The problem is the round trip efficiency of making H2 with electricity and then converting it back to electricity in a fuel cell is only 30-50% efficient compared to storing the electricity in a battery which is 90+% efficient. In addition, compressing, storing and transporting H2 is difficult and causes further losses and inefficiencies. (H2 has a nasty habit of leaking through most containers)
They only needed to convince a few people in government to overlook the scam. In most countries this is called bribery. In the US, it's called campaign donations.
No risk to the lender. The government covers losses. They hire sleazy debt collectors to harass students who can't pay. The only kind of debt relief that might happen is for the taxpayer to bail out the banks. That's the way our bank owned government works. Heads they win, tails we lose.
I get rent checks totaling over $10K each month. However, since some people pay on time and others are chronically late, I typically have two (or more) deposits each month each less than $10K. Is this illegal money laundering?
Not surprising to see Amazon to look for this easy money. Banks have been ripping off students and the government for years with this scam. Interest rates are high... much higher than most loans. Loans are guaranteed by the government so no risk to the lender. Students can't declare bankruptcy and discharge the loans so they are on the hook for life. Side note: when my daughters started college a few years ago, I was deluged with calls from student loan salespeople. Reminded me of home refinance deluge just before the crash. Fortunately, I had saved enough for their education so I was able to tell them to get lost.
Ford, GM and all the other "established" automakers have been very slow to introduce EVs and the cars they have made are severely crippled (low range, expensive, bad design, etc.). They have mostly been producing limited production "compliance cars" which they are forced to make to avoid regulatory penalties. Tesla demonstrated that there is significant demand for a practical electric car without compromises. I do hope that the old guard gets its act together but I think this may be another case of established producers reluctant to cannibalize their existing ICE cars where they have invested billions in ICE technology and production. I think they hope this whole EV car fad will go away and they can get back to making muscle cars, SUVs and pick up trucks powered by dinosaur juice.
Free to me, that is... I get free energy from the sun on my solar panels. This device captures RF energy in the environment. Someone had to pay to put it there but it's free for me to harvest.
I don't know of any rechargeable battery which will go for five years without charging. Most rechargeable batteries have a substantial self discharge rate and will go to zero in a few months with charging. I can't find anything on the size of the battery but the whole device is only 51 grams so it would be difficult to fit a "large" battery in there.
If you're not constantly looking around you for other cars, etc. then you shouldn't be driving (or autopiloting) a car. I've driven thousands of miles using Tesla's autopilot and it's much less stressful since you don't have to be continually making minor adjustments to speed and steering. You can take in the larger picture of your car and surrounding cars. Tesla AP also does a much better job of keeping the car in the center of the lane and controlling your following distance from the car in front. It will warn you of surrounding cars and refuse to change lanes if another car is near. Watching the road and other cars is sufficient engagement to ensure attention. If you're not doing that, you shouldn't be driving.
Actually, the CO sensor they have built transmits data to your smartphone using Bluetooth so they do seem to have enough power for Bluetooth (not sure if it's BLE).
It is adaptive cruise control and lane keeping and that is what they have advertised. They have never advertised it as autonomous. Every time you turn it on it says: KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL AND BE READY TO TAKE OVER AT ANY TIME This is not a legal disclaimer buried in the fine print. It's clearly displayed right in the middle of the screen every single time you turn it on.
Clearly you have a very detailed knowledge of modern autopilot systems and their advanced capabilities. However, this discussion is about what the average layperson thinks about and knows when they hear the term "autopilot" and that is a simple system which controls the direction, speed and altitude of an airplane. I believe that is the concept that Tesla was trying to invoke in naming their system. Clearly the Tesla autopilot has capabilities such as traffic aware cruise control and proximity sensors which give it some advanced features but they have always said that it is not autonomous and that the driver must keep hands on the wheel and be prepared to take over at any time.
By that definition, Tesla AP swerves to avoid collisions by following the lines on the road. In an aircraft if you set the altitude too low, it won't swerve to avoid a mountain but will happily run into it (I believe it's called CFIT "Controlled flight into terrain").
By your logic, driving a car is fundamentally incompatible with human beings. Imagine sitting behind the wheel of a car for hours on end operating the steering and gas pedal and having to be constantly alert for some yahoo pulling in front of you. I tell you, it just won't happen! People will get distracted and have accidents! Best to ban all cars now before they get too popular.
Following the same logic, Consumer Reports should call on all automakers to disable cruise control in automobiles. Cruise control (first generation) will merrily plow into anything in front of the car.
If you don't have your hands on the wheel, it will pop up a notice telling you to put your hands on the wheel. If you still don't, it will beep an alert at you. If you still don't, it will gradually slow the car to a stop (it assumes that you are disabled at that point).
Autopilot in an airplane maintains direction and speed. Tesla autopilot does the same. Autopilot in airplane doesn't swerve to avoid crashes. But Tesla does swerve/brake in some situations. Autopilot in airplane requires the real pilot to pay attention and be ready to take over at any time. Tesla pops up a notice every time you turn it on which says "KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL AND BE READY TO TAKE OVER AT ANY TIME". The name is perfect. Unfortunately, we still have some of the same stupid people who can't read and don't follow directions.
Vending machines kill people? Are you talking about the junk food in the machines? Last I checked, most vending machines didn't really go around looking for people to run over. Is there some new kind of motorized zombie vending machine? Perhaps they grab your arm when you reach in for the Coke, pull you in and ferment your dead body into... more Coke?
The problem for fossil fueled internal combustion engines (ICE) is that they are very inefficient at converting the heat from the fuel to motion... about 25-30% at best. OTOH, large generating stations and the electrical distribution network are much more efficient. So even after going through electrical distribution and battery charge/discharge losses (about 10%), it is a much more efficient use of fossil fuels to power an electric car. Of course, if your electric car is powered by renewables (hydro, solar, wind), you don't have any CO2 / NOx emissions. Nationwide, coal only generates about 35% of electricity. Even if you run your electric car solely on coal generated electricity, it is still more efficient than an ICE. One other little known fact is that it takes a large amount of electricity to refine oil to gas/diesel and if you put that electricity into an electric car, it could travel as far as an ICE car could on the refined fuel. So, yes, electric cars are a win for the environment from an engineering standpoint.
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The problem is the round trip efficiency of making H2 with electricity and then converting it back to electricity in a fuel cell is only 30-50% efficient compared to storing the electricity in a battery which is 90+% efficient.
In addition, compressing, storing and transporting H2 is difficult and causes further losses and inefficiencies. (H2 has a nasty habit of leaking through most containers)
Thanks.
I guess that's reassuring.
I do report the income on my taxes but I'd hate to get caught up in a witch hunt.
Thanks for the clarification.
They only needed to convince a few people in government to overlook the scam. In most countries this is called bribery. In the US, it's called campaign donations.
No risk to the lender. The government covers losses.
They hire sleazy debt collectors to harass students who can't pay.
The only kind of debt relief that might happen is for the taxpayer to bail out the banks. That's the way our bank owned government works. Heads they win, tails we lose.
I get rent checks totaling over $10K each month. However, since some people pay on time and others are chronically late, I typically have two (or more) deposits each month each less than $10K.
Is this illegal money laundering?
Not surprising to see Amazon to look for this easy money. Banks have been ripping off students and the government for years with this scam.
Interest rates are high... much higher than most loans.
Loans are guaranteed by the government so no risk to the lender.
Students can't declare bankruptcy and discharge the loans so they are on the hook for life.
Side note: when my daughters started college a few years ago, I was deluged with calls from student loan salespeople. Reminded me of home refinance deluge just before the crash. Fortunately, I had saved enough for their education so I was able to tell them to get lost.
It looks like they're posting it again to see if they can drum up more ennui.
Ford, GM and all the other "established" automakers have been very slow to introduce EVs and the cars they have made are severely crippled (low range, expensive, bad design, etc.). They have mostly been producing limited production "compliance cars" which they are forced to make to avoid regulatory penalties.
Tesla demonstrated that there is significant demand for a practical electric car without compromises. I do hope that the old guard gets its act together but I think this may be another case of established producers reluctant to cannibalize their existing ICE cars where they have invested billions in ICE technology and production. I think they hope this whole EV car fad will go away and they can get back to making muscle cars, SUVs and pick up trucks powered by dinosaur juice.
It links to a smartphone via Bluetooth BLE.
It's not designed as a home CO alarm. It's designed to monitor low levels of ambient CO from pollution.
Free to me, that is...
I get free energy from the sun on my solar panels.
This device captures RF energy in the environment. Someone had to pay to put it there but it's free for me to harvest.
So you are saying that this is a scam and they aren't even trying to capture and store energy?
I don't know of any rechargeable battery which will go for five years without charging. Most rechargeable batteries have a substantial self discharge rate and will go to zero in a few months with charging.
I can't find anything on the size of the battery but the whole device is only 51 grams so it would be difficult to fit a "large" battery in there.
If you're not constantly looking around you for other cars, etc. then you shouldn't be driving (or autopiloting) a car.
I've driven thousands of miles using Tesla's autopilot and it's much less stressful since you don't have to be continually making minor adjustments to speed and steering. You can take in the larger picture of your car and surrounding cars. Tesla AP also does a much better job of keeping the car in the center of the lane and controlling your following distance from the car in front. It will warn you of surrounding cars and refuse to change lanes if another car is near.
Watching the road and other cars is sufficient engagement to ensure attention. If you're not doing that, you shouldn't be driving.
Actually, the CO sensor they have built transmits data to your smartphone using Bluetooth so they do seem to have enough power for Bluetooth (not sure if it's BLE).
It is adaptive cruise control and lane keeping and that is what they have advertised. They have never advertised it as autonomous.
Every time you turn it on it says: KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL AND BE READY TO TAKE OVER AT ANY TIME
This is not a legal disclaimer buried in the fine print. It's clearly displayed right in the middle of the screen every single time you turn it on.
Clearly you have a very detailed knowledge of modern autopilot systems and their advanced capabilities.
However, this discussion is about what the average layperson thinks about and knows when they hear the term "autopilot" and that is a simple system which controls the direction, speed and altitude of an airplane. I believe that is the concept that Tesla was trying to invoke in naming their system. Clearly the Tesla autopilot has capabilities such as traffic aware cruise control and proximity sensors which give it some advanced features but they have always said that it is not autonomous and that the driver must keep hands on the wheel and be prepared to take over at any time.
By that definition, Tesla AP swerves to avoid collisions by following the lines on the road.
In an aircraft if you set the altitude too low, it won't swerve to avoid a mountain but will happily run into it (I believe it's called CFIT "Controlled flight into terrain").
You're driving a fucking car! Pay attention! Don't watch movies. Watch the road.
By your logic, driving a car is fundamentally incompatible with human beings. Imagine sitting behind the wheel of a car for hours on end operating the steering and gas pedal and having to be constantly alert for some yahoo pulling in front of you. I tell you, it just won't happen! People will get distracted and have accidents! Best to ban all cars now before they get too popular.
Following the same logic, Consumer Reports should call on all automakers to disable cruise control in automobiles. Cruise control (first generation) will merrily plow into anything in front of the car.
If you don't have your hands on the wheel, it will pop up a notice telling you to put your hands on the wheel. If you still don't, it will beep an alert at you. If you still don't, it will gradually slow the car to a stop (it assumes that you are disabled at that point).
Autopilot in an airplane maintains direction and speed. Tesla autopilot does the same.
Autopilot in airplane doesn't swerve to avoid crashes. But Tesla does swerve/brake in some situations.
Autopilot in airplane requires the real pilot to pay attention and be ready to take over at any time. Tesla pops up a notice every time you turn it on which says "KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL AND BE READY TO TAKE OVER AT ANY TIME".
The name is perfect.
Unfortunately, we still have some of the same stupid people who can't read and don't follow directions.
Vending machines kill people?
Are you talking about the junk food in the machines?
Last I checked, most vending machines didn't really go around looking for people to run over. Is there some new kind of motorized zombie vending machine? Perhaps they grab your arm when you reach in for the Coke, pull you in and ferment your dead body into... more Coke?
The problem for fossil fueled internal combustion engines (ICE) is that they are very inefficient at converting the heat from the fuel to motion... about 25-30% at best. OTOH, large generating stations and the electrical distribution network are much more efficient. So even after going through electrical distribution and battery charge/discharge losses (about 10%), it is a much more efficient use of fossil fuels to power an electric car. Of course, if your electric car is powered by renewables (hydro, solar, wind), you don't have any CO2 / NOx emissions. Nationwide, coal only generates about 35% of electricity. Even if you run your electric car solely on coal generated electricity, it is still more efficient than an ICE.
One other little known fact is that it takes a large amount of electricity to refine oil to gas/diesel and if you put that electricity into an electric car, it could travel as far as an ICE car could on the refined fuel.
So, yes, electric cars are a win for the environment from an engineering standpoint.