It wouldn't be unreasonable at all to call a pickup that size a truck. Is the Chevy Kodiak pickup a regular production pickup too?
And all those vehicles come with specialty price tags or have engines based off production cars. A car rental company would never be able to afford a fleet of specialty made rental vehicles.
And among all the car rental companies on the planet, there couldn't be a market for even 1 or 2 ICE models? And I'm sure the higher production costs would just cripple them too.
Automakers would produce ICE cars to fit specialty needs. Long-haul trucking, for example, won't be able to switch to fully electric for many decades. Thus the U-hauls (and the base of every U-haul I've seen is closer to a truck than a pickup). Range-extended hybrids at least will still be around until electrics can outperform every aspect of ICE cars (which might not be that long, but the point stands).
Many specialty vehicles are in production today that are only needed in relatively small numbers. Offroad vehicles (not soccer-mom SUVs), high-performance track cars, vehicles with arctic-ready engines, utility trucks that can drive on train tracks or have tow rigs in the back, all produced to meet specialty needs.
That suggests that today's electric cars could be useful for most people. If you only drive long distances occasionally it could be practical to just rent an ICE car for the few long-distance drives.
Without the performance? It accelerates MUCH harder and has nearly the handling and top speed (although the fact that the Elise comes with performance tires and the Tesla comes with eco-tires widens the handling gap). Range is lower but who cares about that for a sports car.
They didin't drain the battery after the crash as the manufacturer recommended. This is the electric car equivalent of draining the gas from a crashed car.
Are you a poor kid in Africa cranking an OLPC? We have electrical energy networks everywhere already. We have no hydrogen production facilities or gas lines anywhere
Well if I never drive more than 50 miles between having the car parked at home overnight, why should I care about range if it's more than that? Same as any other spec.
Really? Show me a good electric car at a price and performance comparable to the equivalent gasoline car. Show me a good electric vehicle that doesn't take hours to charge. Please, do. It's O.K, take your time.
Do I get to compensate for the additional cost of gas that the ICE car requires? If so, I'll put forward the Mitsubishi i, which can charge to 80% in half an hour with a quick charger and costs in the low-$20k range. Compare with any other tiny economy 4-seater.
Because they are something between "far off" and "impossible." Like saying "I'm glad we got rid of this wind farm, better to work on cold fusion anyways!"
It was a conspiracy FOR electric cars that backfired. I know there's no conspiracy against them (unless I count the spewings of people like yourself, for whom extreme range is the only worthwhile trait of an automobile).
Oh hydrogen, that's much more practical! A gas that escapes through solids and has already burned a zeppelin-shaped black mark into humanity's consciousness.
Electric cars are NOT shit now and would be less shitty than ICE vehicles given a decade or two of development. I'm not sure we'll ever see that now. But enjoy jacking off to your anti-environmental victory.
Oh I know. Just like I know that nuclear power is actually relatively safe. But the fact is that electric cars (more specifically giant lithium batteries) are a technology that people are antsy about, and now there's been an accident (fully preventable if they followed the instructions of course), and a cover up. What do you think's going to happen?
Yeah it's quite possible they jammed the signal and the drone failed un-gracefully (maybe started circling and was low on fuel), but if this was actually taken over then it was designed by morons.
Yeah Obama's such a pussy, not wanting to invade a sovereign nation the US is already on bad terms with just to pick up a crashed drone that has no bleeding-edge tech on board.
And by "much harder" BTW, I mean by the standards of first-world militaries with bleeding-edge tech and the world's best cryptographers at their disposal. For Iran it would be practically impossible.
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It wouldn't be unreasonable at all to call a pickup that size a truck. Is the Chevy Kodiak pickup a regular production pickup too?
And all those vehicles come with specialty price tags or have engines based off production cars. A car rental company would never be able to afford a fleet of specialty made rental vehicles.
And among all the car rental companies on the planet, there couldn't be a market for even 1 or 2 ICE models? And I'm sure the higher production costs would just cripple them too.
Automakers would produce ICE cars to fit specialty needs. Long-haul trucking, for example, won't be able to switch to fully electric for many decades. Thus the U-hauls (and the base of every U-haul I've seen is closer to a truck than a pickup). Range-extended hybrids at least will still be around until electrics can outperform every aspect of ICE cars (which might not be that long, but the point stands).
Many specialty vehicles are in production today that are only needed in relatively small numbers. Offroad vehicles (not soccer-mom SUVs), high-performance track cars, vehicles with arctic-ready engines, utility trucks that can drive on train tracks or have tow rigs in the back, all produced to meet specialty needs.
The employer can be nude. Me...well maybe if I could do it anonymously while wearing a mask :-P
Why would auto makers still produce ICE cars?
For the same reason they make U-Haul vans and trailers? Whose brain is off here?
Actually this survey found that 82% of Americans (possibly the most driving-happy population) drive less than 40 miles per day:
http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/48-of-consumers-interested-in-purchasing-a-plug-in-hybrid-electric-vehicle
That suggests that today's electric cars could be useful for most people. If you only drive long distances occasionally it could be practical to just rent an ICE car for the few long-distance drives.
Without the performance? It accelerates MUCH harder and has nearly the handling and top speed (although the fact that the Elise comes with performance tires and the Tesla comes with eco-tires widens the handling gap). Range is lower but who cares about that for a sports car.
Links for what? Well we've got a source for the accident and cover-up in TFS, so here's one about it being preventable:
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/11/gm-defends-safety-of-chevrolet-volt/
They didin't drain the battery after the crash as the manufacturer recommended. This is the electric car equivalent of draining the gas from a crashed car.
3x-4x less? You're either talking used or one of those little Indian cars that doesn't need to meed US/EU safety standards.
I was never a "space nutter" as you call them, I just disagree with your anti-space-exploration views and hardcore hyper-pessimism.
Are you a poor kid in Africa cranking an OLPC? We have electrical energy networks everywhere already. We have no hydrogen production facilities or gas lines anywhere
Well if I never drive more than 50 miles between having the car parked at home overnight, why should I care about range if it's more than that? Same as any other spec.
More than a century of development? They were basically forgotten between the late 1800s/early 1900s and the '90s.
A handful of concept cars with performance comparable to an electric. But the cars are no problem compared to the "hydrogen economy" they require.
Why do you say range? Why not top speed, cornering ability, acceleration, wade depth, shinyness of paint or any other arbitrary metric?
Hydrogen doesn't "escape through solids" any quicker than gasoline evaporates out of your tank
Depends on the tank (and gas cap seal) I suppose, since it escapes faster than helium:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium#Gas_and_plasma_phases
Really? Show me a good electric car at a price and performance comparable to the equivalent gasoline car. Show me a good electric vehicle that doesn't take hours to charge. Please, do. It's O.K, take your time.
Do I get to compensate for the additional cost of gas that the ICE car requires? If so, I'll put forward the Mitsubishi i, which can charge to 80% in half an hour with a quick charger and costs in the low-$20k range. Compare with any other tiny economy 4-seater.
Because they are something between "far off" and "impossible." Like saying "I'm glad we got rid of this wind farm, better to work on cold fusion anyways!"
It was a conspiracy FOR electric cars that backfired. I know there's no conspiracy against them (unless I count the spewings of people like yourself, for whom extreme range is the only worthwhile trait of an automobile).
Sure it would circle or follow a path home (if it has the fuel) but it's still not under enemy control, is what I was trying to say.
Oh hydrogen, that's much more practical! A gas that escapes through solids and has already burned a zeppelin-shaped black mark into humanity's consciousness.
Electric cars are NOT shit now and would be less shitty than ICE vehicles given a decade or two of development. I'm not sure we'll ever see that now. But enjoy jacking off to your anti-environmental victory.
Oh I know. Just like I know that nuclear power is actually relatively safe. But the fact is that electric cars (more specifically giant lithium batteries) are a technology that people are antsy about, and now there's been an accident (fully preventable if they followed the instructions of course), and a cover up. What do you think's going to happen?
RIP once more, electric car. Dig you up in 20 years once the fallout of this conspiracy washes away. :-(
Yeah it's quite possible they jammed the signal and the drone failed un-gracefully (maybe started circling and was low on fuel), but if this was actually taken over then it was designed by morons.
Yeah Obama's such a pussy, not wanting to invade a sovereign nation the US is already on bad terms with just to pick up a crashed drone that has no bleeding-edge tech on board.
Looks closer to 20 meters across to me. A plane doesn't need to be small to be stealthy, look at the B2 Spirit...
And by "much harder" BTW, I mean by the standards of first-world militaries with bleeding-edge tech and the world's best cryptographers at their disposal. For Iran it would be practically impossible.