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Alternative-Fuel Vehicle Recommendations?

Posted by Cliff on from the ditching-the-gas-guzzlers dept.

Ellen Spertus asks: "My husband and I lease a pure electric GM EV-1, which we love, and need to replace our second car, a conventional Honda Accord, which recently died. We'd get a second EV-1, but GM has stopped making them. I haven't been able to find any available all-eletric car with the range (>=50 miles roundtrip) and speed (>=65 mph) that I need. Does the Slashdot community have any experience, wisdom, or advice on choosing an alternative fuel car?"

"I'm currently considering:

We test drove a Toyota Prius today, and it seems like a nice car. It's said to provide a quieter and more comfortable ride than the Honda Insight, and it uses pure electric power at low speeds. The Honda Insight, on the other hand, has better gas mileage. I could refuel either at regular gas stations. The Honda Civic GX would need to be refueled at special stations, but there are many where I live and work, the San Francisco Bay Area. The GX is the lowest in emissions, which would qualify me to drive alone in the carpool lane. All of the cars are about the same price, around $20,000 new. Used cars are also available."

7 of 877 comments (clear)

  1. The technology's a little old... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...but what about the Flintstones car? Methane emissions were low and it ran on calories. =)

    1. Re:The technology's a little old... by grossinm · · Score: 2, Funny

      I doubt Fred was low on methane...

  2. Bumper Stickers by mgarraha · · Score: 5, Funny
    Seen on an electric car in Michigan:
    MY OTHER CAR BURNS FOREIGN OIL
  3. Re:BIODIESEL by Steev · · Score: 2, Funny

    This actually isn't the case, because biodiesel can be made from waste products, such as the oil from a deep fryer. How many fast food joints are there in North America again? Exactly. Our own retarded lifestyle will keep us going :)

  4. Real Men use Nitromethane for fuel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Ethanol is for drinking!!

  5. Re:fryer oil by MacGod · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Accch! That's my retirement grease!"

    -Groundskeeper Willy

    --
    "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
  6. Re:Fuel per acre by Daeslin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not sure what the bushel of corn/ gallon of ethonal ratio is, but the fuel used per acre in the earlier post is definately off.

    On my dad's farm, you can get around 100 and some odd bushel per acre. I think it might have been around 160/acre but its been a while. Since an acre is only something like 233 feet square, its not going to take driven feet to pass it. Some time operators like my dad use equipment that covers 15 feet per pass. Bigger operators use machinery that'll cover 2, 4 even 6 times that much (albiet with lower fuel efficiencies). And tractors get suprisingly good milage considering the torque that they generate.

    Using modern farming practices such as no till or low till, you don't touch the field very often, so that comes out to 3-5 passes over the field in a year. Likewise, to try and keep costs low, any solvent farmer only puts on those chemicals needed in the portions needed, so that's declining. In fact, there're starting to get to the point where they can combine GPS and lots of soil samples with computerized applicators to vary the amount of chemicals over each acre to boost efficiencies as much as possible.

    Anyway, thought someone may find that of interest.

    --

    I like lots of people. That doesn't mean I go carting them around the galaxy with me. --Dr. Who