DutchmenSport wrote: "The real solution is to keep the prices high enough long enough for the market for electric commuter cars to develop"
Can an "electric" car or truck have enough power to pull an average 8,000 pound TT or 12,000 pound 5er, or pull a MH up I-40 at Ashville, NC?
75% of US workers have less than a 40 mile roundtrip commute. A lightweight electric-only vehicle would be the natural market. A large chunk of gasoline use could be displaced.
For larger, long distance vehicles you would use an electric drive to supplement a smaller petro engine. Adding the battery power for hill climbs could be a lot like doubling the horsepower.
There has been a small test fleet of electric-only Sprinters (14 kw-hr) out for about a year. Okay for local delivery, not enough range for cross-country.
Right now the battery packs need to be individually designed for each car. One of the founders of A123 (GM's likely battery supplier for the Volt) told me that mass market cars would be first and that trucks and niche vehicles would come later.
Dan
02 Freightliner Sprinter 2500 long tall home brew conversion
Lots of alternative energy sources at 60-80/B Problem is lead time to get on line and environmental regs. ANWR oil would be an absolute bargain and boon to the US economy. Why not.
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Domestic electricity comes from natural gas or coal. We don't have just a great abundance of the former and no-one want the latter. Nuclear is a big option for domestic electrons. France does it big time. Even the OPEC nations can sell oil and replace their energy cheaper with Nuke. What are we doing wrong?
markbrumbaugh wrote: Domestic electricity comes from natural gas or coal. We don't have just a great abundance of the former and no-one want the latter. Nuclear is a big option for domestic electrons. France does it big time. Even the OPEC nations can sell oil and replace their energy cheaper with Nuke. What are we doing wrong?
I suppose all the hydro-electric flood control projects, wind farms and solar steam plants are just for looks...
While wind and solar produced steam are somewhat volatile (no wind, inclement weather), IIRC hydro-electric provides some 15-25% of electricity for several large regions of our country.
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And the oil lobby bought congress to prevent coal being made into deisel fuel as to expensive. Funny the Germans did that during WW11 and powered everything.
markbrumbaugh wrote: Lots of alternative energy sources at 60-80/B Problem is lead time to get on line and environmental regs. ANWR oil would be an absolute bargain and boon to the US economy. Why not.
Also here in North Dakota with the Bakken Formation, many many years of oil here.
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There are things we can do if we want:
Eliminate oil speculators, as a start.
Produce energy in a responsible way, such as clean coal, no spill drilling with mandated clean up, new generation nuclear power with sensible disposal of wastes, more solar (much more can be done here),
development of electric plug-in w/gas or diesel engines for long range, elimination of old clunkers that do not meet fuel mpg requirements (or a high user fee).
The private sector can move fast if it wants to, and drag its feet if it doesn't want to. Without getting into politics (too much), I believe the committed left wants the elimination of automobiles and the right does not want any restrictions. There has to be a middle ground.
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