[Spridgets] Electric Vehicles.

Mike Rambour lists at dinospider.com
Mon May 9 10:58:53 MDT 2011


   The problem with all the alternate fuels is distribution, some of us 
love to drive and alternative fuels are fine if you stay within city 
limits but there is no distribution outside of city limits for the 
alternative fuels.

  I drive 7 miles to work, for easy math call it 15 miles roundtrip, 15 
miles each day X 5 days a week = 75 miles a week X 49 weeks of work (3 
weeks vacation) = 3675 miles a year for my commute to work.   0 miles 
for groceries, I walk to the store, lets call it 4,000 miles a year for 
work commute and other trips.  So how did I do 17,000 miles last year ?  
I ride for pleasure, that is how.

   I could never go for alternative fuels, most of my miles are out of 
the city limits, rode 300 miles (roundtrip) 2 weeks ago for some 
twisties and a good burger.  Last week was South to L.A. for some 
Persian food (1.5 hours each way).  This week I am planning on taking a 
afternoon off and going up Hi. 1 200 miles for some great Clam Chowder.  
My wife and I think nothing of getting on the bike or in the car 
(rarely) and driving 4.5 hours to Monterey for dinner, leave at 2, get 
there at 6:30, leave Monterey at 8 and be home by half past midnight.  
We love riding and we have Hi. 1 to ride, so why not ride.

  Gas stations on Hi. 1 are already expensive and far apart, can you 
imagine what they would be like for alternative fuels ? we would never 
get out of the house.  My Dino does not even have a radio in it, the 
best music in the world is under the hood, 2litre twin-overhead cam V6 
powered by 3 2-barrel Webers, you need to hear that 8,500RPM :)  and you 
want me to put in a Electric motor in it ? forget it.  And the Dino 
holds the curves on hi. 1 almost as well as my BMW bike and you want me 
to mess up its handling with heavy batteries ? forget it.

    For normal use, distribution is killing alternative fuels, with my 
driving habits I could not have alternative fuels.  Wife and I go out to 
dinner once a week and yeah we budget fuel costs in that dinner costs 
even though 90% of the time we only go 20-30 miles a away.

  I do remember the gas rationing of the late 70's early 80's, how come 
carbed cars in those days got 50MPG and nowday 30MPG is great ?  (don't 
answer that, I know the answer, its all the junk we put on cars now)

     mike

On 05/09/2011 05:47 AM, Steven Guterman wrote:
> derf,
>
> The conspiracy is that we have a lower price for gasoline than most of the
> other developed countries.  When gas was $2-$3 bucks a gallon we did not
> give a S__T about how poor the gas millage was in our cars. This was at the
> individual level buying big heavy cars and the government level that did not
> force increases in fuel economy.
>
> In Europe gas or diesel costs 1.5 to 2 times as much and European earn less
> on average then we do.  They demand higher efficiency so they can drive
> around and not bankrupt their savings or economy.
>
> Regrettably the only time this gets press is when gas prices go over $4
> bucks a gallon.   When oil was $15 a barrel in early 2000s we should have
> added loads of taxes to fuel to stop everyone form wasting.  Hindsight is
> 20/20.
>
>
> Steve
>
> On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 12:02 AM, derf<derf247 at gmail.com>  wrote:
>
>    
>> I think you are a little off.
>> Diesel electric locomotives move huge amounts of stuff daily.
>> Electric forklifts do work daily.  The technology is here now for
>> electric vehicles to do real work.
>> All we really need is a little advancement in batteries.
>>
>> Right now I'm leaning toward Diesel.  For some stupid reason people in
>> other countries have choices of Diesel vehicles that we don't get
>> here.
>> Call me a conspiracy theorist but I find it criminal that our
>> government mandates things like ethanol and at the same time makes
>> auto makers produce more fuel efficient vehicles.  With Diesel
>> vehicles getting 40-50 MPG regularly I don't see why people are so
>> taken with current Hybrid offerings.  In contrast with 1988 Honda
>> CRX-HFs getting 50+ on gasoline with carburetors I find modern Hybrids
>> to be lame.


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