Posted by Brian Elfert on June 13, 2008, 8:46 am
>Swapping battery packs seems problematic to me - everything degrades with
>time. You buy a new car with a spanking new battery pack, drive it around a
>day or two or three, and you need to recharge. Go to the local "filling"
>station, out comes your new batteries, and you get in exchange a charged,
>but older pack just about at the end of its useful life. Whups, you're out
>a few thousand bucks.
The filling station would be responsible for replacement of failing
battery packs. Part of the fee would cover the replacement costs.
Kinda like a propane tank exchange program.
Posted by Lou on June 13, 2008, 7:57 pm
> >Swapping battery packs seems problematic to me - everything degrades with
> >time. You buy a new car with a spanking new battery pack, drive it
around a
> >day or two or three, and you need to recharge. Go to the local "filling"
> >station, out comes your new batteries, and you get in exchange a charged,
> >but older pack just about at the end of its useful life. Whups, you're
out
> >a few thousand bucks.
> The filling station would be responsible for replacement of failing
> battery packs. Part of the fee would cover the replacement costs.
> Kinda like a propane tank exchange program.
I see. So not only have I spent a couple grand for a new battery pack, when
the filling station takes it out of my car I have to pay to replace battery
packs because other people haven't paid for one recently. I'm still out a
pile of money.
I see what you're driving at, but I don't think it'd work.
Posted by Dennis on June 12, 2008, 6:30 pm
On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:23:45 -0500, Vic Smith
>>> Don't get me wrong. I like A/C. But I've always viewed it as "almost" a
luxury.
>>
>>Sure, but so is any form of powered vehicle too.
>>
>But they've pretty much been made essential here. When I lived in the
>city and could bus to work it was different. Had a shopping cart and
>we could walk to any number of stores too.
>Carted the laundry to the laundromat too. None of that works out of
>the city. I could do the walk, but I'd probably get killed by a car
>along the road.
I recently read about a prototype hybrid vehicle that uses a solar
powered heat pump for A/C. Interesting idea -- the car can be already
cool when you get into it.
Dennis (evil)
--
I'm behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, riding the wave,
dodging the bullet and pushing the envelope. -George Carlin
Posted by Lou on June 11, 2008, 8:56 pm
> barbie gee wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 10 Jun 2008, max wrote:
> >
> >> In article
> >>
> >>> From what I've read the new Prius is going to be bigger and faster and
> >>> get slightly better fuel mileage. I don't understand this. Why do they
> >>> need a 1.8 L engine? That's bigger than most gas only economy cars. I
> >>> would think they could use a 1 L engine or even smaller. Do you really
> >>> need to go 115 mph in a Prius? If they used a smaller engine and kept
> >>> the car the same size they could sell it for less and get much better
> >>> mileage. Am I missing something?
> >>>
> >>>
http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/563/exposed-2009-t
> >>>
> >>> oyota-prius/
> >>
> >> Bigger. Quicker. Better mileage. Lower Cost.
> >>
> >> you seem to be missing quite a bit.
> >
> > well, the bigger and quicker part seem to be what driving in america is
> > all about lately. Like getting there 3 minutes faster is some great
> > accomplishment. One myth that all the folks who think hybrids are a fad
> > believe, is that they "don't have enough power" and they think there's
> > no power to get onto an expressway or to pass traffic. That's a bunch
> > of hooey, but if they don't see 5000 horsepower engine, they think it's
> > "underpowered". they want some kinda muscle hybrid that can do 0-60 in
> > 6 seconds.
> Going 0-60, getting on an onramp, and passing are all short-term bursts
> of power that the electric motor can help with anyways! The only reason
> for a larger engine is longer-term things like, I dunno, towing a boat
> up a mountain.
> Personally I would love to see a pure electric commuter car without the
> weight of a gas engine which is good for 60 miles between recharges.
> Many families own a car that's only (or 90%) used just for commuting.
> But automakers seem convinced people won't buy a car unless it has
> traditional range, so maybe it's true.
It's true for me. A car is an expensive proposition for most folks. It
seems extremely unlikely that owning two (one for long range trips and one
that CANNOT make a long range trip) would only be more expensive. 30 miles
one-way is not a long range trip in my book.
Posted by Lou on June 11, 2008, 8:53 pm
> On Tue, 10 Jun 2008, max wrote:
> > In article
> >
> >> From what I've read the new Prius is going to be bigger and faster and
> >> get slightly better fuel mileage. I don't understand this. Why do they
> >> need a 1.8 L engine? That's bigger than most gas only economy cars. I
> >> would think they could use a 1 L engine or even smaller. Do you really
> >> need to go 115 mph in a Prius? If they used a smaller engine and kept
> >> the car the same size they could sell it for less and get much better
> >> mileage. Am I missing something?
> >>
> >>
http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/563/exposed-2009-t
> >> oyota-prius/
> >
> > Bigger. Quicker. Better mileage. Lower Cost.
> >
> > you seem to be missing quite a bit.
> well, the bigger and quicker part seem to be what driving in america is
> all about lately. Like getting there 3 minutes faster is some great
> accomplishment. One myth that all the folks who think hybrids are a fad
> believe, is that they "don't have enough power" and they think there's no
> power to get onto an expressway or to pass traffic. That's a bunch of
> hooey, but if they don't see 5000 horsepower engine, they think it's
> "underpowered". they want some kinda muscle hybrid that can do 0-60 in 6
> seconds.
So what? There's nothing intrinsically saintly about small - if the car
gets good mileage (and apparently it gets the best mileage around) and it
bolts forward and is roomy, I don't see how that's worse than having it
small, cramped, and sluggish.
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>time. You buy a new car with a spanking new battery pack, drive it around a
>day or two or three, and you need to recharge. Go to the local "filling"
>station, out comes your new batteries, and you get in exchange a charged,
>but older pack just about at the end of its useful life. Whups, you're out
>a few thousand bucks.