The Chevy Volt

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Or perhaps we can get into the EV business responsibly. If you have no clue as to what that is, look up Tesla, Ford Motor Company, Nissan, or Toyota's EV ambitions. Team America is being postured to have the Volt as it's leader... I differ in that its not the first to market, but the first All-American to deliver an all-electric car with the lowest emissions possible at the most affordable price possible. Toyota is the clear champion, and will be followed soon by Ford and Nissan. Tesla is out of the running because it doesn't move many units and is unaffordable to most people. It's also about being the first to give the consumer many EV choices, which Ford will be the clear winner giving consumers 5 or so hybrid over the next 2 years, followed by Toyota with it's Prii family. Nissan-Renault's 10-year car deal with Israel is really the way of the future, where you can drive into a garage and in less then a minute or so, have your drained battery swapped for a fully charged one.

The future is bright for America, even when one doesn't include the Volt.

I disagree, I've seen much worse disagreements over an opinion over the mandate than this, and certainly not done in a light hearted manner. And regarding the response, while noone has called the Chevy Volt a piece of Junk, doesn't look like anyone here has much interest in that particular vehicle either. So while where not arguing the mandate here, as a group we don't seem to particularly care for the Volt either, now that we have gathered more evidence on the car that was accused of being Junk by Inuyasha.

Still, you have to plug the car into your home electrical outlet. That must run up your electric bill quite a bit. Plus, a lot of our electricity comes from coal. So, it might not help as much with pollution as one might hope.

A plug-in Prius I would definitely consider buying depending on the price. The vehicle has been out long enough and bugs have been trimmed out... that is of course, if it uses a similar or same type of electric engine (and just taking out the hybrid fuel part of it).

The volt.. hell no. The Leaf? even less. Those vehicles charge you up front the amount of fuel you would save in 4 years time. Even if gas went up to 5 a gallon.

The only way you'd save money by buying those cars is if you drive nearly 100 miles a day. Most people do not.


The only way electric vehicles will make it in the US in this current situation is if their price went down to about 12 grand for the no-frills models.

Well, yeah, the hybrid vehicles do cost more up front, and it will take a number of years (someone trying to sell me a Lincoln put the figure at 6 years) to break even.

Except for cars like the volt--wouldn't a conventional car, with similar features, run about $15,000? You might never reach the break-even point.

Yep. The entry level sedans run at about 15k. No frills/thrills features.

Thing is, these electrics are always loaded with silly gadgets like mp3 players, touchscreens, rear view cameras, sensors in the front and back and other such crap. That drives the prices up a lot.

I remember reading a while back of people in New Zealand and Canada buying used Ford Taurus... yanking the engine out and replacing it with an electric motor and loading the gas tank area+part of the trunk with batteries. The vehicle was instantly a plug-in vehicle and was very cheap to charge up... and could drive nearly 80 miles between charges. I think the conversion cost like 4 thousand or so. The engine wasnt very powerful and the cars had a top speed of about 60mph. But hey, city driving to and from your job? you dont need much else.

Unbound hydrogen can be produced from sea water by electrolysis.

Unfortunately the energy that can be derived from the hydrogen is less than the energy needed to produce it. Hydrogen is a net energy loser. However if electricity can be produced cheaply enough, even hydrogen powered devices such as fuel cells can be made to operate more cheaply.

The main advantage of hydrogen is that when it is processed to produce energy it does not make any nasty gases that pollute the air. When hydrogen is burned (i.e. oxidized) it produces H2O, the very thing from which it was produced.

ruveyn

Im just thinking that the entire auto industry and many governments eagerness to embrace Hydrogen is so that it can justify massive desalination programs. But I won't rule it out as part of our future's diverse energy mix or as a legitimate energy source.

Seems like desalination programs might be a good idea on their own. Water shortages are a frightening thought.

A small sedan with a small engine pays for itself shortly whereas most hybrids won't pay for themselves during the lifetime of your ownership (assuming most people trade in their vehicles every 10 years or sooner and you drive it a lot and gas taxes help to make your car relevant). A Chevy Sonic/Spark, Ford Fiesta, Kia Rio, Kia Soul, or Hyundai Accent all start at 10-13,000, and they are pretty stripped down and only have an manuel transmission. They achieve anywhere between 35-40 mpg or more as well.

I don't know. I watched a documentary on netflix called Blue Gold: World Water Wars: http://www.bluegold-worldwaterwars.com/

It gave an interesting take on what is a very possible future with our rapidly depleting fresh water supplies (the portion of it that we haven't polluted beyond drinkability.) The worries from the authors of the documentary:

I haven't seen the film, but I will check it out. I would hate to see Wall Street control desalination efforts.. I desperately hope that we have a government run initiative... It will be a very grim future indeed if cartels control the supply of water, and speculation drives up prices.

There's ongoing research into bio-reactors that produce hydrogen. Currently we know there is a species of termites that produce a rather high hydrogen output for their size..something like 1 cubic liter per insect per day (and thats insane). They do this as part of their digestive process...while eating wood.

The research is trying to isolate the exact enzymes or bacteria or whatever it is in their bodies that causes that reaction and turn it into a hydrogen factory. If it is successful hydrogen will become easily harvestable from 100% renewable resources (wood)... and they've even said that using bamboo (fastest growing woody plant) would be ideal for this.

That is what I am getting with my 95 Honda Civic.

ruveyn

It looks like demand for the Chevy Volt has picked up

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43332779/ns ... e_economy/

When we start generating electricity by means other than hydrocarbon burning, electric cars will make more sense.

ruveyn