We Don't Need No Stinking Sparky Cars

me want free cars. me want to live forever.

Karma is not one to be denied...

Damn, and the battery alone is more than 40 grand. No warranty on it either. Being a rich treehugger can be painfull.

The electric car companies are playing catchup with the golf cart companies.

http://tinyurl.com/79qtspa

I betcha when gasoline cars first came out, those pathetic noisy unreliable contraptions, there were hoots of laughter from the luddite conservatists then just like today.

I betcha when gasoline cars first came out, those pathetic noisy unreliable contraptions, there were hoots of laughter from the luddite conservatists then just like today.

Any electrical connection can overheat and cause problems including fire, if it has become resistive due to poor contact (corrosion). electrical contacts usually depend on a pressure point to maintain a good electrical connection at the metallic junction.
For example, the electrical service boxes in your home should be gone over every decade to ensure the connections inside are tight.
An ordinary car battery only supplies high current for a few seconds to start the gasoline engine. Not much chance for overheating to the point of causing a fire even if the battery posts, the electrical connection, has become corroded..
Sorry to preach but I thought it might be appropriate to clear the fog a little.

Here's another link to Planet Gore in which they detail the USFW Service considering allowing wind farm operators permits to kill those very protected bald eagles.

How kind of them.

####
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a division of the Interior Department, is considering loosening regulations on the killing of bald eagles, the national bird of the United States, to accommodate the development of wind energy sources.
####

http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/299567/do-you-have-permit-kill-bald-eagle-greg-pollowitz

GM

Will the "caroner" order an autopsy?

Did the "caroner" order an "autopsy?"

Volts for Dolts.

Fisker Karma IED parked in the garage.

-

No more mortgage payments.

Gunney is right. DC power can and does cause problems. The batteries are capable of supplying a high rate of current flow. If an arc starts because of a short circuit or fault, the battery is capable of feeding that arc.

If there is any flammable material near the arc, the heat from the arc is likely to cause it catch fire.

Expect to have occasional problems like this with electric cars. Fires in gasoline powered cars occur too.

That said, the Fiskar PR Department should be fired. They accuse the family, "we have not ruled out possible fraud or malicious intent." A brand new car failed and they are accusing the owner.

What a way to build brand loyalty.

What a way to build brand loyalty?

Buyers are just suckers, Born every day. The real money comes from the government, ie taxpayers. That is where the loyalty lies. The owner is being framed as a 1 percenter, based on his other vehicles and a brand new house in Texas.

Welcome to Chicago gangsta capitalism, suckas!

Hohu

I wonder if Edison and Henry Ford had the same problems even after they where given millions in tax dollars and embraced by the administration of the day?
Oh wait...bad example, they stole their millions through capitalism didn't they.

Hohu

I wonder if Edison and Henry Ford had the same problems even after they where given millions in tax dollars and embraced by the administration of the day?
Oh wait...bad example, they stole their millions through capitalism didn't they.

Most heavy duty earthmoving equipment has a master disconnect on the battery....for good reason.

I have a '74 vintage diesel tractor here in the shed that gets some use....

When parked the battery is disconected....no electrical fires....

A few years past there were several barn fires in the district with one disturbing common feature....a tractor on a battery charger overnight.

KARMAS A BITCH!!!

HoHu - at the time there was a race on to supply the replacement for the horse. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of pee per day, and tonnes of manure, add up to huge logistics and health problems in major cities. Other vehicles powered by turbines, steam (coal), electricity, etc were being developed at the same time. Gasoline won. The "luddites" of the day had a working means of transportation, and (knowing the downsides of horses) decided to stay with that means of transport because it was dependable. As for me, I'll wait until the electric car can get me 400km at -40 (with the heating fan) on and not burn down the house I'm traveling to before I'll consider them a reasonable replacement for gasoline vehicles.

HoHu: " betcha when gasoline cars first came out, those pathetic noisy unreliable contraptions, there were hoots of laughter from the luddite conservatists then just like today."

Electric cars have been around as long as gasoline powred cars and early in the 20th cenyury were more popular (before the electric starter was invented). The problem isn't electric cars, it's the batteries for the cars which haven't progressed much over the past 100 years. Visit Jay Leno's garage where he explains and road tests his 100 year old Baker electric; it's range isn't that far off today's electric cars. When politics and physics meet, physics wins always.

funny though all this hype about 'fuel economy, and...

65 mpg Ford banned in US but sold in UK
65 mpg VW banned in US but sold in UK
43 mpg VW allowed into US....

http://polisat.com/Obama-EPA-Inspired-by-Roman-Empire-EPA.htm

Poor little imbecilic HoHu, completely fails to realize that not all change is progress nor is all progress good. Can anyone be so historically ignorant as to believe electric cars are new and cutting edge? Well besides urban progressives who like HoHu believe milk comes from the cooler section in the grocery store. Some days I almost feel sorry for such sheltered little dweebs but then I go to work and let the feeling pass.

Electric car far are bad. No brainer.
What is worse is that the news reports never
mention that gasoline vehicles catch fire at a rate of 258,000 per year in the U.S.
You read that right: a gas car burns every two minutes.
How bad is our Karma now?

no mention of the 65 mpg cars being sold in the UK that aren't allowed into the US, but the filter keeps catching the link for some reason...

Electric car "fires" are bad.
fat fingered . . .

@ bemused
This one? Can't compete with the Volt now can we?

http://www.nextgreencar.com/news-item.php?New-Suzuki-Alto-achieves-65-mpg

@ owl at May 11, 2012 9:56 AM

Do you have a link to that number ?

Owl, how many Fisker Karmas are there actually in service? A few hundred? A few thousand? How many gasoline-powered vehicles are in service? Many millions? And how many of those that caught fire did so as a direct result of an accident, or as a direct result of an owner doing something stupid, like priming the carb from an open container of fuel? How many of those car fires are the result of "financial combustion?"

Very few gasoline-powered cars just spontaneously self-immolate for no apparent reason.

For even one Fisker Karma to self-immolate for no apparent reason, that represents a scarily high failure rate. Especially given that the Karma is supposed to be a super high-quality machine for discerning and wealthy buyers.

Nice deflection owl.

Regarding the question about gasoline powered vehicle fires, see below:
http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/vehicleexecsum.pdf
U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 287,000 vehicle fires per year in 2003-
2007.
• Some form of mechanical failure or malfunction, such as leaks or breaks, backfires, or worn-out parts, contributed to 49% of the highway vehicle fires.
• Electrical failures or malfunctions contributed to 23% of the highway vehicle fires.
• Collisions or overturns were factors in 3%.
• Eight percent of the highway vehicle fires were intentionally set.

However there isn’t a category for “spontaneous combustion”. That is the point to be made.

HuHu, do you note that there are 50 garage fires per year started by golf carts – presumably spontaneously combusting too? Don’t you find that a little bit concerning?

Karma's a bitch, and a BBQ.

Talk about bad karma.

Was it this kind?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqeTpbV9nt0

red gunlop if you notice there is another burned out car at one end of the toasted Karma. It has a metal body and does not show the extensive damage that the Karma exhibits. Karma's plastic body panels and extreme heat equals what you see in the picture.