Posted on 01/03/2012 11:21:53 AM PST by jazusamo
that was supposed to read
per lb of coal, not per lob of coal
LOL! The problem though is that it cuts it down to a two passenger vehicle.
The plug-in parking spots at the Cracker Barrel here in Hendersonville, TN are often occupied by large, gas-guzzling trucks. I giggle every time I see that. What do you do if you’re out of charge and there are vehicles blocking your access to these charge points? Out of luck I guess.
“LOL! The problem though is that it cuts it down to a two passenger vehicle.”
Yeah but it disposes of the extra passengers while it performs the four seat to two seat conversion.
On the record - I just don’t see all-electric vehicles being a practical technology, even after all these decades since the idea got going. It seems to be a financial pit.
But in all fairness - the Leaf really isn’t designed as a long-range travel vehicle (and who would want to be cramped up in that little thing for all that long anyway??? One would need frequent breaks to unfold your legs).
Another note - if the batteries in these things are anything like most other devices that use rechargeables - a partial charge can actually speed up discharge. So the driver’s charge “to 80%” - that 80% would not last as long as a battery that had been fully charged and was discharged through use to 80%.
As a commuter vehicle - that short 2-20 mile jaunt to the office cubicle, or to the corner grocery store - this thing would be just fine (if one is drawn to such things and taxpayers don’t have to foot the bill to subsidize your ride!).
But taking this thing on a road trip is somewhat akin to using a glorified electric golf cart...
“It’s good knowing we didn’t use a drop of oil getting down here,” he said.”
####
Only for sanctimonious, energy-illiterate, dumb ssses whose religion is “The Environment”, or more accurately, sneering condescension.
If one were to look for a way to limit the mobility of a population, the pathetic performance of these eco-fartmobiles makes perfect sense.
Just sayin’...
Thanks for the chuckle...
Ping.
That guy’s stupidity is so thick you can cut it with a knife.
You make valid points. For local trips they’re fine but many people can’t afford two vehicles unless one is a beater. Even the small EV’s are not cheap compared to gas vehicles.
Like you say, no taxpayer subsidies should be available.
Everything has a trade-off, ain't nothin' for free.
VW Jetta TDI could have done the trip twice round trip on a tank of fuel. Cost Me (and you) and the buyer of the leaf a hell of a lot less and could be fueled at just about any gas station.
No way, not by a long shot.
You may get the efficiency from the boiler alone, but the overall plant efficiency, energy into the plant versus energy deliveried to the customers is going to be around 30~35%.
http://web.mit.edu/mitei/docs/reports/beer-emissions.pdf
Specialized plants today can reach into the 40's of efficiency, but you still have transmission/distribution losses to get the electricity to the consumer.
Yes, there’s the cabin heat issue. There’s also the energy storage issue, the recharging time issue, the low temp operating issue, the durability issue, and a bunch of others.
It’s almost like the fossil fueled internal combustion engine was arrived at by engineering a bunch of compromises over a long period of time, isn’t it? Naaaahhh, it must be an evil conspiracy by big oil. /sarc
how about the fact that electric cars have zero resale value. IOW no used car market.
Read the article at the link in post #2.
yep.
My grandfather used to putt around (putt....geddit?) his retirement community in his golf cart. Could get to 5 different courses, the grocery / liquor store, and the Country Club in it. Freed up his "real" car for use by my grandmother.
I'm thinking that the Leaf, or the Volt, (or whatever) would be ideal for a small retirement community. I sure wouldn't want one for anything more that, though.
And, as an aside, I always thought it was hilarious to pull into the country club. 1/2 of the lot was filled with golf carts (doing the same the grandpa did)....the other half was filled with high-end Lincolns, Buicks, and Caddies (the GM kind, not the club-carrying kind).
Great article, worth the read. :-) Thanks for linking.
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