Those who don't think through a process don't understand the possible results with unintended consequences.
When we visit our children in CA, they've told us that the only people they see driving hybrids are libs and ghays.
Posted on 11/27/2010 7:04:00 PM PST by Nachum
Richard Gilbert is a Toronto-based consultant who focuses on energy and transportation. His latest book is Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil, written with Anthony Perl.
My last post suggested that two types of transportation fuel could replace oil products. One kind – including natural gas and biofuels – could be used in versions of the internal combustion engines (ICEs) that today provide propulsion for almost all road vehicles. The other alternative fuel – electricity – would require a switch to electric motors (EMs) for propulsion. I concluded that electricity is the best alternative, especially where there is a surplus of electricity generation or it could be readily expanded.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Yes, just when will a battery replacement be needed, and what will it cost when that time comes.
I have heard 4-5 years and $7000. There won’t be any govt subsidy for those dollars.
To get it in my driveway, they will have to drive that prius over my cold dead body.
And a lot more expensive, and don't like to be discharged, ...
Electric vehicles can only be practical for those individuals who own electrified garages.
Street parkers, those who just have parking pads or garages and car ports without electricity, or those who live in apartment and park in a lot, none of those folks (a large percentage of the driving public) can even consider an electric car.
I can’t see this as a predominant means of getting around.
I do not think that there is any inherent limitation with electric motors as far as providing acceleration. Electric motors have a lot of torque for zero (0) RPM, so to provide enhanced acceleration, gearing is all that is needed. Please correct me if I am wrong.
My gasoline-powered car also loves the highway. There are a few highways in Texas with 80mph speed limits. I set the cruise ocntrol at 80mph and average 35-38MPG. That, and my car has a curb weight of 3,500lbs.
I’m still waiting for Mr. Fusion so I can hook up my Delorian.
7 hr charge at 240 volts. about 20 hours at 110/120V
That $7000 to replace that battery could have bought a lot of diesel to run that modern 60 mpg diesel. Some day they may even grow diesel with algae or some kind of genetically engineered Elaeis guineensis.
A 220 volt circuit at 30 amps will charge these batteries at 6.6 kilowatt-hours per hour for 7 hours. A 5600 watt dryer uses 5.6 kilowatt-hours. So, if you run the equivalent of a dryer for 7 hours each night, will one be charged a night time rate? Nope! Electrical rates will go up as more batteries are charged. And those home owners heating their homes on those cold winter nights will be paying to the nose because we have people living in a fantasy world on an unicorn farm.
Those who don't think through a process don't understand the possible results with unintended consequences.
When we visit our children in CA, they've told us that the only people they see driving hybrids are libs and ghays.
Me too. They're un-American.
.
My 1964 Shelby AC Cobra:
Prius freaks wet their pants when they see and hear this beast.
I built one for Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys with a 429 to go drag racing.
I have no idea what happened to it.
When he got off on drugs he traded it in to Hollywood Sport Car for a motorcycle.
Shelby rented for 2 weeks at $1,000/day to find out how we blew his ass off every Sunday.
A frend of mine had 3 of them, had to sell one when he got divorced but still has 2, one of which he still races.
About 4 years ago he had the one he races, unrestored, at a car show and was offered a million for it and turned it down.
Why did you rush to publicly demonstrate your lack of knowledge about the Prius when you could have remained anonymous and kept your secret?
I’ve been driving a Prius since 2006. I traded up to the latest generation Prius last year. I get anywhere between 50 and 60 mpg on regular gas at consistent highway speeds of 65 to 70 mph and have plenty of reserve power (using the electric motor and gas engine combined) to get it over 80 when needed. Going up hills at 65 to 75 is no strain at all although the mpg will drop briefly into the mid 40’s. I don’t defer to 18 wheelers because I can’t keep up with them; I do it because I know what they have to do to make a living and I don’t want to make it any harder on them than it already is.
As long as they are plugged into the grid, electric storage is not a big issue. Once you need to get off the grid, you need massive batteries to massive weight. The bigger the batteries, the bigger the weight.
Which is why an electric golf cart works just fine if you are moving people and light equipment around a plant or a shopping center . . . but doesn't work so well once you need to go further.
I'm a big fan of electric motors for my lawn tools-- weed whacker, push mower and the like. But I have the sense enough to know that they outperform their gas counterparts only because I run them for 30-40 minutes at a time.
Diesel is all kinds of awesome.
About a year ago an original one sold for $5 million at auction.
Electric Vehicle Acceleration???
No Problem.
Of course your range may suffer some...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.