Posted on 02/07/2012 2:00:54 PM PST by Zakeet
Why can't people accept that gasoline is now and for the foreseeable future the most efficient form of transportation energy? And in fact, where 'green' is concerned, gas powered cars are FAR MORE GREEN and better for the environment than electric cars.
It’s just a matter of physics, and the storage capacity of energy. No batteries ever invented or contemplated pack as much energy potential in the same volume/weight as a gallon of gasoline. Sorry, but you can’t “wish” away that basic fact.
The new and improved version
The Wright Brothers did have a contract from the Army, beginning in 1908.
And you’re right.. The first computer wasn’t ‘handheld’.
It was called the Eniac, designed in 1943 and went into operation in 1046.
“ENIAC contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, 7,200 crystal diodes, 1,500 relays, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors and around 5 million hand-soldered joints. It weighed more than 30 short tons (27 t), was roughly 8 by 3 by 100 feet (2.4 m × 0.9 m × 30 m), took up 1800 square feet (167 m2), and consumed 150 kW of power[”
You would need an awful big ‘hand’ to hold it! :0)
“The ENIAC contained 17,468 vacuum tubes... “
And that’s where the term bug had it’s genesis. A moth got into one of those early beasts with all the tubes and caused some problems. A computer bug.
I’ve been around computers for a couple of years. First one I worked on was a Sperry Univac 1219B missile fire control digital computer, with a whopping 32KB core memory.
The Baker was shaft driven just like the Volt.
Except we are the ones getting the SHAFT.
oops..
Should read ‘1946’... :)
You have capsulized Agenda 21 as put forth by the UN & embraced by libturds.
I will see your Tandy and raise you a Wang.
Trash 80s of the world, untie! ;>
I want to see one of the electric vehicles make it through a night and start...in International Falls, MN. Or Prudhoe Bay.
When these piles of junk can go 400+ miles on a charge and all the gas stations have a charge station (several of them) and the car can be recharged in the same time it would take to fuel a regular car, then I might, might, consider buying one. Used.
Not only were your tax dollars wasted on this, but you sound like they had the same technology for testing and manufacturing available “when the airplane was invented” as we have today. Surely they should be able to tell that a car like the Volt is NOT going to be successful before putting so much of our money into building and promoting them.
It might have to do with the fact that we're involuntary investors in the manufacturer.
I agree with you that the government should not be involved in industry and technological developments. I also agree with you that gasoline has a far greater capacity to store energy than electicity, at our current technological development.
But I don’t think that will always be the case, because electrons take far less space than carbon molecules. I think, in time, electricity will be the eventual winner between the two. It’s just a matter of time before we find the proper storage medium for electricity.
Government involvement should not be involved. Look where the private space enterprises are, without government help. They’ve been able to do much more then NASA, in about the same time period.
Sure, but we don't subsidize them with our tax dollars.
And yes, electric cars were being built even prior to 1900 [Google "electric cars 1900" and look at the hundreds of images] and up till at least World War I. They never gained popularity because -- are you ready for it -- the batteries couldn't provide enough range.
In the nineties, GM had an experimental electric car project which saw hundreds of them put on the streets. It was such a failure that GM took them all back and destroyed them.
I'm actually pretty interested in electric car development, I just don't want to invest in it by force and see the president jawboning companies to build them.
Do you know that only 15% of the oil wells produce any gasoline at all, and that after a certain time the supply will be exhausted?
LOL. Peak oil gloom and doom a hundred years ago.
A quick peek at some fine eye Tandy raises my Wang every time.
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.