So why does every review and road test of iDrive equipped cars say something like "This car is great, except for the iDrive user interface, which is ABSOLUTELY MADDENING."
Who was the moron who decided to go to Microsoft for the UI design? That, I'd really like to know.
OK. Should we maintain some sort of registry of things you don't like to see and hear in public? Or should I just call you any time I'm going to do something that might piss you off?
You're absolutely right. For the poorly-designed Honda Insight, the engineers fucked up the CVT.
As a matter of fact, current CVTs are not quite as mechanically efficient as a well-driven clutch and stick. However, for a properly tuned hybrid driveline (which the Insight was not) that inefficiency deficit is more than compensated by the super-efficient narrow powerband tuning.
Having said all that, I love manual transmissions and I'm leery of hybrid drivetrains. I think they're going to be twice as maintenance intensive, and not twice as efficient. The cars they're putting hybrid drivetrains in also, in my opinion, look really stupid.
Me, I covet the new Audi 3.0 TT with the Direct Shift Gearbox. Two clutches, no waiting. Woo hoo!
I don't think that regulating what you consume should happen. I do believe that the consumers should bear the costs. IE for good filtering systems in public venues, higher rent if they opt to smoke inside, higher healthcare premiums, etc.
Smoking has costs that are borne by non-smokers. In the best of all possible worlds, those costs would be minimized. (This principle also holds true for any discretionary activity...not just smoking)
Er, setting your apartment on fire because you fell asleep with a burning stick in your mouth? Happens all the damn time.
I agree with you in principle, and I don't think that smoking should be illegal, but I do think that people that do it should be responsible for the costs of their actions.
Is that the one that's basically a two-seat motorcycle? Hate to get in a wreck in one of those. Hate to have to pick somebody up from the airport in one of those. Is it a neat vehicle? Absolutely. Is it going to replace a Subaru station wagon (which is my benchmark family utility vehicle)? No.
Their web site says that they will begin delivering vehicles in 2002. That does not fill me with confidence.
Their web site also says that they get 100 miles at freeway speeds. So either you have information they don't want to share, or you are misinformed.
Re: 10k mile services, I don't know what kind of car YOU drive, but I kept my Miata running for 50,000 miles by changing the oil regularly and putting gas in it. I threw tires and brake pads at it. It did finally die (due to a manufacturing defect, unfortunately), but the servicing of that car was pretty trivial.
The fact that the power density of electric systems is so horrible forces a lot of engineering constraints on the vehicle design that makes for vehicles that are good at one or two things, and really bad at a lot of others. In other words, "Pure electric power is good for some usage patterns. It is vastly bad for many other usage patterns. It is NOT a panacea."
By the way: What's the crashworthiness of that battery stack like?
The power density of an electric powertrain is 1/50th that of a gas powertrain.
There aren't electric vehicles with the range, cruise speed, and acceleration of internal combustion vehicles. The EVs that come closest use batteries that cost the world to replace. (And yes, you DO have to replace them sooner or later)
Pure electric power is good for some usage patterns. It is vastly bad for many other usage patterns. It is NOT a panacea.
Dividing through, by m, the ratio of PE/KE=2gh/v^2. I'll let you do the math, but h is on the order of a hundred miles (assuming LEO), and v is on the order of many thousands of miles/hr. Squaring many thousands gives you a big denominator.
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Uh huh. How much is your annual service bill?
I wouldn't buy an American car for any amount of money.
Yeah. Much better to not have that ad revenue in the first place, right?
For those of us who are of an engineering rather than a mathematics bent, computers and calculators are absolutely invaluable.
I don't give a damn about the beauty and elegance of the equation, I need to know if the wing is going to break.
I am very glad that there are good mathemeticians around. I am not one of them.
So it's a niche market. So what? The nice thing about the Internet is that now it's possible to sell niche products more profitably.
The Masses are welcome to buy their crappy TI calcs. I will continue to buy calcs that suit my needs. Why is this a problem?
There are still 80,000 people who like Metallica? Wow. Who knew?
yeah, because buying a machine that can make a sign that says "Got JmprCabls" makes a lot more sense than buying some jumper cables.
So why does every review and road test of iDrive equipped cars say something like "This car is great, except for the iDrive user interface, which is ABSOLUTELY MADDENING."
Who was the moron who decided to go to Microsoft for the UI design? That, I'd really like to know.
OK. Should we maintain some sort of registry of things you don't like to see and hear in public? Or should I just call you any time I'm going to do something that might piss you off?
Freedom's a bitch, innit?
I didn't mean to imply that it was impossible, but it certainly hasn't been demonstrated in a viable reactor.
I didn't realize that the energy ratio was so high. That's pretty nifty. Hopefully, we'll see actual hardware that replicates these numbers.
Electrolysing the seawater? Right. That takes, what? Electricity. Where does that electricity come from?
I am immediately suspicious of anybody who thinks that the oceans are just big ol' fuel pits. Electrolysis takes enormous amounts of energy.
I don't even see how it's unethical. It may be against some licensing agreement somewhere, but who really cares?
You're absolutely right. For the poorly-designed Honda Insight, the engineers fucked up the CVT.
As a matter of fact, current CVTs are not quite as mechanically efficient as a well-driven clutch and stick. However, for a properly tuned hybrid driveline (which the Insight was not) that inefficiency deficit is more than compensated by the super-efficient narrow powerband tuning.
Having said all that, I love manual transmissions and I'm leery of hybrid drivetrains. I think they're going to be twice as maintenance intensive, and not twice as efficient. The cars they're putting hybrid drivetrains in also, in my opinion, look really stupid.
Me, I covet the new Audi 3.0 TT with the Direct Shift Gearbox. Two clutches, no waiting. Woo hoo!
Me, I've always thought that real men understand why CVTs are optimal for hybrid drivetrains.
I love manual transmissions, but only if and when they produce optimal performance. In a hybrid, they do not.
I don't think that regulating what you consume should happen. I do believe that the consumers should bear the costs. IE for good filtering systems in public venues, higher rent if they opt to smoke inside, higher healthcare premiums, etc.
Smoking has costs that are borne by non-smokers. In the best of all possible worlds, those costs would be minimized. (This principle also holds true for any discretionary activity...not just smoking)
Er, setting your apartment on fire because you fell asleep with a burning stick in your mouth? Happens all the damn time.
I agree with you in principle, and I don't think that smoking should be illegal, but I do think that people that do it should be responsible for the costs of their actions.
Is that the one that's basically a two-seat motorcycle? Hate to get in a wreck in one of those. Hate to have to pick somebody up from the airport in one of those. Is it a neat vehicle? Absolutely. Is it going to replace a Subaru station wagon (which is my benchmark family utility vehicle)? No.
Their web site says that they will begin delivering vehicles in 2002. That does not fill me with confidence.
Their web site also says that they get 100 miles at freeway speeds. So either you have information they don't want to share, or you are misinformed.
Re: 10k mile services, I don't know what kind of car YOU drive, but I kept my Miata running for 50,000 miles by changing the oil regularly and putting gas in it. I threw tires and brake pads at it. It did finally die (due to a manufacturing defect, unfortunately), but the servicing of that car was pretty trivial.
The fact that the power density of electric systems is so horrible forces a lot of engineering constraints on the vehicle design that makes for vehicles that are good at one or two things, and really bad at a lot of others. In other words, "Pure electric power is good for some usage patterns. It is vastly bad for many other usage patterns. It is NOT a panacea."
By the way: What's the crashworthiness of that battery stack like?
The power density of an electric powertrain is 1/50th that of a gas powertrain.
There aren't electric vehicles with the range, cruise speed, and acceleration of internal combustion vehicles. The EVs that come closest use batteries that cost the world to replace. (And yes, you DO have to replace them sooner or later)
Pure electric power is good for some usage patterns. It is vastly bad for many other usage patterns. It is NOT a panacea.
Excellent efficiency, poor emissions. It's unfortunate.
Dude. It's a /fan/. There's only so much heat transfer you're going to get from a reasonable sized fan and a heat sink.
Thermodynamics is actually a relatively simple set of principles. There aren't a whole lot of short cuts.
Yeah, because it's so easy to enter data on an iPod.
What the hell are you talking about?
Seems to me like a Bluetooth headset (preferably with a stereo option) would make the form factor much less of a, well, factor.
Although I don't know if BT has sufficient bandwidth for high-fidelity audio...
Uh, get a laptop.
Who's "we"?
Your intuition is not exactly correct.
PE=mgh
KE=mv^2/2
Dividing through, by m, the ratio of PE/KE=2gh/v^2. I'll let you do the math, but h is on the order of a hundred miles (assuming LEO), and v is on the order of many thousands of miles/hr. Squaring many thousands gives you a big denominator.
That fraction's got back, yo.
Losses due to mass? Back to Physics Jail with you!