Posted on 05/29/2006 9:21:14 AM PDT by BlueSky194
Nope. I drive it to work (40 miles) every day. This is my daily driver.
I agree with you on the new tech. I stay pretty much cutting edge in everything I do.
When hybrids go to Hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels, I will be looking hard at them. That is the real tech of the future.
Unless you are 10 years old, you will never see it. Perhaps you will have solar panels that heat your water on your roof, but hydrogen is as far of as fusion.
Ethanol is cheaper and easier. Why switch to a gas and have to build a new infrastructure, when a liquid works so much better and can be grown by local farmers..
Indeed, solar i.e. transforming and transporting the sun's energy, is the answer. But our technology won't surpass mother natuer for a long time. We might improve upon it a bit, but plants have the right mix already. Grow 'um and burn 'um year after year. And when you need more energy either you grow more, grow more efficiently, or burn more efficiently. That is the challenge of the 21st century. The first to figure it out (India, China or the US) wins.
Actually when I talk solar panels I am talking photovoltaics.
We have working fuel cells now. The big prob is more efficient solar panels. Folks are working furiously on those as we speak. (getting better too)
Think of a car that has no gas tank, pumps, lines, injectors, pistons, spark plugs, cranks, cams, etc. :-)
Carbon Fiber body, Titanium alloy frame, fly-by-wire with only a joystick, heads-up display for instrumentation, Lexan wraparound cockpit, weight under 1000 kilograms, radar avoidance, IR viewing at night, almost no moving parts. WOW!
BTW, everything I describe can be built today. All we need is a bit more efficient cell. That is coming (and coming fast IMHO)
My other car is a 94 Geo Prizm. Held together with duct tape, but I don't care. Runs like a champ, good on gas. I leave the van & Jeep home most of the time.
We don't have to import coal. Most people would recharge car batteries overnight when peak demand is lower, not during the day when we use the electricity to run AC for all the big box buildings that populate our cities.
Ummm.... I don't think so. Most folks would plug the car in just as they were getting home from work (and turning on the AC). The evening hours are the peak hours.
More like 5-6 years for battery replacement. (Max!) maybe 2-3 years, it depends.
The hybrid I'm waiting for is the hydraulic hybrid. It stores hydraulic pressure in an accumulator and is bled out to hydraulic motors at the wheels or differential. No batteries! Also unlimited power at take off until the pressure bleeds down. The gas or diesel engine would kick in about 1500 lbs and cut off about 4k lbs. The accumulator could be as large as you have space for. Ford is working on Excursion size vehicles that could get 30mpg. If it can't pull a 28ft boat, what good is it?
I read that one of the hybrid manufacturers offers a 10-year warranty. (I forgot whether it was Ford, Toyota or Honda. I didn't care that much because I won't by a hybrid until the bugs are worked and reliability is assured, if ever.) Anyway, I'm sure it's a prorated warranty like an ordinary car battery.
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