happened to the research on nuclear powered cars?
A small bead of uranium powering a steam based power unit might be more feasible than batteries.

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by jambo101

Wonder what ever happened to the research on nuclear powered cars?
A small bead of uranium powering a steam based power unit might be more feasible than batteries.

Using nuclear material to power cars will never happen for 3 reasons:

1) There is a highly finite amount of Uranium and its radioactive cousins in the world.

2) The containment and cooling systems needed for an on-board reactor would be prohibitively heavy.

3) Considering that our use of nuclear fuel is just 5% efficient it is nowhere near as efficient as a battery (70%), and it produces non-recyclable, incredibly toxic and dangerous waste.