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Reality is setting in on Electric Cars

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11 years 8 months ago #26865 by foxhunter
Replied by foxhunter on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars
I spend a lot of time on a horse and am waiting for the EPA to require pollution control devices to be fitted for all that methane it produces out the back end. Then my wife would want one put on me.

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11 years 8 months ago #26867 by OleCowboy
Replied by OleCowboy on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars

foxhunter wrote: I spend a lot of time on a horse and am waiting for the EPA to require pollution control devices to be fitted for all that methane it produces out the back end. Then my wife would want one put on me.

Not a lot of people know this, but the EPA now regulates CO2...

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11 years 8 months ago #26876 by 10-76
Replied by 10-76 on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars
A few years back GM started putting heating elements into the washer spray bottles, for cold climes. We had several engine fires on final line cuz of those electrical things the engineers could not wrap their heads around. Look around at all the GM trucks and SUVs which have burned out one DRL, driving around with just one DRL on-engineers STILL have not figured out how to fix THAT!?

Just the basic common sense thing of the cost to plug one in, day after day, at your residence or employer's lot. Have they dropped the prices on the Volt to under $40K?

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11 years 8 months ago #26884 by LebbenB
Replied by LebbenB on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars

Siscowet wrote:

LebbenB wrote: Another problem is the battery pack. Like most rechargeable batteries, it has a lifespan. For the Chevy Volt it's 5 years or so and other EVs have similar lifespans. How do you dispose of the depleted battery packs once they've been used up?

They will get you on both ends. They will charge you a hefty recycling fee to take them back, reuse some of the materials, and sell you a new one. Will it be an environmentally friendly and energy efficient process? No. Hydrogen makes more sense, once you build the infrastructure.

I like hydrogen as a fuel too, but it's for later on (I can't wait to see my son pull up in his Hindenburg R/T.)

Right now, CNG is a much better alternative fuel in the near term, IMO. It doesn't take a lot to convert a gasoline engine to it and fuel economy is only 1 or 2 mpg less than gasoline.
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11 years 8 months ago #26886 by jtallen83
Replied by jtallen83 on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars
I knew a drywall contractor who would buy a new truck and have it converted to propane from the start. This has been nearly 20 years ago but he claimed with all the miles he drove it paid for itself in the first 10,000 miles with the lack of road tax alone. He also loved the fact that there was no rev limiter when he ran on the gas, it had it's own computer. He beat me home every time!
It just doesn't make sense to have electric cars charged by natural gas power plants! There was a big oil man pushing natural gas several years ago but the politicians just don't seem to get it, surprise surprise!

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11 years 8 months ago #26887 by LebbenB
Replied by LebbenB on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars

There was a big oil man pushing natural gas several years ago but the politicians just don't seem to get it, surprise surprise

That was probably T. Boone Pickens, who made the single best quote about American energy independence ever, "We need to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil so we can stop bankrolling both sides in the War on Terror." It made so much sense I was gob-smacked!
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11 years 8 months ago #26888 by jtallen83
Replied by jtallen83 on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars

LebbenB wrote:

There was a big oil man pushing natural gas several years ago but the politicians just don't seem to get it, surprise surprise

That was probably T. Boone Pickens, who made the single best quote about American energy independence ever, "We need to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil so we can stop bankrolling both sides in the War on Terror." It made so much sense I was gob-smacked!


Yep, That was the guy I was thinking of. He had millions to spend on the message and he still couldn't get his point across, no media bias there :rotfl: ....now that I think about it really isn't funny :(

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11 years 8 months ago #26894 by OleCowboy
Replied by OleCowboy on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars
Jack is an ole career fighter pilot. Keep DETAILED records. Jack bought a Prius, Jack lived next door to me and we are GREAT friends.

Jack told me this: Don, the BEST mpg I have ever got out of that thing is around 47 mpg and it was a hellva tailwind going down I 10 to El Paso from Scottsdale AZ. My typical highway avg is about 43 mpg, in town best is about 37, falls to 33-35 mpg in rush our traffic. (This is a 5 yr+ running avg).

Recently Jack called. He opened the fone call with this: Don, you were RIGHT! What about Jack? My Prius. Had to replace the battery pack and it was $5000 out the door at the Toyota place.

I used to tell Jack that the only way you can compute the cost of mpg is to take the cost of the battery pack into consideration.'

I asked Jack if it had taken the $5k cost and plugged it back into his past 5 years of mpg cost? Jack said he had and "you don't want to know, but you were right, I would have done better if I had kept driving my BMW".

$5000 buys a LOT of fuel, his cost for battery was $1000 per year and a far less complex system. Running a car off 2 systems, one electric and one petro fuel is complex. The more complex a system the more prone to failure. Wonder how long these cars will last? Think they will still be running along say 30 years from now?

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11 years 8 months ago #26905 by jtallen83
Replied by jtallen83 on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars

OleCowboy wrote: Jack is an ole career fighter pilot. Keep DETAILED records. Jack bought a Prius, Jack lived next door to me and we are GREAT friends.

Jack told me this: Don, the BEST mpg I have ever got out of that thing is around 47 mpg and it was a hellva tailwind going down I 10 to El Paso from Scottsdale AZ. My typical highway avg is about 43 mpg, in town best is about 37, falls to 33-35 mpg in rush our traffic. (This is a 5 yr+ running avg).

Recently Jack called. He opened the fone call with this: Don, you were RIGHT! What about Jack? My Prius. Had to replace the battery pack and it was $5000 out the door at the Toyota place.

I used to tell Jack that the only way you can compute the cost of mpg is to take the cost of the battery pack into consideration.'

I asked Jack if it had taken the $5k cost and plugged it back into his past 5 years of mpg cost? Jack said he had and "you don't want to know, but you were right, I would have done better if I had kept driving my BMW".

$5000 buys a LOT of fuel, his cost for battery was $1000 per year and a far less complex system. Running a car off 2 systems, one electric and one petro fuel is complex. The more complex a system the more prone to failure. Wonder how long these cars will last? Think they will still be running along say 30 years from now?


Now if you go spreading truths like that how are all these hybrid drivers going to feel good about themselves? That is the only reason I've seen to own one, self satisfaction, as long as they ignore facts they are proud to save the enviroment! :rotfl:

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11 years 8 months ago #27049 by 10-76
Replied by 10-76 on topic Reality is setting in on Electric Cars
Yeah, it WAS Pickens, and still is: he ordered several of the CNG fueling stations from a local shop who builds them in Milton, WI. Guy across the street works there and he cannot take enough OT for his bosses there.

We just bought a well used '05 Prius: wife runs it in her commute. Running AC wide open this summer she's getting avg. of 52, and her commute is mostly highway, RT: 47 on hwy., 58 in town. No timing belts to change.

There's an independent shop on east coast which re-builds the failed batteries for $1400 which includes shipping. The Prius battery failures is a great Snopes subject.

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