A horse is the least energy efficient way to cross the US. They need food & fresh water several times a day. They can eat more than they can haul. Thousands of pioneers died doing that when they migrated across the US to settle the west coast. You really should go to school for once in your sorry life.
One needs flushed, the other has been flushed.
At the current rate, it will take hundreds of years to convert to electric vehicles.
We have ethnic food from all over the world, including nations notorious for starving, but have you ever seen an "English" restaurant?
The people who scream discrimination against the poor conveniently forget that team sports already discriminate against the kids who most need the exercise.
We have a bunch of pubs in the area.. does that count?
Why?
Clueless as ever. The US didn't blockade Japan's shipping routes for oil. We just stopped selling them oil. Blocking an international shipping channel is an act of war.
If you have to ask? No.
We may have chemicals in our food, but at least we didn't have people dying horrible, slow, deaths all over the place from Mad Cow disease.....
And the Britts must really be dumb. Just across the way in France the food is soooo delicious. Yet in the UK, for the most part, it's sub-standard. You'd think they would have learned a thing or two from the French by now.
Except of course that with a regular vehicle, you're refilled in 10 mins and on your way. With an electric car, when you're near empty, you're done for a long, long time. The filling station is called a car park.
Think about it. The technology isn't there. The power generation isn't there. It can take 25 years to get the permits to build & put one power plant on line. Viable electric vehicles have been "Just around the corner" for 100 years. Picture this: Every car in town is electric. A massive power failure and after a few days most of them are sitting on the road where the batteries died. How long before people start stealing the expensive batteries to replace their failed batteries instead of paying the dealer full retail?
Study electronics for yourself, and do some heavy math. You'll see for yourself. There is very little excess capacity in the grid, and the nighttime usage allows them to take some generators or controls down for minor repairs. Without that, the whole facility is run till it needs a major overhaul, which can take months or years. The entire grid is aging, and a lot of equipment is well past its design life. Between the MBAs, NIMBYs and Greenies, it's a looming crisis.
After a major power failure, half the people in an area buy gernerators. If we have electric cars, we'll just have to buy little trailers to carry the generators...
Seriously, electric cars are likely to have only slow and incremental growth. The most likely scenario I've seen involves several configurations and energy sources: all-electrics for people who have another car; plug-in hybrids (with or without trailers ); liquid-fuel cars (gasoline; diesel; gasohol) and CNG cars. Hydrogen fuel cells seem, to me, to be least likely, or to require some breakthrough that we don't know about yet. The wire-in-road electrics sound like "a helicopter in every garage."
It will be interesting to see how all of these types jocky for market share. Lithium-based batteries sound like they're going to be a limiting factor for electrics, but there is always another battery technology in a lab somewhere. Don't bet the farm or count them out.
I'd like to see fuel cells running on natural gas to supplement or supplant power from the grid for homes. The country has ample supplies of NG now and the power grid may go down during severe weather but the NG service rarely fails unless it's a situation like the 100 year storm that hit The East Coast. The technology for CNG powered cars and fuel cells exists now and it works but like any technology the infrastructure is not all there at this time along with the production in numbers that would bring the price down. ^_^
TDD
All of the alternatives have limitations. The Honda Civic CNG car that they sold until a few years ago had little trunk space and a 120 mile range. If was good for commuters and it was popular in one of the western states (Idaho? Utah?) where they didn't have a transportation-fuel tax on natural gas.
For something between $3,000 and $4,000, you could buy a home refueling station from Honda that would fill your tank(s) overnight.
Yes but EA isn't interested in an actual EV. He thinks there could be a cheap, full electric, long range, no computer, no airbags, lightweight, roadworthy car that can also reduce his utility rate and be so simple that even a proven mental midget could build it. He COULD try doing some basic research, perhaps starting by reading the manual for an electric wheelchair controller. But it's easier to keep making unsupportable claims. It's akin to a child thinking he can climb a ladder to touch the sun. When the ladder doesn't reach he gets a taller ladder.
Alabama Gas has been running their service trucks on CNG for decades and the information on the new Honda lists it's range as 200+ miles and it can be refueled in minutes at a CNG filling station as opposed to hours for a battery charge for an electric vehicle. Like any technology, CNG for passenger cars needs more development to make it ready for prime time. I do think CNG is closer to practical reality than electric power for passenger cars. ^_^
TDD
Aha! So they're back in the market, eh? Is it available in the US?
If you have CNG fueling stations around, though, you're lucky. If there are any here, I don't know about them. There's one in Newark (don't go there on purpose, please...) and another on Staten Island. (only about 10 miles, but the toll is $12 cash, one-way. No thanks.)
CNG has a way to go for most areas. Gas in NJ is relatively cheap, anyway.
I agree. We'll be in fracking paradise before long....
Lots of different tech for different apps. More power to them all.
"Before long" reminds me of the cull date though. :) I went for something I could drive until the 2000lb, $15k, 300 mile range EV Beetle hits the market. :) I hear they're going to include bell bottoms and paisley lined pointy shoes for early adopters.
Going on a 200 mile round trip today. No range anxiety, but it will push down my EV percentage a bit. :(
The hydro-elastic was pretty radical and cool too. It did have that nasty habit of uncontrolled steering oscillation but that was just part of the excitement of owning this FWD English car. You couldn't get that kind of fun from a rear drive MG or Spitfire - those had the self-jacking rear ends. :-)
That's right - we had the big Mini.
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