Pre-Script (Rather than Post-Script): I wrote up a big thing then accidentally refreshed (Ctrl-R instead of Ctrl-Z when typing) and lost it all, so this is a summary:
Originally
posted by
Deerhunter:
Ivan, did you not read what i said? I said i am for lowering the tax rates while getting rid of all tax breaks and loop holes. Doing that would increase revenue so much you could lower tax rates. It just simplifies the system.
As for you drill tards- i dont care if it takes 10 years to get that oil to market- start new drilling now and prices will go down overnight. As for the profit margins of oil companies- yes i do think they are unfair. It was fine for them to make 5% when gas was 80 cents a gall. They were making good money with that. Now prices are 3-4 times that so they are making 20cents + a gallon. Not to mention the guys manipulating oil futures, buying and selling without ever taking possession. If you tree huggers want to invent some new kind of fuel great, i support you, but do not do it to the ruin of our great nation.
Qzjul- you would have us all living as the Amish do, wich would last about 5 minutes for China or some other nation to take us over.
It is great to go green- but it does not work if it makes us so weak we get took over and killed. Help me save you from yourself. All you green machines, go to CA, stay on welfare, and smoke your weed.
L O L
I'm not exactly a hippy or environmentalist, but anybody remotely interested in technology or the future (or engineering) would realize that EFFICIENCY IS GOOD! You do realize that i was essentially advocating using coal power plants to generate electricity for electric vehicles? that's not exactly in the sierra club's play book i think. But would be more efficient than driving our current cars.
Originally
posted by
Vic Rattlehead:
You are a little off here on both counts. Let me tackle the second one first. Cars all already have tons of scrubbers and filters. Environmental standards are one of the largest cost adding items from model year to model year. Electric cars don't solve the problem because the problem's already been solved.
Actually, as you've said, they solve an existing problem, by eliminating what is already there. Extra, unneeded weight & inefficiency. Furthermore, even coal power plants have cleaner emissions than cars. Nuclear is even better.
Originally
posted by
Vic Rattlehead:
About the Volt:
http://www.motortrend.com/...2011_chevrolet_volt_test/
second paragraph.
Besides, the Volt requires premium fuel. WTF? To top it off, when running in "extended range mode" (as a gas car, for the uninitiated) its fuel efficiency, even with premium fuel, ranks below every compact and subcompact offered by the top 10 manufacturers.
That article actually paints it in a pretty good light if you'd read the whole thing (other than the price, and, well, it is the *first* true electric vehicle, you can't expect it to be instantly competitive); apparently it does actually change RPM on the range extender, which is unfortunate; it would be better to optimize for efficiency and tell people to go
fluff themselves rather than pandering to customer expectations about this or that triviality; they'd increase their MPG rating too.
Yes it uses premium fuel, but that's for efficiency again, and the fact that it uses premium is not a big deal if you don't use very much of it.
And on the last point you're just wrong:
Q: How many miles per gallon will the Chevy Volt get?
A: A bit of a trick question. For the first 35 miles it will get infinite mpg, because no gas will be burned. When the generator starts, the car will get 37 mpg (35 mpg city/40 mpg highway) thereafter. One can calculate the average mpg per for any length drive starting with a full battery:
Total MPG = ~37 x miles/(miles-35). The official EPA fuel economy can be viewed here.
And according to this list that would make it 5th, after 4 hybrids, ASSUMING you DIDN'T CHARGE IT:
http://www.gotmpg.com/...n-best-worst-cars-mpg.htm
And buying an electric vehicle and not charging it would be retarded; it would top the list assuming you actually used the electric. And if you actually commuted < 25 miles per day, you'd use no gas. Well, 1 tank of fuel per year, as that's about the minimum according to your article there, as it runs the gas extender every now and again for maintenance tests &etc to make sure the thing still works. Or something.
PS:
http://xkcd.com/386