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High Efficiency Hybrid Car Planned For 2009
An anonymous reader writes "You may have heard some of the hype last month when California-based Aptera let out first word of its allegedly super fuel-efficient (and cheap) Typ-1 electric vehicle. A video test drive and gee-whiz specs breakdown at the Popular Mechanics site proves that this thing is for real. The plan is to have a vehicle that goes 120 miles on a single lithium-phosphate pack charge for 2008, with a 300-mpg model to follow by 2009. Aptera is also mentioned in Wired's new cover story as one of several early front-runners for the Automotive X Prize."
Where's my flying car?
Non-fossil fuel vehicles will start selling when they are made as inexpensively as traditional vehicles. And, when they have the range, capacity, and easy and quick refuel capabilities.
Until this point is reached, they don't stand a chance in the American system.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
NT
Uh, how do you measure MPG in an electric car?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I don't know what it is about these cars of tomorrow, but they do not look attractive at all. Apparently the people who buy these cars feel like they need to announce to the world that they just bought an overly expensive golf-cart all under the guise of saving the planet.
When are we going to see high-range electric cars that don't look like something out a bad video game?
On many of these electrics, you do need to plug-in to get your initial charge. Isn't that causing just as much, if not more, pollution than burning oil locally?
I'm still not sure that anyone can actually decipher all the different impacts that "environmentally-friendly" vehicles or machines have. I know I read an article this year that spoke of the CO2 emissions for just peddling a bike or taking a walk, so even not using machinery seems to have an impact.
Then again, I'm not a big fan of the global warming scams out there, nor am I a fan of peak oil theory. I just need to see the whole picture, rather than what some people will say is a small portion of the picture, but ignores other ramifications of decision making.
One area we're visiting in India in January is a town on a hill that allows no cars or trucks (you usually can only get there by train). Same in Switzerland (entire towns with no machinery). Yes, the air is cleaner, but so are the people living there. If we all use electric vehicles in those towns (let's say), another town that generates the energy is going to get the brunt of the polluting. I'd rather pollute MY area, so we can see the direct effect, than push it off to a poorer neighborhood where we won't.
Global yadda-yadda-yadda, I think it is more important to focus on the damage you can actually see than try to control the world's climate.
An interesting and radical design -- but the three wheel arrangement bothers me:
Single wheel drive? According to the video, much of the weight is over the front, but the driving wheel is at the back. That might be OK for California, but I wonder how well this vehicle would cope with a little ice and snow.
I see that they've done it that way to simplify the transmission, but I'd much rather have four wheels.
and you'll see a pic of some dude leaning on the side of the thing with a single bag of groceries on the ground...
Guess why there's only one bag there...
How about employer incentives. Your employer puts up solar panels in the employee parking lot for anyone driving an electric car to work. You park your car in the cool shade under the panels and plug in for a free 9 hour recharge. Wouldn't work everywhere, but in industrial park / business park settings in places like california or arizona it would work fine. High tech, "don't be evil" companies could lead the way.
Actually, make it simple. Put an AC plug next to every parking stall. In cold places we do it for block heaters. Employers pay for all sorts of perks to attract good employees. Why not add free recharge to the list.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
...when these things actually start looking like cars. Yes, I know that when I drive to work I usually don't have to have room for groceries and the whole family but if that thing doesn't cost below 10k bucks then I don't see myself having an extra car sitting in the garage just for getting family and stuff to places twice a week.
I want to see a car that has the same range, power and space and a comparable price as today's cars. THEN I will GLADLY buy one... new even.
By making it a Trike (3 wheel) its largely counted as a motorcycle so all the crash testing requirements go out the window (including side impact, which would shread this little egg).
But the bigger worry is that trikes are far less stable in a turn, because it is at a much earlier point that they start to roll over.
The Corbin Sparrow had a real tendency to roll over. Alpina may be better by having a wider front wheel footprint, but the pod shape has a higher center of gravity. I hope either they have really REALLY good Dynamic Stability Control/Electonic Stability Control or really REALLY good laywers.
Test your net with Netalyzr
The problem with all these super fuel efficient cars is that they're too expensive for a second car, too small for a primary car and overall, they look like toys. I'm sure its a wonderful car to drive, but it can't (for most people) be a primary car. It would be great for a trip across town to pick up groceries or to commute to work, but you need something else as well that can hold more than two people and has much more cargo space. Even a shopping trip to more than a few stores can often fill up a whole trunk in a sedan, and that car looks like it has very little cargo space. Which then brings up the next problem - if its a second car most people can't afford to spend $30k on a second car that's only for commuting. If the price ever gets down to $10-15k, I'm sure plenty of people will buy, but until then, its just not affordable.
Finally, the last point, the car looks like its flimsy and just a toy. I wonder if they've done any crash testing on it. If a minor collision completely destroys the drag profile and requires $15k in repairs then insurance is going to be astronomical for the car. How sturdy are the body panels and how easily replaceable are they? How does it do in a collision with an 18-wheeler? It's going to be hard to convince (especially) Americans that a car like that is safer on the roads than an SUV.
I wish them luck, and maybe in a few generations it will be popular, but it's going to take a lot of work.
Wii would like to play!
Does it come with a gamepad?
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
I've seen a skabillion... well, must have been forty or fifty stories... about companies that are just about to introduce a great electric car.
So far, only one has ever made it beyond the press release and concept car stage: the General Motors EV-1.
I'll believe the Chevy Volt when I see one in a showroom, and ditto the Aptera and all its brethren.
And deduct ten points for a Flash-heavy website about "a creative experience that puts you inside the mind of an Aptera engineer. The journey is a picturesque series of vignettes that lets you navigate through diverse surroundings. You will even learn a little about Aptera along the way: our vision, our inspiration, our goals. It's for those of us who think visually."
How about a little something for those of us who think numerically?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
One of the problems with hybrid cars is the inability to obtain large format NiMH cells. The technology needed to produce these cells is patented, and the patent holder has declined to license it to anybody producing large format cells.
(I should mention for the conspiracy fans among us that the patent holder is Chevron).
Anybody who wants to build an electric car or hybrid car design that requires a large battery capacity can't use the safe and proven NiMH technology. This makes the plug-in hybrid, which needs more electrical storage than an ordinary hybrid, the domain of aftermarket kits only.
Lithium Phosphate, once it becomes economical to produce, might well make better hybrid, or even plug-in hybrid technology a commercial reality. While not quite as good as Li-ion, it's inherently safer and (if reports are to be beleived) superior in performance to NiMH.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
... would anyone other than eco-freaks drive it? It's hideously ugly and completely unsexy in every way. Three wheels? Give me a break.
Wake me up when they make an electric car that doesn't look like nerds designed it.
You see, some will burn coal - from plants with scrubbers and pollution controls (we hope), and some will run on nuclear. Some will be powered entirely by wind, others by wave action, solar power, natural gas, oil, etc. Remember - a large plant has a far greater efficiency than an ICE, even if you include the line losses (Remember how far that gallon of gasoline had to travel to get to your local gas station).
By removing the need to burn a specific fuel, i.e. a narrow range of liquified hydrocarbons, an electric car can run on whatever is most cost efficient to produce electricity. You may want to generate the pollution where you live, but not all communities can harness geothermal, wind, hydroelectric, or large-scale solar energy. There are also limits to where nuclear plants can be installed (and not just from the NIMBY perspective).
Sure, there's still the issue of distribution, but the hope is that the current system could be upgraded to handle the new loads as they came on line. You would also reduce/eliminate the transportation-intensive liquid fuel distribution system, and potentially some of the troublesome fuel additives we've devised.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Call me when the middle class can get a fuel effiecient car. If I have to decide between that and a $15,000 Corolla which gets 30 mpg. I would have to choose the Corolla becuase the extra $15,000 is the current equivilant of 5,000 gallons of gas or about 150,000 miles of driving. If I drove my Corolla 100,000 miles I would pay $25,000 (car + gas) if I drove the Typ-1 e 100,000 miles I would have paid $32,500. If I got the Typ-1 h I would pay 31,000 to go the same distance (assuming it costs $30,000).
until they start making cars that are in the same media price range as average family car and more importantly doesnt look like a giant sperm-cell on 3 wheels (see video to understand what i mean!)
I'm NOT driving something that looks like that!!!!
Its bad enough that you'd be on the road with giant SUV's but this... even a subaru outback could beat this thing up and take its lunch money.
To boldly use to and too two times and get it right too! They're not gonna believe their eyes when they see it there!
I don't think the big advantage of the current generation of hybrids is their power source. After all, as you say, if it's not coming from burning gas, it's coming from somewhere else. Right now, most of our somewhere elses are still too polluting and/or diminishing scarce natural resources at an unsustainable rate.
What I do think hybrids are already good for is straight-up efficiency in typical driving. If I'm driving around town, I spend a significant amount of time stationary or moving very slowly on the approach to junctions, even on otherwise clear roads. A hybrid will be running purely on the electric side of the system, and neither waste power nor emit pollutants under those circumstances, in contrast to a typical petrol or diesel vehicle where the engine is wasting reserves and cranking out all kinds of nastiness even when you're not really going anywhere.
This is far more pronounced when we're talking about town driving, since classic engines tend to be slightly more efficient in most current hybrids at sustained high speeds. Still, even on faster roads, if there's an accident or roadworks causing a queue, why waste expensive gas and chuck **** out into the atmosphere for no good reason? A hybrid doesn't, and for me that is the number one reason to consider buying one today.
(The number two reason is that despite this practical efficiency, some of them also have rocking performance for only a modest increase in weight now. Whether you're towing, live near harsh terrain, or simply enjoy a safe but sporty drive, this is all good.)
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
And has been doing this for millions of years. The only thing that changes the ocean methane equation is reduced atmospheric pressure, or a very wicked ocean warming--- more than what's forecast.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
BEWARE DA VOODOO MON!!!!
IMO.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
I'm all for cheap, efficient, environmentally-friendly individual transportation, but would it be so hard to build one of these that actually looks like a car?
I don't want to drive something that looks like a Jetson's cast-off.
What will that vehicle look like when it gets rear-ended by an SUV?
...and almost as futile as war, too.
I want my EV-1 back. That was a good car. For those of you who don't known about the EV-1, you should really watch "Who killed the Electric Car?". I saw it on one of the Starz channels a few weeks ago. All of these other cars really seem like half arse attempts at a solution. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but there was certainly some reason why GM totally destroyed all traces of the EV1.
neorush
So will the firmware for this be written in native perl 6, and will it come bundled with a free copy of Duke Nukem Forever?
"'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'"
- JRR Tolkien.
It's nice that this is up and coming, but that sort of thing is also known as "vaporware". We've been hearing announcements of cleaner vehicles for years and years. Even Lada demonstrated one last century! And what do we have? A handful of hybrids...
Why is it taking so long? Why is it that I can see things that could be improved, and it's not being done? For example, why do the two hybrid cars I can buy here have gasoline engines and a fuel economy comparable to a diesel in the same price class, when they could (1) burn diesel, which has a much better fuel economy _and_ is cheaper here, and (2) use the combustion engine _only_ for electricity generation, so that it can run at its optimum efficiency? And, while I'm at it, why not a more efficient engine (e.g. Sterling or Wankel instead of Otto)?
And why do we have cars that can run on up to 85% ethanol (the rest being gasoline) instead of 100%? And why do diesel cars not run on straight vegetable oil right out of the factory, even though you can get them converted for about 2 thousand euros, after which they can run on straight vegetable oil _or_ diesel?
Come on, people! It's not like there are unsolved technical problems here! The solutions are known, they are just not in mass-manufactured cars.
And governments! The (well, some previous) government here has refused to lower taxes for CO2-neutral fuels because "the environmental benefits are not clear". This despite studies having found that using straight vegetable oil instead of diesel reduces CO2 emissions _even_ if fossil fuels are burnt in every possible phase of the production and transportation. If it wasn't for that, straight vegetable oil would be cheaper than diesel here.
And all the misconceptions people have. "But electricity generation emits CO2, too!" Well, depends how you generate your electricity, don't you think? "But the crops for producing vegetable oil will use up valuable arable land!" Well, not if you use crops that don't, or algae, which grow in deserts and on salt water and have a much higher yield anyway. And on and on.
I don't claim _I_ have all the right answers, but it's sad to see how messed up the situation is, considering the things that _are_ known and _could_ be used.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
You're behind the times. All the big fleet operators in the US are testing diesel electric hybrid trucks now(fedex,ups, coca cola, etc), and are going to be investing in them to expand their fleets as the older trucks wear out and get replaced, and two companies in england are shipping all electric trucks well into the multi ton delivery range. *Shipping*, as in normal, you can buy them right now. Cab companies all over are switching to hybrids from crown vics, and as soon as plugin hybrids start coming from the majors they will be using those. This stuff is not theoretical anymore, all these new drivetrains are hitting the market now and in 2008, the automotive industry is going through significant disruptive technology change *right now*. Over seas, in india and china, big moves to electric vehicles, several large companies shipping them in 2008. The range is plenty good enugh now, and will only get better the next few years, ton of battery breakthroughs this year, as in this car in the article, read about their battery tech. Rough analogy, electrics and hybrids are at a similar status as computers in say 92-3, and that was "good enough". Earlier adopters get the benefits, just like with computers. Heck, the prius has been out ten years now! And most of them still on the road, and most of them still running on the original battery packs!
You'll be seeing diesel electric drivetrains in normal cars and pickups real soon now. Real soon. Suburban guys and contractors are gonna eat them things up off the lots as soon as they hit. Same power as a big gas engine, twice the mileage, same towing capacity, double duty as the home or jobsite backup generator. Americans *like* pickups and SUVs, that style is *not* going away, that's where a big part of the market is, so plugin hybrids will be coming to a lot near you soon in pickup and SUV models. It might be the japanese have them first, but who knows, detroit is getting desperate and I bet there's some skunk works action going on there. They can be motivated at times to actually produce. The shareholder pressure and market pressure is now intense, that will have an effect.
Look around for one of the older diesel nissan maximas. Good mileage, tough engine. Might be worth it even if you had to do some rebuilding. They had both sedans and wagons.
A video test drive and gee-whiz specs breakdown at the Popular Mechanics site proves that this thing is for real.
My sarcasm meter must be broken.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
I'd like to get me a Tesla, it's got a certain tug :)
As such, it gets a pass on many safety restrictions from both the NHTSA (if it were actually being produced) and the automotive X-prize. It doesn't look like there are any air bags juding by the picture from TFA. Also, that
I have a hard time believing that. My hand isn't that large compared to the windshield or one of the tires. Maybe there test subject had webbed fingers. But what difference does it make if you're sticking your hand or of an "average car" or not? Shouldn't the drag caused by your hand be the same?
Why is the rear window so small? It looks like a basketball would barely fit through it. Unless the rear view and side cameras are great you'd have a huge blind spot. TFA even complains about the blind spot even though the author is over joyed with pretty much every other aspect of the car.
TFA suggests there isn't even a pressure booster for the brake pedal so at least you get a quad/calf workout when you drive. How about power steering? I didn't see any mention of that either.
I drive a 1995 Mercedes E300 usually using B100 biodiesel. (Though I put a couple of gallons of ultra-low sulfur diesel into the tank last week because the temperature got down to the gel-point of B100 last weekend.) The guy who runs Houston Biodiesel claims a 78% reduction in net carbon footprint.
I don't get why there aren't any diesel hybrids. In europe they have cars like the citroen that can get 60+ mpg. If the prius is a corolla with 20% improved milage, if we apply that here we're talking nearly 80 mpg in a hybrid version.
Why isn't this happening?
Your torque argument is a bit off base. Electric motors produce phenomenal torque. More important, they can produce torque at 0 rpm, something no IC engine can do. This is why cars have clutches or torque converters, so the engine, turning at say 1000 rpm can be connected to wheels at 0 rpm without stalling the motor or breaking something. This is also why freight locomotives are all diesel electric. They don't make clutches big enough to couple a 4500 horsepower diesel to 16,000 ton train.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
Our battery has a five-year life. You can go to 2,000 charge/recharge cycles. The lithium-ion battery in my ThinkPad is supposed to last for 500 charges, but in practice it's more like 200. So, moving to lithium-ferro phosphate is really cool because you don't have to spend additional money on periodic battery replacement costs, regardless of the environment.
Also, lithium-ferro phosphate is pretty environmen- tally friendly. Some early studies we did suggested that it possibly can decompose into fertilizer (with processing). Typically we think of batteries as environmentally bad, but there's some indication that lithium-ferro phosphate isn't that harmful. We haven't quite gone through all of the rigor on this, however, and it does require some processing to decompose it into fertilizer. Full article is here.
From the FAQ http://www.aptera.com/ask.php
What is the seating and cargo space?
The Aptera has "two plus one" seating allowing plenty of room for driver and passenger while an infant seat (newborn to age three) can be located in the middle behind the front seating. There is enough storage space to fit 15 bags of groceries, two full-size golf club bags or even a couple of seven foot surf boards.
-- Boycott Shell
I know you wanted to refute, but you failed. Keep in mind, I was refering to alternative fuel vehicles as a class, not individually.
Considering the styling, capacity, and common features of the vehicles, the competing class is "Econo". Price range: Econo 9k to 18k. If you want to look at the hybrid SUV's against traditional SUV's, try it.
Single fill up = Single charge. Therefor, my 300 mile range versus 50 to 100 for the plug-ins, hybrids get more range.
I carpool, I have in my econo commuter 4 seats, 3 are used. 2.5 seats is not going to work. And, the extra weight in a plug-in puts extra duty on the charge and lessens my range.
Again, only if you consider the hybrid. Plug-ins, well forget about it.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
...tons of Midwest ice and snow is not what worries me. The 95 lb mom in the Hummer, Escalade, or Excursion who is riding your ass, while talking on the phone, while screaming at the kids in the back seat is what I would fear. While I would not mind driving one of these, there is no way you would find me driving one of these any time soon for the above mentioned reason.
Name: Mr. Anon E Mouse; SSN: 555-55-5555
You've got to be kidding me! I am surprised the designers of this vehicle are based in California, because something like this would never work here. With the oversupply of Soccer Mom's behind the wheels of a giant SUV chatting away on their cell phones, this is surely a death trap.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for high MPG cars. I personally am considering the 2009 Jetta TDI which gets a combined 50+ MPG, which is better MPG than most Hybrid vehicles without the huge markup in price and weight for the battery technology. And it has the added bonus of being designed for the Autobahn with 5 star crash ratings and based upon a tried and true technology..
I've got a new website up profiling some of the Automotive X Prize (AXP) cars - I intend for it to be a kind of one-stop information clearing house on the X AXP. The Aptera-typ1 is one of the cars I feature already. Check it out at:
http://xprizecars.com/
augment your senses: http://sensebridge.net/
There are plenty of problems with your suggestions.
/could/ try to grow unproven algae in the desert, and have to build the attendant distribution systems to such remote places; or they could just use the land, roads and elevators they already have. What do you think they're going to do?
The biggest is that burning food as fuel vastly increases demand, and hence the price, of food. It is already happening with corn. Which is why the ethanol lobby is growing stronger so quickly, as more farmers sign up. And as farmers switch from other crops to corn, those prices go up, too.
Which exposes the naivete of your argument: yes, farmers
And despite your claim, most studies show that biofuels don't burn as cleanly as petrofuels (with current tech), and that there are indeed no clear answers to the carbon benefits. Wikipedia is not a bad place to start to look for these studies.
Lies about crimes
Somehow, he was rated insightful, when he really isn't. Flying cars and driving cars may have epistemological equivalence (both = vehicle operation) but they are not ontologically equivalent. Example: hacking up a cooked turkey and brain surgery are both examples of (episteme) knife wielding, but they are not the same (ontologue) activities and have radically different social values and results.
Similar to the brain-dead postmodernists who insist that theory has no value, because "it's all theory".
All he did was act contrarian in a very adolescent manner - the kind of numbskull pigheaded idiot logic I expect from a dull second year university student - the kind I normally give a C- and a recommendation to do some follow up research to get the grade up.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
What about http://www.teslamotors.com/ ?
I would find it more useful to rate a car on MP$ - miles per dollar.
MPG is a close rating for gasoline and diesel automobiles. It's a simple calculation to convert that to fuel costs in your area - or compare two different models for efficiency in an apples to apples fashion. But to compare an electric car's costs to a gasoline car's, not so simple. While electricity costs vary, widely sometimes, meaning that a miles per KWH would be a better equivalent to MPG, you will then need a simple equation to plug in 2 variables to equate MPG to MPKWH. Even so, a reasonable attempt to equate these two numbers to a single MP$ comparison would be worthwhile.
And once you've done that, a comparison of fuel costs/mile would also be worthwhile. Electricity generation + transmission + losses while charging isn't the most efficient use of fuel, but neither does the internal combustion engine come near making efficient use of all of its heat energy. While MPG is easily computed for a gasoline car, there obviously can be an equivalent MPG rating for an electric car, if you can determine just how must fuel does that electricity cost to travel that distance. That would be important for the environment, since electricity generation is mostly a hidden cost in the environmental equations.
These would all be numbers worth seeing.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
All he did was act contrarian in a very adolescent manner
I'm sorry, I seem to have missed the part of your post where you refute the GP's point. Or perhaps you were just making an ad hominem attack dressed up in fancy language? In that case, carry on...
The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.
That the manufacturer knows the cost and efficiency but not the top speed or turning radius of the vehicle.
Just making an observation.
What many people don't know is that the electric car actually predates gasoline and diesel vehicles, but for so[big]me rea[oil]son, disappeared into obscurity (I guess we could blame lousy battery technology, too). As recent as a decade ago, the GM EV-1 provided a viable solution to current car technology, but again, disappeared into obscurity. The story of this car can be seen in the documentary Who Killed The Electric Car? . It's a damn shame that such a solid alternative was sent to an early grave. Hopefully this time around, with the focus on global warming, car companies will get smart and embrace this technology.
The reason people think electric=low power is that they're used to these things that have
low HP ratings to conserve on battery demand and cost. An electric motor is more efficient
and more powerful than pretty much every prime mover we've developed over the centuries.
The problem is providing that specific prime mover with energy. Batteries are intrinsically
heavy (or dangerous- just look at the flaming Dell's to realize this...). All of it is
pricey because we've focused on internal combustion engines. Now that we're being forced
because of circumstance to re-think everything on the prime mover equation, electrics are
beginning to be utilized as they win over most everything else. If someone could axe the
battery problem out of the equation, then combustion based prime mover tech would get relegated
to the largest applications where it'll be an issue for a while yet to apply electric motor
technology to the problems in question.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
I always felt that cars shoud be aerodynamic like a water drop, a bit flattened, with front wheels outside and with rear wheel under the end. Boxy 4-wheel cars always felt somewhat br0ken by design to me. This thing is like my dreams come true. I hope we'll see it on this side of atlantic soon.
Yeah, no kidding. You should see what a good size lathe motor does to metal, even from a dead stop, when something gets stuck :) Better not be too close.
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
True, you don't need to stand there while the car charges, but what happens if you get to work after a long commute (maybe distance, maybe traffic) and then get a call that you need to leave right away. I don't believe the average person would want to tell the school nurse that it will be a couple hours until the car is ready to go.
(n/t).
I'm not trying to rub it in, but...
Then again, maybe this isn't the "diesel Land Rover" you want. BTW, in regards to safety, did you see this article? Very very sad. As a soon-to-be father with one of these trucks I'm going to make a mental note to not drive it into a river (and I don't mean in this manner) and if I do, to make sure I pull my family to safety before abandoning the truck.
www.clarke.ca
I read an article once that claimed this, and gave statistics to show that although an SUV may give you more protection during an accident, it also makes you more likely to have an accident. The reason, they said, was that SUVs are less maneuverable.
I don't know if this is true, but in my Camry, I have personally avoided two major crashes by being able to swerve when somebody pulled into my lane without warning.
But every time when news items like appear, it is usually followed by discussions/sub-threads like "Global warming is not real!", "Global warming is not caused by mankind", "If we don't do something now about the environment, we're all going to die!", etc. etc.
I'm often wondering why there's apparently so little line of though along the following line:
"No matter if global warming is real or not and no matter if it's caused by mankind if it's real... I just don't want to live in as smog-filled city with thousands of vehicles producing all kinds of products that my family and I will breathe in, 24/7/365!"
Active environmentalists or not, global warming supported or not... I hope we can all agree on the fact that no-one likes to breathe in what comes out of the exhaust of all those vehicles on the road today, right?
IMHO, this alone makes it completely worthwhile to switch to greener/electrical alternatives. Not just for the perceptual difference in air quality, but also to prevent X cases of disease Y every single year.
Thank you!
*steps down from soap box*
Dude, you don't even know what "epistemology" and "ontology" even mean. And even if you did you have no good reason to use those words, so I must conclude you are deliberately misusing complicated words, expecting us not to know or understand what they really mean, and furthermore conjecturing that we will simply assume you have intellectually overpowered us and concede defeat without you having to actually make a convincing argument. I call shenanigans.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
All he did was act contrarian in a very adolescent manner - the kind of numbskull pigheaded idiot logic I expect from a dull second year university student - the kind I normally give a C- and a recommendation to do some follow up research to get the grade up.
Good thing I never have to take Fat Virgin Living In Basement 101. I would hate to have you as a professor.
I'm not sure what the result would be, but in your calculations with plug-in hybrids, you really should add the cost of electric charging. The 300mpg figure is average over a single trip of 120 miles after starting with a fully-charged battery, not the mileage you would get if you ran it as a pure hybrid with no wall-socket charging. By those standards, all-electric cars get infinite mpg, and are therefore "free", if you get magic free electricity.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Dude, I teach the stuff.
And even if you did you have no good reason to use those words,
Why? How? Of course I do. Do yourself a favour - read "What's Wrong with Post Modernism" - esp. the chapter where Norris rips Fish into little teensy bits. There's a fine paragraph in there that discusses much the same - how Fish disposes of all theory because it's all theory, and Norris demonstrates how, as I noted, it's a mistaken conflation of epistemology and ontology.
There's more to theory than the rule books.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
how would this puppy handle in the ice and snow if the only wheel with power is the one rear wheel? Spinning out on ice and snow is a challenge with rear-wheel drive in a car that has two wheels. Living in a northern state, my first thought on seeing a picture of the thing was that it must have all-wheel drive to cope in slippery conditions.
Couldn't drive motors be added to the other two wheels without increasing the weight that much? The one on the rear wheel in the video didn't look that large.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Then cut the bullshit and link me to your faculty page at your university. (Except then I'd have no way of knowing it was really you, unless you posted something there. So until you do so, shenanigans are still in full effect.) BTW, using opaque, pseudo-philosophical language to argue your points is a common tactic of postmodernists. Clarify of expression is a virtue.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
Electric motors are known for their torque. It is not that hard to make a fast electric car like this one.
"Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
The problem is, MPG rating is to which the public relates.
Deleted
The Typ-1h is a plug-in hybrid, and Aptera's numbers are starting with a full wall charge. Their own site (click on "Performance") admits that the actual long-run mileage "after 350-400 miles" "eventually plummets to around 130 mpg at highway speeds where it will stay all day until you plug it back in and charge it up". The 300 mpg figure, from their chart, looks like it's for a 100-mile trip after a wall charge. A 50-mile trip after a wall charge is 1000 mpg, so we could quote that too, but neither is total energy usage, whereas 130 mpg is (still impressive, but not 300).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Most of the cost of generating and transmiting electricity is the fixed cost of building the peak capacity, not actually producing the power. So when we have cars with batteries/supercapacitors that can let a car go for hundreds of miles between charges, we rarely will have to charge them during peak hours.
Instead, we'll do it in the small hours of the morning, as their drivers sleep, the lights are off, and the air conditioners have little if any work to do. The electric utilities will be happy to sell the power at special reduced off-peak rates.
I have come to the conclusion that if electric vehicles really will go hundreds of miles between charges, we'll have a special kind of hybrid for long road trips. Rather than carrying the weight of the diesel generator around all the time, it will be a trailer that can be hauled behind the vehicle, with a standardized umbilical cable bringing in the power produced by the generator and a communication bus to allow the vehicle to monitor fuel level and control the generator. You'll be able to rent one at U-Haul, Ryder, and probably many gas stations, so if you don't make many long trips, you won't need to own one. Some designs will have a lockable fiberglass shell on top to protect extra cargo for those long trips hauling stuff off to college or back home for Christmas vacation.
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
"BTW, using opaque, pseudo-philosophical language to argue your points is a common tactic of postmodernists."
*And the crowd cheers!!*
That's EXACTLY what I was thinking!!!
Bravo!