The Law of Unintended Consequences must never be overlooked......
It’s not the volts, it’s the amps if I remember correctly.
“It only takes 50 to 100 volts to kill a person.”
The author is a scientific ignoramous. You can take a 100000 volts without a problem. It the amps that kill you.
Wouldn’t integrated fuses or breakers placed along the lines and between battery cells reduce the threat of electrocution?
Wattage is the product of Voltage time Amperage, or current.
That's why house current can kill. Plenty of amps in there, too.
One would think a large mechanical object like a car would draw lots of current, and at 330 volts... Just 10 amps at 330 volts would be 3300 watts - enough to arc weld with.
Big Deal....If the voltage doesn’t kill you, the size of the tin can your in will.....
Shocking!
The biggest danger of hybrids is that most of the people driving them are retarded.
How ironic, I just had a safety meeting at work pertaining to arc flash and static electricity. The supervisor was humming about the rubber gloves and the leather protectors. Every time I open a panel with 50 volts or more I need my proper PPE, no excuses. No more troubleshooting machines live without my gloves,glasses,cotton shirts and caution tape 48” away blocking the common folks.
It seems to me that the whole popularity of hybrids arises from ignorance and rigid thinking. The correct solution is the small turbo diesels pioneered by the Europeans, the French and the Germans (VW Jetta TDI anyone?). These powerplants are really tiny, between 1.0 and 2.0 liter displacement, have *really* great mileage, are peppy, and relatively clean burning.
Much of the fault is with both General Motors, and the Japanese. General Motors, perhaps on purpose, gave the diesel powered automobile a permanent black eye in the United States with the horrid diesel they offered in the mid seventies. With all the money spend on useless Auto show stylist exercises, they could have easily designed a fantastic small diesel, much better than the French could.
But they didn't. May GM live in bankruptcy hell.
I also blame the Japanese, who could have started designing a really efficient diesel but didn't because of the black eye diesels have in the US - and all Japan *really* cares about is the US market. The KOREANS saw the lack of interest the Japanese had in diesels, and jumped into the breech: Hyundai for example builds a really excellent 1.6 Liter CRDI that greats great mileage (for sale outside the US at least - Toyota, Honda and Nissan have *nothing* similar in this size).
The hybrid is an overengineered, overcomplex solution to a problem that has more a far simpler and more elegant answer, the small displacement turbo-diesel.
Some people just don’t think that a smoke test is safe.
I saw a lady smoking a cigarette in a Prius the other day. Struck me as funny.
Volts don't kill.
A static charge on a door handle is measured in the thousands of volts. It's meaningless.
What kills is amperage, and as little as 20 milliamperes can stop your heart. This makes most all electric appliances potentially fatal. All of them.....
Klein must have gotten his certification from a box of Fruit Loops. Current kills, not voltage.
I like alternative fuels and hybrids and all that stuff, but it's only a matter of time before electric cars erupt into a shower of sparks and blue high voltage arcs in a traffic collision or a hydrogen car blows up like a MOAB in downtown traffic or a fueling station.
... Or some anarchist posts on the Internet about how a hydrogen car can be booby-trapped and turned into a demolition device.
The hybrid:
I’m going to invent a machine which will sell because it will be marketed as earth-friendly (A very contemporary theme), with 450 pounds of batteries on board, made internationally by the lowest bidder with parts shipped all over the planet but selling for as much as $9,000 ABOVE the cost of a conventional comparable car.
This car will not allow people to do much themselves. You will come to me for your service because the sealed power units, warranties in place, electronics, proprietary tooling required; basically makes it near impossible for you to do anything. Maintenance, which over the lifespan of a vehicle is a large share of the total cost will come to the dealer and manufacturer, not off brand manufacturers, “Bob the car mechanic,” or even you if you choose to do some simple maintenence yourself.
This car will be nearly disposable with a very predictable life span. Buy one of those and a timed future sale is ensured. No more of those persistent dorks that keep their cars 20 years and put 250,000 plus miles on them. You shouldn’t do that anyhow, “save the planet and buy a new car!”
The earth friendly disposable car: the perfect product for idiots seeking to consume environmentalism, and 450 pounds of batteries.
So after a Greenie gets smashed by an 18 wheeler he has to worry about getting The Chair!
Sounds about right.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Another hybrid problem ?
a risk of electrocution