In my experience, the collision insurance for small cars is higher, but the liability is higher for the beasts.
I went from a used Chrysler minivan to a Civic Si. The liability is about 30% lower on the brand new car than it was on the minivan. With full coverage, my Si only costs a couple hundred a year more to insure than the minivan did with liability alone.
Most SUV's are incapable of off-road travel these days. The suspension cannot handle it. Many dealers require you to sign a waiver saying that you will not take the SUV off-road, and if you do, damage will not be covered by warranty.
Most Jeep Wranglers are 4's and 6's, and are quite capable towers.
I always found the Land Rover to be ugly as hell and overpriced. If I wanted something for off-road, I'd probably pick up a used Jeep... I only say used because who knows if the new company will maintain quality (which has already deteriorated some)...
That wasn't me, but I'll disagree. New discoveries or not, Oil is not being produced. Or, if it is, not nearly at the rate we are using it.
Most people CAN. Most people do not use SUV's for towing anyhow. And you don't need to have one thing that works for everyone. You can still have trucks run on gas, or whatever, while you also have daily commuters running full electric, hybrid, or whatever.
110V Outlets are everywhere. Believe it or not, I even have a few in my house. Heck, I even have a couple 220V's.Absolutely!
Not surprising. The old Jeeps, from before Chrysler took over, were great vehicles.
Chrysler amazes me. They are all about style over substance. IMO, Chrysler makes some of the best looking cars on the road. It's a shame that they are unreliable pieces of shit...
Joe wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@barada.griffincs.local:
Only because the Dems block domestic production and refinery expansion. Look how the price of oil shot up so high and then drastically dropped. (IMO,-somebody- was manipulating the market,for political reasons.)
Most people don't buy one vehicle for city use and another for interstate driving. Their one car has to do both. and many people cannot afford to buy a new car,hybrid or whatever.
yeah,like some OTHER property owner is going to foot the bills for charging lots of other peoples vehicles.We don't even have the extra electric capacity to power millions of new electric vehicles.
I am judiciously skeptical of the Volt, but I suspect there will be a number of vehicles with similar performance in 2 - 4 years. But these vehicles are hybrids. Not that there is anything wrong with hybrids - I would certainly consider one if I was in the market. However, a pure electric vehicle is a lot shakier proposition from a marketplace standpoint.
I would not be in a hurry to buy either a volt-like hybrid or a pure electric because I am concerned that the batteries will be stressed much more severely than current hybrids.
The price is $50K for the 160 mile model and it isn't clear whether 45 minute charging will be on that model. The range would be OK if it didn't cost $50. That price insures that this will fill only a tiny niche. The market isn't that big for $50K cars and most buyers will not want to make the compromises. And if you think the long term plans at GM are suspect, you have to think that long term Tesla anything is like a lottery ticket.
The previous poster cited the need to wash solar panels with "WATER" as a serious flaw. I am actually pretty ambivalent regarding nuclear energy. I don't think it is as bad as the vocal opponents but I also don't think that it is as benign as its vocal supporters claim. Hopefully, they will never kill as many people as coal fired plants have.
Remember this?
One Chernobyl destroys your city.
That is the problem with the hazards of nuclear energy; they are very granular. The plant at Chernobyl ran for nineteen years without harming anyone. Then one day it destroyed a city.
This varies state-to-state. I live in Illinois. I once got a cold call from a car insurance agent. I told him I might consider a policy from him if his company charged significantly less for liability on my Integra than what they would charge me for a Suburban. He assured me that the Integra would be much cheaper. I told him to run the numbers and call me back. To his credit, he called me back and said he couldn't believe it, but I was right. The charge for liability coverage was exactly the same no matter which vehicle I had.
What state do you live in?
According to Consumer Reports reliability survey, Land Rovers are the most unreliable vehicle on American roads. Chrysler is second.
That's got nothing to do with what you originally said. You said oil is not a "finite" resource. It is. Even if you opened up drilling in the US, ANWAR and off shore, you'd still only buy yourself 10 years or so. That's good. 10 Years is lots of time to develop a new source, but if we are going well, you know the new source will NOT happen. We never seem to innovate until necessity rears it's ugly head...
As far as WHY the oil prices went up, it's a complex issue. First, there were several fields shut down, restricting supply. Second, futures traders were betting heavily on more supply problems, causing demand to shoot up (they basically bought the oil and held it back). Third, the Oil companies were willing accomplices. They want to know just how high the price has to go before we start griping. They have their answer, and now prices will slowly rise back into the $3 range.
Most families have more than one car in the US. Most people never travel more than 40 miles form home. There's an interesting statistic that's always used by "safety" nuts: Most accidents happen within 25 miles of home. Well, duh. Most people in the US do 99% of their driving within that range. If they are going to have an accident, it's going to be in that range.
Metering electrical outlets is a trivial process. It would cost truck stops and rest stops about $100/outlet to add a metering system. It could probably be a fully automated system (with credit card swipe, etc) for under $250. It takes about 45 minutes to fully charge a Tesla. You pull in to a service center, plug in the car, swipe your card, then go sit and eat. When it's done charging, the meter stop, you get your receipt and unplug the car. Off you go.
And the draw for the charge is trivial. About 8 Amps. Using a standard business service (around 200 Amps) a restaurant could easily charge up 20 cars at a time.
Would this require more power generation? Of course. But isn't that the other thing we are discussing?
A Volt is a 100% plug-in electric car. It is not a hybrid. Chevy included the small engine as an afterthought, and it does not drive the car, it only charges the battery. For standard commuting of under
40 miles per day, the engine never even gets turned on.The batteries operate better under such stress. Lithium Ion batteries are ideal for electric vehicles.
Tesla isn't going to be some big success. I don't even think they expect to be. They are a vehicle for change. They are developing high-end technology. After a few years, that technology then filters down to the rest of the market. That's how innovation works.
Nuclear energy is completely benign, so long as it is treated with respect. Using France's model (never thought I'd say such a thing), Nuclear reactors are safer and cleaner than coal or oil plants.
And Solar panels will not replace the grid, nor will they eliminate a person's need for external supply of electricity. But, if each household had a 1500 Watt Panel or two, the stress on the grid would be reduced by orders of magnatude. There is likely not one single answer to our energy problems. The answer will come from a variety of technologies that will work together to clean up the mess.
NY.
Joe wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@barada.griffincs.local:
and can't afford to replace any of them. Often the 2nd car is a beater.
"NEVER"?? hyperbole.
and where does this data come from? How long does it take for the owner to recoup their investment?
I note that it's all "it would" and "probably".....kinda like the "if only there were no guns" nonsense the anti-gunners spout constantly.
Using a 220V high power outlet.
Heh,there aren't any around,just like hydrogen refueling stations.
8 amps at 220V for 45 minutes is not a lot of charge. I suspect it's not anywhere near a full charge for your Tesla.except that Oblama and the DemocRATs are moving us AWAY from that surplus of power generation.While making the cost of petrol higher,and needing to be imported from questionable foreign sources.
Joe wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@barada.griffincs.local:
Coal from start to finish has killed FAR more people than Western nuclear power generation for the same time frame. and done FAR more harm to the environment.
A "1500 watt panel or two" ? "by orders of magnitude"?? hyperbole.
No one is looking to have this done by tomorrow, or next year. It is a process that will take years. Notice how many cars are left on the road that require leaded gasoline?
Not hyperbole, simple fact. The statistics are readily available. The average mileage in the US is somewhere around 14,000 miles per year. That equates to an average of about 38 miles per day. Most people use their car to commute to and from work, perhaps pick up the kids from soccer practice, and run to the local grocer. These people that you assume cannot buy a new car, or a second car, are not driving hundreds of miles per day or going on constant vacations...
What data? The cost to buy an electrical meter? The cost for a credit card machine? Or do you mean the cost for this combination machine that doesn't exist yet, but will quickly materialize once there is a need for it? The technology is already there, and rather affordable, some smart company will just have to package it.
Not long at all. Weeks or months. AAMOF, even if the device cost $1000 each, it would only need to have a couple dozen cars use it for a charge before it has paid for itself.
Ahhh. So what you are saying is that you have no imagination, and America is incapable of developing simple technologies?
220V is not "high power". 220V is available everywhere in the country, and the power from it does not cost any more than from a 110 Line..You have one right at your house, much unlike Hydrogen.
You'd be suspecting wrong...
When talking about things that don't exist yet, the people that effect real change are not those that try to come up with reasons why it won't work...
Are you smoking crack or are you simply obtuse?
A 1500 Watt panel isn't all that expensive. And yes, if even half of the homes in the US had one panel, it would be a significant reduction in the draw on the grid.
You do seem to love the word hyperbole, though...
In message , Gordon McGrew writes
Most probably, Land Rovers are crap over here too, and they've more service stations than do the Jeep network.
Joe wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@barada.griffincs.local:
"never" is an absolute,and inaccurate,to say the least.
you crack me up with your baseless assumptions.
you're extremely naive.
Now I KNOW you're full of crap; "couple of dozen cars use it before it's paid for itself"
That's all you have is "imagination",nothing else.
By "high power",I mean capable of sourcing high current.
But NOWHERE else. There's no "electric stations" or "recharging stations" existing for people to recharge electrics other than at home. and people DO use their cars more than 40 miles from home,despite your incorrect assumptions.
8A x 220V= 1760 watts,for only 3/4 of an hour,= 1320 watt-hours. That's a mighty weak battery pack,or one HELL of an efficient electric motor.I never said it "won't work",just that it's not practical,that the necessary infrastructure is -not in place-,and it would take a long time for that to occur. Without the infrastructure,few people are going to commit to an electric auto. Until there's a sufficient market for "recharging stations",there will be few businesses willing to pay to install them. and fewer will be willing to supply free electric in the meantime.
Joe wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@barada.griffincs.local:
because you're FULL of it. Do you think a 1500 watt panel puts out 1500 watts all the time the sun hits it? Or that it's output doesn't decrease the dirtier it gets? How often do you think a homeowner is willing to clean it?
dust,pollen,tree sap,etc. THINK about it.
It seems YOU are the one smoking crack...and dreaming.
Jim Yanik wrote in news:Xns9BE8659335B26jyanikkuanet@74.209.136.85:
BTW,many power utilities charge MORE (a higher KWH rate)for KWH over some baseline amount. (Mine is 1000 KWH/month.)
I checked Tesla's website,and THEY say it takes 3.5 hrs for a full charge...using their special Tesla High Power Connector,supplying 70A at
240VAC. The battery pack is a 53 KWH pack.so,your claim of 45 minutes charge time and 8A source is BULL. It's clear you don't know what you're talking about.
20 cars x 70A= 1400A!that's a substantial investment for equipment,and a lot of extra power required.
AND,other brands of car may not use the same high power connector,so there would have to be more equipment expense or some standard adapted,and that's gonna take time.
This is what's called "considering the realities"....
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