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Hybrid-Car Tinkerers Scoff at No-Plug-In Rule
NY Times ^ | 4/2/05 | DANNY HAKIM

Posted on 04/06/2005 8:13:35 AM PDT by finnman69

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To: GOP_1900AD
No problem with aftermarket mods as long as you stay street legal.

Yeah, but say bye-bye to your warranty.

41 posted on 04/06/2005 8:42:55 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (They're not "illegal immigrants", they are "undocumented Democrats".)
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To: finnman69
He gets 40 to 45 miles per gallon driving his normal Prius.

The same mileage as a conventional Toyota Echo, which costs thousands less. Hybrids are a bad investment.

42 posted on 04/06/2005 8:43:19 AM PDT by MediaMole
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To: conservativeharleyguy
Now, imagine the effect on the grid of the increased demand from several million cars plugging in at the same time.

It is expected that most cars would be charged OVERNIGHT, where there is much less demand for electricity and there is generating capacity simply being wasted. Thats why the Electric companies would LOVE for us to have electric cars. More money for them with a minimum investment on their part.

My question for these "180mpg Prius" owners is, how many kilowatt-hours worth of energy are they using to charge their cars? I pay 7 cents per KW-hour, so I wonder how much this is costing them overall. I am curious, not neccessarily sceptical.

43 posted on 04/06/2005 8:43:29 AM PDT by Paradox (Occam was probably right.)
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To: dead

I guess it depends if the power generated by power plant is cheaper per unit than power produced by gasoline in a car engine.

I suspect that it is, just because power plants more much more electricity, so you get savings from bulk sales/purchases.


44 posted on 04/06/2005 8:43:40 AM PDT by Constantine XIII
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To: dead

I thought of that too. I wonder what it does to your electricity bill. I do see a future with expanded nuclear power generating electricity to power up electric cars and/or hybrid/hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

What the pressure on scumbags like Harry Reid to open up the Nevada Yucca Flats site to store nuclear waste.


45 posted on 04/06/2005 8:44:15 AM PDT by finnman69 (cum puella incedit minore medio corpore sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos)
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To: Constitution Day
LOL. My neighbor has an outlet in his garden that is less than 100' from my garage. Thick, heavy ground clutter means I wouldn't have to get up early in the morning to unplug it.

Time to check out that electric car.

46 posted on 04/06/2005 8:45:20 AM PDT by 11Bush (If the shootin' don't start soon, I'll have to mount the Ma-Duece on my wheelchair.)
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To: MediaMole
The same mileage as a conventional Toyota Echo, which costs thousands less. Hybrids are a bad investment.

Maybe they are now? But do you really want to drive around in an Echo?

47 posted on 04/06/2005 8:45:22 AM PDT by finnman69 (cum puella incedit minore medio corpore sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos)
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To: TBall
Mr. Grebman is the guy making that claim, and he's also the guy who "modified a Toyota Prius so it can be plugged into a wall outlet."

The article is a bit unclear on it, but if he's plugging his Prius into an outlet each night, the numbers he cites as "gasoline mileage" are absolutely pointless.

48 posted on 04/06/2005 8:45:42 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: finnman69
mechanical batteries called flywheels

You have got to love the Times staff. All their reporters have masters degrees in Deconstructionism, Queer Theory, or Suffering Ethnic Victim studies -- and a third grade grasp of science and engineering.

Poor Danny Hakim probably thinks flywheels are a novel concept. They're actually incorporated in all cars for the last hundred years, and have a very important role in hybrids.

Changing the subject, this kind of modification, I believe, is why GM only leased, and then destroyed, the EV-1 -- which is the principal reason the EV-1 was a disaster. GM lost six figures per unit produced. That's what happens when you let the lawyers run the company.

And.. .electricity is free if someone else pays for it for you. That would describe most of the Times's political party.

In the long run, of course, the only answer is nuclear power. The left will have an epiphany when it starts actually costing them something, which considering that they are mostly insulated from the market by dint of being welfare leeches, university drones, or bureaucratic payroll patriots, means that the rest of us will hurt more, first.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

49 posted on 04/06/2005 8:47:14 AM PDT by Criminal Number 18F (If timidity made you safe, Bambi would be king of the jungle.)
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To: DManA

Notice that the author identifies everyone but left leaning organizations as having an agenda.


50 posted on 04/06/2005 8:48:31 AM PDT by flying Elvis
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To: the OlLine Rebel; 11Bush
Heh.

In all seriousness, I wouldn't mind having a hybrid car.

But that's only if it had the same styling, speed and options of my current car.


51 posted on 04/06/2005 8:49:11 AM PDT by Constitution Day (Standing athwart FR, yelling 'Stop!')
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The electric utilities really want to sell electricity and they want to sell it to the transportation sector because that expands their market. They have an agenda.

"Agenda" Translation: "Evil" Corporations in business to make a profit.

52 posted on 04/06/2005 8:49:46 AM PDT by Babu
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To: dead

You're missing the point. These autos would be charged at night when electric consumption is at its lowest and the utilities produce power at some plants just to keep the grid going. With implementation of time of day billing, which already exists in some states, the cost could go as low as 1.5 to 2 cents per kwhour, which will make the cost much less than gasoline or at least competitive.


53 posted on 04/06/2005 8:50:43 AM PDT by appeal2
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To: The Great RJ
Has anyone ever contemplated what would happen when one of these hybrid cars is in a major accident? I'm certain the hundreds of pounds of batteries pose some environmental danger if ruptured or burned and likely some danger to the occupants and rescuers. I have also heard that fire departments and rescue squads are being warned about removing the doors from these vehicles to rescue trapped occupants as there are high voltage cables in and around the doors that could pose serious hazards if cut.

I would asusme they have been in major accidents already and I have read fire crews/responders have been trained about high voltage cables in hybrid cars.

Info on high voltage Hybrid systems

Crash Course On Hybrid Cars

54 posted on 04/06/2005 8:51:14 AM PDT by finnman69 (cum puella incedit minore medio corpore sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos)
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To: stevio

"If we need to build new plants they will probably be nuclear, something I'm not looking forward to."

All power plants, other than hydro, should be nuclear!


55 posted on 04/06/2005 8:51:38 AM PDT by dalereed
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To: Daus

The wind blew and the Kilowatts flew.


56 posted on 04/06/2005 8:51:59 AM PDT by hgro (ews)
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To: jtminton
I wonder if people realize that electric cars still use fuel, it just gets burned at the power plant.

Plus a lot of the energy is wasted through heat from steam pipes, lossy generators, lossy transformers, lossy transmission lines, more lossy transformers, lossy rectifiers, ...

57 posted on 04/06/2005 8:52:40 AM PDT by smokinleroy
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To: AppyPappy

Solar panels?

Free?

You dare write "solar panel" and "free" in the same paragraph?

Last price I saw was what... About 250.00 per 40 watts.

40 watts peak power that is, IF you're in the complete 100% exposed sunlight, for a period of at most 4 hours (10:00 to 2:00 local apparent time) with 80% (or so) efficiency from 8:00 to 10:00 and a little more from 2:00 4:00 local apparent sun time.

That not a lot of power for a LOT of money. And heat load.


58 posted on 04/06/2005 8:52:41 AM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but Hillary's ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: Constitution Day

If I could retrofit my 3-ton '79 Lincoln......


59 posted on 04/06/2005 8:52:44 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue.)
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To: the OlLine Rebel

Dang!
You'd have to have a battery system the size of an 18-wheeler to make that thing roll! :)


60 posted on 04/06/2005 8:54:25 AM PDT by Constitution Day (Standing athwart FR, yelling 'Stop!')
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