Jackinnj, please do not get offended, close your ears, hehe. It makes me chuckle when someone from banking/treading business complain when someone else is gaming the system, 😛.
I think electric cars are a red herring.
To transport a 200 lb man, we need a 4000 lb device ??? Sorry, 4000 lb battery powered device ???
I would like to see a well designed and well made, and very very very durable 200-300cc motorcycle full of high end tech ... like fuel injection and be 0 maintenance and cheap and upgradeable. A 1/10 price tag compared to the average car. Its got 1/10 the components and is 1/10th the weight ... it should be about 1/10 the price (like it was in most of the developing world).
We should sorta legislate cars off the road. The reason more people dont ride bicycles/motorcycles is that too many people in cars cluelessly clobber them being on the cellphone or eating a sammich or slugging their kids or slurping coffee ...
We also can ease up on the infrastructure, like parking, roads and hauling the heavy parts for cars from place to place.
Cool.
Srinath.
To transport a 200 lb man, we need a 4000 lb device ??? Sorry, 4000 lb battery powered device ???
I would like to see a well designed and well made, and very very very durable 200-300cc motorcycle full of high end tech ... like fuel injection and be 0 maintenance and cheap and upgradeable. A 1/10 price tag compared to the average car. Its got 1/10 the components and is 1/10th the weight ... it should be about 1/10 the price (like it was in most of the developing world).
We should sorta legislate cars off the road. The reason more people dont ride bicycles/motorcycles is that too many people in cars cluelessly clobber them being on the cellphone or eating a sammich or slugging their kids or slurping coffee ...
We also can ease up on the infrastructure, like parking, roads and hauling the heavy parts for cars from place to place.
Cool.
Srinath.
Surgeons and hospital staff the world over refer to motorbike riders as organ donors, not just in Ohio.
As far as srinath's point goes: Yes, sure but the car is here and to get people off fossils any solution or partial solution will have to get very close to the cars convenience otherwise it is a non-starter.
They tried bicycles in China, but that turned into a Rolls Royce Geely edition.
(I need a dose of reality)
Me. But that's only because I haven't seen a commercial in many years.
Regarding electric pick-up trucks; if they can tow my trailer and remain reliable way out in the middle of nowhere, and I can recharge in the bush with some solar panels, then I'm in (a decade later, when I can afford a used one).
Regarding business "visionaries"; I think we have far too many of them, and I can't think of a single one who I have any deep and lasting respect or admiration for. Inevitably, they become victims of their own success. What they build, consumes them.
legislation - that's a great idea - it always works perfectly, without any unintended consequences
Alternative
Hi ya all,
An interim alternative until other options are economically viable to Joe Soap:
Some years ago I was looking at converting my car to LP gas. To do this the inlet system must ideally be an injected type. Conversion cost then around $500 all told. The LPG tank (doughnut type) has a special valve that will vent the tank in event of a collision. The biggest advantage to this conversion is ~30% better economy, LPG costs less, and the service intervals goes to around every 25k-30 000 miles (LPG has next to 0% carbon in it and thus the oil doesn't get dirty as quickly. Emmisions are CO2, water vapour, and close to 90% less CO) Disadvantages - slightly less power and the range is limited by the size of the tank. The conversion can be in dual gas/LPG so you can switch over if LPG tank runs low.
BTW Elon Musk has a degree in Physics. He has learnt that he needs engineers and scientists to get his and other ideas onto the drawing board and off the factory floor. Can't fault him on that. Also, he is known to be a hands on person and listens to his engineers/scientists.
Hi ya all,
An interim alternative until other options are economically viable to Joe Soap:
Some years ago I was looking at converting my car to LP gas. To do this the inlet system must ideally be an injected type. Conversion cost then around $500 all told. The LPG tank (doughnut type) has a special valve that will vent the tank in event of a collision. The biggest advantage to this conversion is ~30% better economy, LPG costs less, and the service intervals goes to around every 25k-30 000 miles (LPG has next to 0% carbon in it and thus the oil doesn't get dirty as quickly. Emmisions are CO2, water vapour, and close to 90% less CO) Disadvantages - slightly less power and the range is limited by the size of the tank. The conversion can be in dual gas/LPG so you can switch over if LPG tank runs low.
BTW Elon Musk has a degree in Physics. He has learnt that he needs engineers and scientists to get his and other ideas onto the drawing board and off the factory floor. Can't fault him on that. Also, he is known to be a hands on person and listens to his engineers/scientists.
Thought as much. If I didn't have a motorcycle I'd get an electrically assisted bicycle in a second. Nothing can beat it for cost and expedience in a traffic jammed city like Toronto.
As for Elon Musk, I have nothing but respect for the guy.
If discussion is still about Elon Musk, here is additional fuel to the fire 🙂
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Ford’s design chief praises Tesla
Like other automakers, Ford recently opened a lab in Silicon Valley, Tesla's home base.
“Tesla has proven what a lot of people thought was not possible without 50 years of experience building cars,” Moray Callum, the top designer at Ford Motor Co. (F), said during a recent meeting with reporters in New York City. “The introduction of a new carmaker is not as impossible as once thought.”
Building cars is technologically daunting and expensive. Unlike software or digital technology ventures, an automaker must commit to a complex manufacturing process burdened with regulatory requirements, and convince buyers to commit to one of the costliest products they’ll ever purchase. Reaching scale and becoming profitable typically requires unit sales in the hundreds of thousands. Even Tesla, beloved by its customers, isn’t profitable after more than a decade in operation.
Nonetheless, Tesla and its visionary CEO, Elon Musk, are changing the way century-old automakers design and build cars.
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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-s-design-chief-praises-tesla-173150790.html
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Ford’s design chief praises Tesla
Like other automakers, Ford recently opened a lab in Silicon Valley, Tesla's home base.
“Tesla has proven what a lot of people thought was not possible without 50 years of experience building cars,” Moray Callum, the top designer at Ford Motor Co. (F), said during a recent meeting with reporters in New York City. “The introduction of a new carmaker is not as impossible as once thought.”
Building cars is technologically daunting and expensive. Unlike software or digital technology ventures, an automaker must commit to a complex manufacturing process burdened with regulatory requirements, and convince buyers to commit to one of the costliest products they’ll ever purchase. Reaching scale and becoming profitable typically requires unit sales in the hundreds of thousands. Even Tesla, beloved by its customers, isn’t profitable after more than a decade in operation.
Nonetheless, Tesla and its visionary CEO, Elon Musk, are changing the way century-old automakers design and build cars.
----
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-s-design-chief-praises-tesla-173150790.html
yes, these things always go a bit OT, but yah, the intention was to discuss Elon, and his sundry exploits -
I gotta think that auto manufacturing is still an easier business and technological achievement that the Powerwall and Spacex -- as the kids are wont to say - that guy's got big brass ones
I gotta think that auto manufacturing is still an easier business and technological achievement that the Powerwall and Spacex -- as the kids are wont to say - that guy's got big brass ones
No carbon ? All petrogases are hydro (carbons). If they weren't , why would you
have oxidized carbon at output.
LP as internal combustion ,
- already a gas - no need to aerosol/evaporate
-no foul mix of toluene/benzene/xylene/ethanol , just 1 hydrocarbon.
Gives .... a much more complete oxidation (efficiency/less CO).
PS - the power plant would most likely have to burn 4X the cubic ft. of
LP to generate/transmit/regulate for a stupid Tesla.
EDIT - Not counting the rare earth strip mining and manufacture of the cells !!! (WOW - 50X the LP+)
Elon just wants to retire to mars , does not care if he burns the earth
to get there ..... this is his personality type.
OS
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