Posted on 12/29/2014 10:14:10 AM PST by Red Badger
I applaud your hobbyist project.
But it appears the frackers have torpedo’d the alt energy crowd, perhaps for my lifetime.
E10 gas just hit $1.57/gal here in Indiana.
Next summer when I finish my project and my electric-driveshaft hybrid Ranger is whizing up Monument hill at 75+mph - I’ll be sure to think happy thoughts, smile, and fart in remembrance of your limited imagination.
Good for you!
>>E10 gas just hit $1.57/gal here in Indiana.
Cheaper gas for my hybrid :)
Faster, Farther, cheaper...
>>But it appears the frackers have torpedo’d the alt energy crowd, perhaps for my lifetime.
Maybe, maybe not.
It’s also possible the end of the QE gravy train has allowed Gas prices to reflect actual physical supply/demand - instead of the artificial high that was being manufactured in the arse of commodity trading dirtbags having the moral character of the Wolf of Wallstreet.
Kind of new on this subject. I have thought of why not use 2 sets of batteries with a small gas or diesel powered generator to charge one set while the other is in use.
Charging batteries from an IC engine is not efficient.
The only reason hybrids gain efficiency vs non hybrids is when the batteries are charged via braking energy capture.
A good example of this is the Chevy Volt.
When the battery pack is depleted, it gets lower fuel economy than my similarly sized and powered non-hybrid Chevy Cruze.
>>I have thought of why not use 2 sets of batteries with a
>>small gas or diesel powered generator to charge one set
>>while the other is in use.
That’s a very good question.
Very similar to what Dave Arthur supposedly did back circa 1979.
https://www.google.com/#q=Dave+Arthur+hybrid+conversion
Once I have my driveshaft up and running (charging from the grid), I’d like to see just how feasible a system using a 5hp generator to charge the batteries is... or isn’t.
>>A good example of this is the Chevy Volt.
Yep. Makes me wonder about Dave Arthur’s claims. I’d like to see his system duplicated and documented.
Mother Earth News claims to have sold many copies of the plans. But why would they be selling something so green, when they could just give it away and improve “Mother Earth”; and why, having sold so many copies, aren’t there any published numbers to either substantiate or disprove the claims?
That seems like a worthwhile project... to separate the Green Wheat from the usual enviro-Chaff.
That’s what I’ve been saying all along. You are much more eloquent than I.
I’m not “against” electric vehicles or “anti” innovation. I just don’t want my tax dollars going to political cronies.
>>I just don’t want my tax dollars going to political cronies.
I am 120% with you there.
It’s unfortunate that parasites like Patty Stryker and Co. are able to use alternative energy as a warm puppy issue for their political gain; but Americans will do what we do - innovate and survive despite the progressive suction being applied by political vampira.
but Americans will do what we do - innovate and survive despite the progressive suction being applied by political vampira.
True.
>>Nobody with any sense laughed at the idea of personal computers.
>>Most of us believed they would most likely be dumb terminals sending data over phone lines.
A dumb terminal is not a personal computer. My first year at Denver Lutheran High, 1975, I watched the seniors play Star Trek on a teletype/terminal that was connected to some remote mini. IIRC the mini was a PDP11. The terminal sounded like a freight train. Dialing the magic phone number, listening to the 300 baud tone, and then watching the terminal spring to life was mesmerizing. That’s where I got hooked.
My first PC was a Vic20 in 1982, followed a couple of years later by a Tandy1000 (PC JR clone) on which I taught myself 80xx assembly language. I knew if I could learn assy that I could learn any coding language.
It’s amazing what can be accomplished with perseverance, determination, and an “apartment” rented in the attic of a Nebraska farmhouse for 100 dollars per month.
Got more knowledge per $ (and more resulting $ earned) from that attic than from most of the tenured twits ruling the college I was attending (mostly I majored in football) at the time.
I failed PASCAL II twice because it was at 7am and I’d usually stay up all night learning other things on my Tandy... never bothering to attend the class.
I created an Assembly/Pascal concoction of programs that I used for sprite creation and animation - eventually applying that in an honors biology course to create an animated video of cell biology.
If I had it to do again I think I’d skip the college part and buy a hard drive instead of limping along with 2 5.25 floppies.
My name is among those here:
In HS I was “too mathematicaly obtuse” for the computer program. So I played sports instead. Got injured my first year of college. Got a job. Learned to climb rocks and mountains. Got stronger. Went back to college.
All the while being told Can’t, Won’t, too small, too this, too that...
In any event — CAN DO is a lot more fun and profitable than Can’t.
YMMV
Electric motors also loose much energy to heat...and batteries, unlike petroleum, vary in efficiency greatly according to outside temperatures.
Nobody seems to want to address what I’ve said several times...
Batteries steadily lose efficiency with each charge. They’re also the most expensive part of the electric vehicle.
SM-1.
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