eCOPO Camaro Concept

[Joe Handley]

I really dig this thing,  wouldn't want to run it from a dig though!

http://www.thedrive.com/news/24548/chevy-shows-off-electrified-ecopo-camaro-drag-car-at-sema

[Joe Handley]

More Pics and a better article

https://www.thehindupatrika.com/chevrolet-unveils-electric-powered-ecopo-camaro-race-car-concept-at-sema-show/

[Joe Handley]

And a burnout video.

 

[stavanzer]

This whole thing is just silly. You can make a clock run on potatoes or lemons for a science fair, but you'd never use one on  daily basis. This is the automotive equivalent.Flashy? Yes! Neat? Yes! Tech Showcase? Yes! Practical? Never!  All electric cars come with built in limitations due the unchangeable physics of batteries and storage capacity. Will batteries get better? Undoubtedly. But energy storage by volume is just an 'ergs x cubic centimeter' equation ultimately, and fossil fuels beat electricity every time. Not to say that this will never change. Just to say that if you don't live in one of the twenty or so, major cities that are both compact and relative flat, electric cars will never be anything but an expensive, Gov't subsidized toy.

 

[426 pack]

And I didn’t think a Camaro could get any worse. I can’t wait till it goes up against the hellcat or demon and see what happens.   

[Joe Handley]

11 hours ago, alexis said:

This whole thing is just silly. You can make a clock run on potatoes or lemons for a science fair, but you'd never use one on  daily basis. This is the automotive equivalent.Flashy? Yes! Neat? Yes! Tech Showcase? Yes! Practical? Never!  All electric cars come with built in limitations due the unchangeable physics of batteries and storage capacity. Will batteries get better? Undoubtedly. But energy storage by volume is just an 'ergs x cubic centimeter' equation ultimately, and fossil fuels beat electricity every time. Not to say that this will never change. Just to say that if you don't live in one of the twenty or so, major cities that are both compact and relative flat, electric cars will never be anything but an expensive, Gov't subsidized toy.

 

Right now, this is just a concept, doubt we're paying for this via subsidies, plus it is a drag car, so range isn't as important as voltage and weight placement, which they have plenty of one and well positioned on the other. Hilly terrain would work well for electrics, especially places like Branson, MO and San Francisco, CA, since EVs have regen braking, which is similar to Dynamic Braking on diesel-electric locomotives and can use coasting down the hill
 to not only help with controlling the decent of the vehicle without having to touch the brakes, but also recharges the batteries to some extent.  They will tend to work better right now in urban and suburban areas, but there will likely be the same thing I've seen with E85 over the last 6.5 years since I bought my 200 and started running E85 in that (it's flex fuel from the factory) Just here in the part of the Chicago Suburbs I live in and Harry used to live in has seen availability grow considerably in that time and I'm seeing the same with charging stations and expect it to grow as the numbers of EVs on the street increase. Oddly enough, I have suddenly seen Tesla Model 3 sedans suddenly jump in numbers around here that were already in owner's hands then I've seen over 1/2 a dozen semi trailers full of the cars as well as a couple 3-4 car haulers pulled by 3500-4500 series "light trucks"  that also were loaded with Model 3 sedan.

17 minutes ago, 426 pack said:

And I didn’t think a Camaro could get any worse. I can’t wait till it goes up against the hellcat or demon and see what happens.   

I think that the Hellcat would have it's hands full with this one, if it could get moving without obliterating the tires off the line and then actually keep up once it gets rolling.Demon or the Drag Pack (which this would be a closer match to) would be closer, but this car has better weight placement than the standard COPO, let alone the Challenger Drag pack and Cobra Jet Mustang with the packs in the back seat and trunk on top of the full, right here and now torque electric motors deliver right from 0 rpm.

[espo]

I know I will be making some others mad, but to me if it doesn't run on dead Dinosaurs and decomposed Trees and Leaves  I'm just not that interested. Without a Windmill or Solar Panel in sight with a very long extension cord I'm out.     

[Jim N]

I have never understood the fixation with batteries.  They are expensive to make.  Very expensive to dispose and they can be re-charged only so many times before they have to be replaced.  They also take a long time to charge.  I always thought hydrogen made better sense, since we can use the current service station model and they refuel quickly like a gas powered car.

[Bainford]

42 minutes ago, Jim N said:

I have never understood the fixation with batteries.  They are expensive to make.  Very expensive to dispose and they can be re-charged only so many times before they have to be replaced.  They also take a long time to charge. 

Not to mention, the vast majority of battery charging is done by burning fossil fuels.

[Jim N]

4 minutes ago, Bainford said:

Not to mention, the vast majority of battery charging is done by burning fossil fuels.

Excellent point Trevor.

You brought back to mind something my daughter told me when she was in college.  She had to take an environmental awareness class.  The professor and a number of the students were espousing battery powered cars as being great for the environment.  My daughter says she sat quietly until she could take it no more.  She informed the class that, as you point out, that these cars are charged with fossil fuels.  She also reminded them that the electrical grid could not handle providing electricity to homes and businesses and then charging a bunch of cars too.  She was met by a rather prolonged silence before the professor moved on to another topic.

I never said anything to my wife because she is more of a go along to get along type, but I was extremely proud of my "little girl".

[Atmobil]

It is so nice to read your opinions on this, thank you all. All I normally hear about is how great the batterypowered thingies are and that I am a dinosaur myself for wanting to drive my so called "fossil car". You guys made my day, thank you all

As for the Camaro, sure, why not. An electric dragracer can work just fine as it only has to go a quarter of a mile at the time

[W-409]

I agree with what Gaute said above, it's good that I'm not the only one who thinks that now they ruined a good COPO Camaro by installing an electric "engine" in it.

I tried to post a reply a couple of times to this topic already, but I couldn't find a way to say it nicely... So I'm just going to say that I have absolutely zero interest in any of those electric cars, they are absolutely horrible. Here in Finland I drive every day with my Chevrolet Truck, yes it consumes a bit of gasoline but it's quality that costs.

[Quick GMC]

So many angry, triggered old men. Adapt or die.

[W-409]

Hey, I'm only 21 years old.  

But seriously speaking, it's good that people buy those electric cars. That way there is more gasoline for us who need it.

[Joe Handley]

29 minutes ago, Quick GMC said:

So many angry, triggered old men. Adapt or die.

Sure seems that way, that eCOPO set up stuck in an early Chevy II the same way it is in that Camaro could be pretty nutty. 

Some things to think of when it comes to charging, this would likely be charged at home (possibly using panels, that's what I would do) and trailered to the track, being a COPO and all (no VIN)  and topped off with a generator that would likely be fuel powered. EVs in general, once there are more panels and turbines in private use, that could ease the load on the grid, not to mention that EVs usually charge at night when everybody is sleeping and not using electricity

[iamsuperdan]

i think it's a cool concept. Great idea to bring some of the e-tech to people that would otherwise never listen. 

 

However, in the bigger picture, the switch to electric cars just isn't feasible. First of all, as has been mentioned, it really isn't more environmentally friendly. The enviro-cost of producing batteries is ridiculously high. The cost to dispose of batteries is high. And electric cars still use a ton of fossil fuiels; oils, grease, not to mention that the cars themselves are significantly made of plastic.

Second, our power grids can;t handle it. imagine if every other house bought an electric car and had ther recommended 240V quicker chargers systems installed. The power grid would fail. Heck, if one in every 5 or 6 houses did that, I suspenct there would be failures.

no, we're a long way from electric cars being the norm. Besides, until someone produces an electric truck or SUV that can fit my lifestyle, I'm just not interested. The means seating for four, plus gear, and the ability to head offroad, and the ability to tow.

 

In the meantime, I like seeing projects like this.

[Jon Cole]

Hard to get jazzed over a car, when in my mind, I picture this under the hood....

[slusher]

On November 1, 2018 at 1:26 PM, Jim N said:

Excellent point Trevor.

You brought back to mind something my daughter told me when she was in college.  She had to take an environmental awareness class.  The professor and a number of the students were espousing battery powered cars as being great for the environment.  My daughter says she sat quietly until she could take it no more.  She informed the class that, as you point out, that these cars are charged with fossil fuels.  She also reminded them that the electrical grid could not handle providing electricity to homes and businesses and then charging a bunch of cars too.  She was met by a rather prolonged silence before the professor moved on to another topic.

I never said anything to my wife because she is more of a go along to get along type, but I was extremely proud of my "little girl".

She is right. 

Edited November 3, 2018 by slusher

[peter31a]

I think we can partially blame Tesla for the push to electric versus hydrogen. Somehow Musk has managed to convince a large group of people that this is cool and the way of the future. And once they've drunk the Kool-Aid, you can't convince them that there are serious downsides. Even the left leaning Toronto Star published an article on the "dirty" side of electrical cars namely the environmental disaster of producing batteries. But it's hilarious to see Tesla devotees attacking anyone who says the least uncomplimentary thing about the Tesla vehicles.

In the end Hydrogen makes more sense. It could be set up at every station that currently uses gasoline. It doesn't take as long as an electric car to get back on the road after refuelling and it's just water coming out of the tailpipe.

[Force]

As far as I know an electric car with batteries is not on zero for environmental impact until after at least five years after the car is made...then you have to replace the battery pack and you step back a couple of years again and what do you do with the old batteries, the materials for making the batteries are not from eternal sources and will eventually be used up, the mileage for these cars is relatively short and it takes a long time to re-charge, and how is the power you charge your car with made, to be environmentally friendly it has to be generated with a renewable source as solar, wind, water or something similar, some places in the world the cars need heaters and that takes power and cuts down on the mileage.
The power main grids in the world are not dimensioned for the increased need if everyone is charging their cars at pretty much the same time frame wich will happen when people come back from work for example, so most of the the main power grid cables has to be replaced for a lot larger capacity as the need will increase a lot if everyone buys battery powered cars....lots of things to consider.
No, IMHO Hydrogen is the future and it's the most common material in the universe, unfortunately the Hydrogen is bound in water here on earth.
You can either burn the hydrogen gas in an internal combustion engine as we do now with our fossil fueled vehicles, or use it in a fuel cell and make your own power wich is more efficient, and the exhaust is plain water vapour as it goes back to water again, it's relatively fast to re-fuel like a fossil fueled car today so the mileage is not a problem, you can have a heater as you make your own power, it's just a matter of time until they will come up with a good solution for the storage problem, efficient and not as costly ways to split the hydrogen from the oxygen in water, and gear up re-fueling stations.

If the future of drag racing is this eCOPO or other electric cars I will for sure stop going to the races, the great noice of suped up V8:s, the smell of racing fuel or nitro methane exhaust, the quick ET's and speeds, and the nice cars is the whole experience...if you take any of these things away it's nothing for me...and that goes for all kinds of motor racing.
Yes the electric cars are fast and quick as you get all the torque from the motor instantly but the lack of the noise and smells makes it uninteresting.

Yes I'm old and sometimes  stubborn and retro, but I'm a realist and see things as they are.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Force

[Joe Handley]

8To me, Hydrogen is a waste of money and resources. To make it takes a lot of water and electricity, doesn't store well, and isn't all that great for power and mileage in an ICE engine and redundant and complicated in what would otherwise be an EV.  In my eyes, Tesla has done a good job proving that with an infrastructure in place, EVs can be viable and perform well in day to day use and can  road tripped, even if you have to travel where there are Supercharer stations for the time being.I don't see infrastructure being an issue, with more and more switching to lower energy use lights and such as well more solar panels going up. Recycling the batteries won't be a problem, the batter8es that are no longer useable for a car.cannbe recycled into back up batteries for structures and are still recyclable once they fully reach the end of their life there are Prius and Escape Hybrid taxies that have a few undred thousand miles on their batteries as well, so it's not like their a short life, fragile technology and lithiums are better at weight, power, and discharge/charge rates than NiMH like early hybrids and the latter EV1s used too.

[Force]

70% of earths surface is covered with water and it's in a constant cycle...and the hydrogen cycles back to water again after it's used so the water supply to do hydrogen is no problem at all...and it doesn't have to be fresh water to make hydrogen, sea water works fine.
Yes you need electricity to separate out the hydrogen from the oxygen but there are more efficient ways on the way, and that electricity needed can come from wind, solar or hydroelectric power plants to be environmentally safe, the storage problem can for sure be solved, and using the hydrogen in a fuel cell to make electricity to power an elecric car is more efficient than to burn it in an internal combustion engine.
So for me an electric car with batteries you have to charge is only a transition waiting for something better to come up...because it's definately not the final solution to the problem.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Force

[Joe Handley]

Using renewable sourced electricity to make hydrogen for fuel cells to turn back into electricity to power a car vs just putting it in a battery makes no sense. Yes, you can top tbe vehicle off quicker if you're road tripping, but what's wrong with stopping to stretch your legs, use the throne room, and maybe grabbing food and drink while you're waiting for a quick charge?

[Force]

Well everyone is intitled to their opinion and beliefs...you have yours and I have mine and lets leave it at that. 

[peter31a]

4 hours ago, Joe Handley said:

Using renewable sourced electricity to make hydrogen for fuel cells to turn back into electricity to power a car vs just putting it in a battery makes no sense. Yes, you can top tbe vehicle off quicker if you're road tripping, but what's wrong with stopping to stretch your legs, use the throne room, and maybe grabbing food and drink while you're waiting for a quick charge?

For the drive from here to NNL East the 40 minute charge time would probably add over 2 hours to the trip whereas Hydrogen that fills as fast (or almost) as fast as a gasoline car would not. Don't need to add 2 hours on an already 12 hour trip.  To each his own.