Your opinion on electric vehicles

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Hmmph. Some man you are.

In Arkansas, we picked them up by the tail, and smacked their heads on a rock.

Only the copperheads and rattlesnakes, of course, The rest we let alone. They ate the rats and mice......

Perfect reason to wield a stick.

[LazyScot]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

No man is an island?

Oh I think quite a few are (no, I'm not including RSE in this...). Fortunately global warming and sea levels will deal with them.

All for one and one for all, and all that?

Ahhh, Porthos, we'd wondered where you got to.

Eh? Wot?

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Agreed. Nuclear control requires a uniform responsiblity that can not be maintained aross land and time.

We are self centered, arrogant and bigots if we think that we will be able to maintain a sense of responsibility across time. Any containment can be breached by ignorance. The past tells us that all civilizations disappear after a short while, our own word is about to be blown to bits (pun intended). Who will understand our warnings then? The use of such poisons is selfish and pretentious, period. Wez goin' down the drain baby!

There was a fascinating article in the New Scientist (I think about a year ago) dealing with the difficulty of providing signs that would make sense after such long periods of time. (Assuming that the engineering issues could be solved.) One point that came up (I think) was the even if the warnings were understood, would people heed them -- think of the warnings on the tombs of the Eygptian pharaos.

However, I do think that the constrained area of danger that a nuclear dump presents (ignoring the risks in Space 1999) is preferable to the spread out problems of a airborne polution.

Getting back to electric vehicles, I think the have the *potential* to be better for the environment. First off, the power can be generated in better fashions. Secondly, the overall efficiency can be far better than current internal combustion engines.

I am very impressed with the current level of electric vehicles. I rode in a friend's Prius some months back on a standard journey. Compared with my current car, it is about 15% more efficient. Maybe not outstanding, but significant. And my (ordinary) car is pretty good. (We both drive in about the same energy efficient style.)

I also use another type of electric vehicle quite a bit. The train.

[yvanleterrible]

I've driven a few EVs and loved them. Everyone there had a big wide grin coming out of them too. You can't really criticize if you haven't tried them. Most reasons against that I hear are propaganda spread by interests about to lose part of their control.

EVs are not for everyone. Only 90% of us would have a utility for them, so why manufacture them?

EVs, even used by 100% of the populations would not mean the end of oil use at all. Big trucks, buses, trains, planes, ships and fishing boats, cranes and mining machinery will absolutely need oil. I would love to see someone try to make a battery for a super cargo ship.
Out of all the oil extracted, 61% is used for transportation, that includes shipping, mass transit, air travel and people moving. Out of that, less than 72% is used in personal vehicles. I don't think those poor little oil companies will starve soon.
But please, can those who want an EV have the means to get one? The only ones available are niche market things that make no sense. The Tesla costs 125,000$!!! that's more than my house FGS Only Europe so far is starting to have some choices. We've had a few choices for lease a few years back, but they've been taken back by the manufacturers and crushed.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by LazyScot

I also use another type of electric vehicle quite a bit. The train.

Agreed.

But I can just picture myself at a train station with ten sheets of plywood...

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by LazyScot

There was a fascinating article in the New Scientist (I think about a year ago) dealing with the difficulty of providing signs that would make sense after such long periods of time. (Assuming that the engineering issues could be solved.) One point that came up (I think) was the even if the warnings were understood, would people heed them -- think of the warnings on the tombs of the Eygptian pharaos.

I remember reading a similar article nearly 30 years ago-- in Scientific American, I think. It's a problem I don't think we've solved yet. (I'm not a fan of the "launch it into the sun" plan, for a variety of reasons.)

I often think that if all passenger vehicles had to include the "miles per gallon/kilometers per litre" calculator that the Prius and Civic Hybrid have, people would be a lot more conscious of their fuel use, and would be able to make more informed decisions. I know that my driving habits changed quite a bit after I started driving a Civic Hybrid, and I became much more efficient. That carries over into my driving non-hybrids, too. I'd rather see a policy of making this kind of display mandatory than prohibitions against building gas vehicles or whatever. I'd like to see it have the status of an odometer, unalterable by law, so that someone buying a used or new car could see for themselves what mileage it gets.

Again, the idea would be to help people make informed decisions, not to try to make the decisions for them. There are times when a less efficient vehicle really is the right one for the job. (Our Prius can't be used to pull a trailer, for example.)

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by LazyScot

Ahhh, Porthos, we'd wondered where you got to.

Hmm... why does everyone assume I'm Porthos? Gotta lay off the cookies...

[LazyScot]

Originally Posted by nekokami

I often think that if all passenger vehicles had to include the "miles per gallon/kilometers per litre" calculator that the Prius and Civic Hybrid have, people would be a lot more conscious of their fuel use, and would be able to make more informed decisions. I know that my driving habits changed quite a bit after I started driving a Civic Hybrid, and I became much more efficient. That carries over into my driving non-hybrids, too. I'd rather see a policy of making this kind of display mandatory than prohibitions against building gas vehicles or whatever. I'd like to see it have the status of an odometer, unalterable by law, so that someone buying a used or new car could see for themselves what mileage it gets.

I'd support that. The car we've got now has that and it is very instructive about driving styles. Though I can, at times, become a bit of a geek on drives trying to push up the long-term average as well as the instantaneous measurements...

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Hmm... why does everyone assume I'm Porthos? Gotta lay off the cookies...

It was more the wine, women and song, actually, that makes us think of you as Porthos...

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Hmm... why does everyone assume I'm Porthos? Gotta lay off the cookies...

Besides, I claim the man from Meung. He definitely had a Texan attitude...

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Agreed.

But I can just picture myself at a train station with ten sheets of plywood...

Nothing wrong with that image .....

[HarryT]

People take all sorts of strange things on trains . That's why (at least in the UK) they have a guard's van for large objects like bicycles, etc.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Agreed.

But I can just picture myself at a train station with ten sheets of plywood...

That's why God invented renting! (That was the eight day of creation. On that same day, he invented angst, the Marianas Trench, the Corpse Blossom ("Wait'll they find that!")and the mumps. On the ninth day, after tea and before clipping his nails, he invented delivery services.)

[yvanleterrible]

Electric highways would be the perfect thing. Drive the inramp and you get on an ordinary looking road surface with wires built in. Some wires give induction charging to the vehicle and others a computer link. A master computer from the highway management takes control of your car to optimize traffic and destination around obstacles such as road construction or accidents. Vehiccles could be inches from one another like a giant perpetual train.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Electric highways would be the perfect thing. Drive the inramp and you get on an ordinary looking road surface with wires built in. Some wires give induction charging to the vehicle and others a computer link. A master computer from the highway management takes control of your car to optimize traffic and destination around obstacles such as road construction or accidents. Vehiccles could be inches from one another like a giant perpetual train.

brilliant if you want to 'go off the beaten track' ....

[nekokami]

I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much time in an induction field. It might be harmless, but then again, they used to think that about xrays.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

brilliant if you want to 'go off the beaten track' ....

I forgot to add that you drive as usual on battery power to that on ramp and when you get off it. Also that you key in your destination the same way you do a GPS. Oh, and your account would be charged for electricity by the mile or something like that. (Your car's computer has an ID)
All of this is doable with today's technology but acquiring an EV. They don't want to do them and are stalling all the way.(yeah, bloody pun intended)

Originally Posted by nekokami

I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much time in an induction field. It might be harmless, but then again, they used to think that about xrays.

Your whole house wiring is an induction field. There have been worries about that too.

I guess the inside of an EV's floor could be insulated...