My latest unsolicited electric vehicle rant

[Mike DC]

Meaning the technology is limited.  In one hundred years, the range has not improved significantly.  The owner committed a dangerous act to circumvent the limited technology.

Agreed.


I doubt the range will ever improve drastically. 

Show me a decent compact method of storing a lot of energy for transportation, and I'll show you a combustible liquid of some kind or another.   Its not always a fossil fuel but it's NEVER an electric battery.  Something liquid is always being burned.   

[Ghoste]

And let us never forget the electricity to charge the batteries was most likely generated with fossil fuel.

[odcics2]

Meaning the technology is limited.  In one hundred years, the range has not improved significantly.  The owner committed a dangerous act to circumvent the limited technology.

Agreed.


I doubt the range will ever improve drastically.  

Show me a decent compact method of storing a lot of energy for transportation, and I'll show you a combustible liquid of some kind or another.   Its not always a fossil fuel but it's NEVER an electric battery.  Something liquid is always being burned.    

The Tesla has a long range, but the battery chemistry is unstable ...      

A significant concern being raised by many within the auto industry is whether the chemistry Tesla adopted for the Model S is particularly prone to catching fire if there is damage to the batteries.  Though it could be months before NHTSA's new probe yields any results, a worse-case scenario, several industry analysts warn, would be that the government finds a major flaw making those batteries unacceptably vulnerable to catching fire.

"If there's a major design flaw, they'd be in serious trouble," said George Peterson, senior analyst with AutoPacific, Inc.  Should one be discovered, said Peterson, it then becomes a question of if and how it could be fixed.  A worst-case scenario might involve the discovery that the batteries used by Tesla are too volatile for use in an automobile.

There has long been concerns, in general, about the safety of lithium-ion technology, which has been linked to a number of fires, including one involving a Sony battery factory and another that is believed to have caused a Mideast cargo plane crash. That has led to restrictions by U.S. aviation authorities on the shipping of lithium-based batteries.

Experts caution that there are, in fact, a number of different chemical "families" of lithium-ion chemistry, some more prone than others to be ignited if a battery is damaged. That led General Motors to skip what could have been the most powerful batteries available for its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, former GM Vice Chairman and "car czar" Bob Lutz told TheDetroitBureau.com, the maker sacrificing about 10% of the potential power to reduce the risk of such a catastrophic situation.

[hatersaurusrex]

Ghoste,you and hatersaurusrex have made my day! One the all time funniest rants......factual dissertations IMO, I've had the pleasure if reading. GAWDDAMN you guys are funny!

Sending beer and pizza your way.

[hatersaurusrex]

I think this sums this thread up nicely

[Ghoste]

 

[Fred]

Oh man, now I gotta rant on bicyclists!
Here in once lovely northern Peoples Republik of Kalifornia every uber ultra green weeny liberal town and city is passing ordinances allowing bicyclists to take legal action against a motorist who they feel has threatened or affronted them somehow. Yet they refuse to be licensed just like automobiles with license plates so motorists have the same legal recourse. POS bike riders........they have a monthly ride in SF they call critical mass. The cops allow the bastards to do at commute time! They are known as critical massholes. I'm amazed many haven't been offed by people stuck in hell traffic because of the gridlock they cause.

The motor vehicle code requires cyclists to ride single file but they flaunt it and ride tandem. It gets better......several local towns have also passed a "3' barrier" law that requires motorist to give bike riders a 3' "safety space" when passing them even on narrow single lane roads. Bike riders don't ride in clearly define bike lanes either, they ride the line itself saying that road debris makes it dangerous for them to stay in the bike lane!

Cities and towns are creating special classes of people whose "rights" supersede those of the majority.

I say, jihad on their asses! I have an very low opinion of bicyclist. Now let me tell you how I really feel.........

And do you know what peeves me even more?........when I take my walk every morning and they're coming at me in packs of tens or more (always on the weekends) they will barely give way to me and I find myself having to step off the road into scrub to stop from getting knocked. Why can't I as a walker receive to same courtesy that they themselves expect from motorists.
Mrs. Fred.

[Kern Dog]

The tech is great for what it is but it has it's limitations; people who adopt it need to understand this and live accordingly.  The 'tech ended up "sucking" because some idiot decided that his needs and agenda were more important than everyone else on the road.

Personally, that's MY rant; people, drivers behave as if they're the only ones on the roads, the only ones whose destination, schedule or lives are more important than everyone else's.  Crappy operators of whatever vehicles behave as they do because they don't care about what their actions have the potential of doing to everyone else.  Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with an idiot like your scooter operator to get mauled because he didn't use common sense and acted selfishly, but I would feel bad for the person who would end up living with the guilt of running down an idiot for the rest of their life...

Man, if we ever met, I imagine we'd have lots to talk about!
I like your way of thinking. I have a 180 mile round trip commute daily and I see all sorts of behavior on the roads. The most annoying has to be the left lane hogs. I'm talking about the "self appointed traffic monitors" that get into the left lane and stick to driving at or below the speed limit. Yeah, when read in print it may sound silly to complain about driving the speed limit but sometimes you want to drive faster than that...

[Fred]

Looks like we're all in the same boat. We all have to put up with shit every day.

[ws23rt]

Oh man, now I gotta rant on bicyclists!
Here in once lovely northern Peoples Republik of Kalifornia every uber ultra green weeny liberal town and city is passing ordinances allowing bicyclists to take legal action against a motorist who they feel has threatened or affronted them somehow. Yet they refuse to be licensed just like automobiles with license plates so motorists have the same legal recourse. POS bike riders........they have a monthly ride in SF they call critical mass. The cops allow the bastards to do at commute time! They are known as critical massholes. I'm amazed many haven't been offed by people stuck in hell traffic because of the gridlock they cause.

The motor vehicle code requires cyclists to ride single file but they flaunt it and ride tandem. It gets better......several local towns have also passed a "3' barrier" law that requires motorist to give bike riders a 3' "safety space" when passing them even on narrow single lane roads. Bike riders don't ride in clearly define bike lanes either, they ride the line itself saying that road debris makes it dangerous for them to stay in the bike lane!

Cities and towns are creating special classes of people whose "rights" supersede those of the majority.

I say, jihad on their asses! I have an very low opinion of bicyclist. Now let me tell you how I really feel.........

And do you know what peeves me even more?........when I take my walk every morning and they're coming at me in packs of tens or more (always on the weekends) they will barely give way to me and I find myself having to step off the road into scrub to stop from getting knocked. Why can't I as a walker receive to same courtesy that they themselves expect from motorists.
Mrs. Fred.

I agree that the most arrogant of the road users are the bicyclists. I also see more and more people on electric chairs on the road.

The trouble is with individual judgment or lack of it. Freedom to move about is not regulated much but maybe it should be.

Golf carts on golf courses, bikes on bike paths, pedestrians on sidewalks, etc. Good grief do people need to be forced to use diapers if they are incontinent?

As for the issue with using electricity to power cars.  A great idea if it could be beamed some how to the car kinda like radio or microwaves.
Nicola Tesla was close to answering that question.

But for now if one wants to carry a large amount of power in their car the risk and hazard that goes with it is what we need to accept.

I think we have been doing rather well on that count considering the vast number of cars and trucks on the road.