Does this scare you?

[Icehouse]

I feel shamed for owning an SUV.

 

I don't mean bash you just for your vehicle choice, I just don't understand the point of SUV's..... I had a teaching in HS who always said "Your ether part of the solution or part of the problem." I used to get so sick of her back then, so many dam opinions. Now that I'm a little older I understand what she meant. Most people make there decision based on others. Well so and so drives one so why can't I? Or So and so burns all there garbage so why can't I.... My all time favorite, "Do you know what they do with this stuff in 3rd world countries?" As if they've lived there and know from first hand. I try to do what I can where I can. I almost installed a catalytic converter on both my datto's. Bleach pointed out that they pollute much less with the EFI engines already, which made me feel better. I still want one though :D Besides a "tree hugger" I also don't like stuff much. Besides my datto parts I could move all my belongings with my 620 easy. In conclusion I'm just a weird datsun dude... One person can't make a difference and usually can't convince anyone else to... Having all the datto parts doesn't bother me, I'm basically the middle man. They would have went straight to the crusher but now the "junk" goes through me. For the most part I don't feel I'm creating tons of garbage for my entertainment :D

 

 

 

Sounds good... but, (IMHO) power plants are there overnight working , but at a reduced level. Just like a car alternator spinning away untill you put the headlights on and then there is an added load on the engine. It's not producing power that's going to waste, only what can be used according to need. There is no excess power only potential power available. (IMHO)

 

Mike have you seen "who killed the electric car?" I'm sure he meant energy that is getting waisted not could be turned down. I wish I could find you the link, I will keep searching :D

 

2eDeYe;26028']Hey now I like moving parts :D

 

...and that little bit of sun could (theoretically) supply all the power we need and then some...not to mention it already runs alot of our planets systems...

 

Rap rock...ha

 

Ice you need to get your exhaust tucked ;)

 

haha I know' date=' I know... That and a C notch :D

 

 

 

 

Edit: Mike I found it!!!! Who couldn't love this car! Fuck yeah

[tnip]

:cursing:

your an idiot :fu: you gotta lot to learn about how the world depends on other things, its not only about money (even though it seems like it).

 

should we cut down all the forests so all the people have a place to live?

fuck the animals, maybe just eat them(before they eat us), well find other things to eat once we've depleted them too, like fish, no wait we destroyed the rivers getting the logs out, so there already gone...

there is always :poop:

 

 

guess its all about you, as long as your making money, and as long as you can exploit the ltd resources for yourself, FTW

 

your attitude scares me more than running out of oil

 

 

first of all the fact that your entire argument starts off with the words "your an idiot" makes me want to not read anything else you type. secondly, some of what i typed should have been explained in a little more detail but i assumed people had the same knowledge that i do, my mistake.

 

of course i don't think we should cut down all the forests just for people to live, but i think that because i know that it doesn't require cutting down all the forests for every person in america to have a home. this is a moot point, because i don't think either of us think this is really a viable solution to anything.

 

are you saying that you don't eat animals? you don't eat anything or use anything that is the result of an animal dying? really? i doubt that. if you read what i typed, i never said that we should let any species become extinct. the reason i'm not concerned with river ecosystems and salmon making it back to their spawning grounds is fo a couple of reasons, first the salmon is not a good fish example because most of their breeding is done in streams that are too small to use as a hydroelectric source, and second, and more of my main point, is that it would be very simple to enact a breeding program and create very specific breeding locations. just as their are already tons of fish hatcheries in this country, it wouldn't take a whole lot to expand their reach and build some more to make up for their natural habitats being destroyed. i'm not saying fish are stupid, but they aren't exactly aware of their surroundings. people can personify animals all day long, but the facts are that animals are not aware like humans. if they were then cows wouldn't shuffle in to the slaughter house and fish wouldn't get caught on hooks and deer wouldn't stand in the middle of the road. that salmon doesn't know the difference between a fish hatchery, man made breeding ground and the one that it was "supposed" to return to. the fact is that the only reason salmon and other fish return to a certain spot to breed is because that's where they were bred, so if you breed them from a facility that is designed for this, won't they return to that facility? or will they decide to run up some other stream they've never been to before?

 

i never said anything about me making money or me exploiting natural resources. wait, i did say that if it came down to my comfort level, or a penguins home i would take my comfort level first. are you saying that you would give up something for some animal on the other side of the world? well then why are you 'scared' of running out of oil? i'm not. fuck oil. we don't need it. if your attitude about nature is so much better than mine i really would love to see your home and your vehicles and your clothing and your garbage, the products you buy, the things you use everyday. don't tell me i'm an idiot because i have a realistic view of how man and nature interact. don't tell me i'm an idiot because i assumed that other people knew about the reality of preservation of nature. the fact is that unless you live in a home made of found pieces of wood, and wear clothing made from woven straw (altho even that affected an animal somewhere) and you typed up your response on a computer that doesn't use electricity and was made without using plastic or metal, you aren't anymore nature conscious than i am. and while i don't spend hours a day lamenting the fate of the earth, which would be pointless anyway, i at least understand how i afect it and have a little bit of knowledge of the reality of all of this. even tho i'm probably not ever going to spend much of my time trying to work towards a better future, i'm not any worse of a person than anybody else that lives in this culture that is constantly destroying the earth, even if they are naive to it. so please don't debase yourself by calling me an idiot, not because i'm not, but because its a waste of time, because if i'm an idiot, then there is absolutely no hope for this planet or the things that live on it.

 

edit: after going back and rereading what i originally typed, again, the only conclusion i can make is that you didn't actually read what i typed. you skimmed along until you saw the words "fuck fish" and "fuck penguins" and then a sentence or two after and decided all i wanted to do was destroy everything around me. if this is the case, that you didn't actually read anymore than what you quoted, i now fully understand your argument and agree that if that's all i had said, i would be an idiot. but since that's not all i typed, that's just all you gleaned from my little paragraph, who's the one that should be called an idiot? still noone.

[datzenmike]

I almost installed a catalytic converter on both my datto's. Bleach pointed out that they pollute much less with the EFI engines already, which made me feel better...

 

.... Having all the datto parts doesn't bother me, I'm basically the middle man. They would have went straight to the crusher but now the "junk" goes through me. For the most part I don't feel I'm creating tons of garbage for my entertainment :D

 

 

Ice, here's something to make you 'feel good'.

 

If you compare keeping an old Datsun on the road, and trading/selling/swapping old parts, to buying a new vehicle, I think you will find that you have prevented a massive amount of pollution. How much oil is used to dig transport and process the iron ore used to make the steel for a new car? How much pollution produced in the processing? Now look at the five rubber tires, aluminum, the 1 1/2 kilometers of copper wire (with plastic coating), 50? lbs of glass, vinyl plastic, and more. Each new car carries with it a hidden cost in pollution.

 

You keep that ol' Datsun going an you reduce the need for a new vehicle by one.

[Icehouse]

first of all the fact that your entire argument starts off with the words "your an idiot" makes me want to not read anything else you type. secondly, some of what i typed should have been explained in a little more detail but i assumed people had the same knowledge that i do, my mistake.

 

of course i don't think we should cut down all the forests just for people to live, but i think that because i know that it doesn't require cutting down all the forests for every person in america to have a home. this is a moot point, because i don't think either of us think this is really a viable solution to anything.

 

are you saying that you don't eat animals? you don't eat anything or use anything that is the result of an animal dying? really? i doubt that. if you read what i typed, i never said that we should let any species become extinct. the reason i'm not concerned with river ecosystems and salmon making it back to their spawning grounds is fo a couple of reasons, first the salmon is not a good fish example because most of their breeding is done in streams that are too small to use as a hydroelectric source, and second, and more of my main point, is that it would be very simple to enact a breeding program and create very specific breeding locations. just as their are already tons of fish hatcheries in this country, it wouldn't take a whole lot to expand their reach and build some more to make up for their natural habitats being destroyed. i'm not saying fish are stupid, but they aren't exactly aware of their surroundings. people can personify animals all day long, but the facts are that animals are not aware like humans. if they were then cows wouldn't shuffle in to the slaughter house and fish wouldn't get caught on hooks and deer wouldn't stand in the middle of the road. that salmon doesn't know the difference between a fish hatchery, man made breeding ground and the one that it was "supposed" to return to. the fact is that the only reason salmon and other fish return to a certain spot to breed is because that's where they were bred, so if you breed them from a facility that is designed for this, won't they return to that facility? or will they decide to run up some other stream they've never been to before?

 

i never said anything about me making money or me exploiting natural resources. wait, i did say that if it came down to my comfort level, or a penguins home i would take my comfort level first. are you saying that you would give up something for some animal on the other side of the world? well then why are you 'scared' of running out of oil? i'm not. fuck oil. we don't need it. if your attitude about nature is so much better than mine i really would love to see your home and your vehicles and your clothing and your garbage, the products you buy, the things you use everyday. don't tell me i'm an idiot because i have a realistic view of how man and nature interact. don't tell me i'm an idiot because i assumed that other people knew about the reality of preservation of nature. the fact is that unless you live in a home made of found pieces of wood, and wear clothing made from woven straw (altho even that affected an animal somewhere) and you typed up your response on a computer that doesn't use electricity and was made without using plastic or metal, you aren't anymore nature conscious than i am. and while i don't spend hours a day lamenting the fate of the earth, which would be pointless anyway, i at least understand how i afect it and have a little bit of knowledge of the reality of all of this. even tho i'm probably not ever going to spend much of my time trying to work towards a better future, i'm not any worse of a person than anybody else that lives in this culture that is constantly destroying the earth, even if they are naive to it. so please don't debase yourself by calling me an idiot, not because i'm not, but because its a waste of time, because if i'm an idiot, then there is absolutely no hope for this planet or the things that live on it.

 

edit: after going back and rereading what i originally typed, again, the only conclusion i can make is that you didn't actually read what i typed. you skimmed along until you saw the words "fuck fish" and "fuck penguins" and then a sentence or two after and decided all i wanted to do was destroy everything around me. if this is the case, that you didn't actually read anymore than what you quoted, i now fully understand your argument and agree that if that's all i had said, i would be an idiot. but since that's not all i typed, that's just all you gleaned from my little paragraph, who's the one that should be called an idiot? still noone.

 

I like it better when your funny :(

 

 

I wear mostly hand me downs does that count? All my clothes would be but I can't pass on some classy t shirts :)

[Z-train]

totally right.

public transportation has to get better. the main problem preventing it from getting more widespread is that it's a money sink for every city. even london, with the biggest and (imho) best pub trans system in the world, loses money on it every year. It's just not a necessity (for middle class and up), so we haven't come to terms with the fact that we have to pay for it.

 

Public transportation will NEVER, EVER catch on in this country

____________________________________________________________

nuclear power scares the shit out of me. it's not renewable, and it certainly ain't clean.

Yes-it is clean.And it doesn't have to be renewable and it is safe.

_____________________________________________________________

 

the answer is the sun.

 

No-it's not.Solar is the biggest joke on the planet.(pun intended)I live in Southern Arizona.We get 360 days of sun here a year(and i'm not joking).Solar anything is non-existant here.Take the hint.If it doesn't work here,it sure isn't going to work in the NW,NE or upper midwest.And for solar to be a VIABLE source it HAS to work EVERYWHERE.

__________________________________________________________

but equally as important is our own need to scale back.

 

Name anytime in mans history where we've "scaled back".

_________________________________________________________

 

 

My wife knows some roughnecks down in Texas.They too are drilling,finding oil and capping.This bull$hit about running out of oil in the next hundred years is just that-BULL$HIT.

[tnip]

I like it better when your funny :(

 

 

I wear mostly hand me downs does that count? All my clothes would be but I can't pass on some classy t shirts :)

 

i like it better too... my point wasn't to make anybody feel bad about their choices, i'm sorry if i did. my point was to say that there is no point in somebody calling another person an idiot for having an opinion, especially when they have actual information to back it up. the fact is that even the most devout "naturist" can only do so much.

 

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/authorityzero/pch82.html

 

it's about police violence and government oppresion, but it's the same concept.

 

"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence." - Justice Louis Brandeis 1927

 

that's my point, and in the process i got off on a tangent explaining myself and disounting mike's points. it's the debater in me.

 

and now back to your regurlarly scheduled topic of the depletion of oil.

[Cruzn620]

who is the master debater on this forum? HAHAHAHAHA

[datzenmike]

[Name anytime in mans history where we've "scaled back".

_________________________________________________________

 

 

.

 

1918

[]2eDeYe]

____________________________________________________________

nuclear power scares the shit out of me. it's not renewable, and it certainly ain't clean.

Yes-it is clean. It also can be renewable and safe if people got over their irrational fears.

_____________________________________________________________

 

the answer is the sun.

 

No-it's not.Solar is the biggest joke on the planet.(pun intended)I live in Southern Arizona.We get 360 days of sun here a year(and i'm not joking).Solar anything is non-existant here.Take the hint.If it doesn't work here,it sure isn't going to work in the NW,NE or upper midwest.And for solar to be a VIABLE source it HAS to work EVERYWHERE.

__________________________________________________________

but equally as important is our own need to scale back.

 

Name anytime in mans history where we've "scaled back".

_________________________________________________________

 

 

My wife knows some roughnecks down in Texas.They too are drilling,finding oil and capping.This bull$hit about running out of oil in the next hundred years is just that-BULL$HIT.

 

Had to fix that Nuclear power statement for ya ;)

 

as far as solar, we'll eventually get the bugs worked out...til then we'll have to keep the investment going, the payoff will be huge....

 

...as I said way back in the beginning of the thread...

There's more than enough oil left to kill us off if we continue to use it at the same rate.

 

As a species were are a creative, inventive and resourceful bunch...just take the guys and gals on this board as an example. Eventually we will break the chains of petroleum fuel and expand to other planets and use the resouces available to use throughout our universe. The earth will still be here doing it's thing...of course, this is how I choose to see things.

...if you want to be fatalistic, the earth will still be here long after we've killed ourselves off...

Either way, the universe will keep on truckin' ;)

[Figbuck]

I like it better when your funny 

:D

 

In the '80, there was a race of sorts, between the National Labratories like Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and the one in DC. They were reasearching Super Conductivity. Looking for a compound that conducted electrical current with no current loss at ambient temperature.

 

They had come to make compounds that would be superconductive at 300 or 400 degres below zero, but still had not found that magic formula for it to work in warmer temperatures. There were other groups of reasearchers from big corporations that had applied material laboratories, that were also in the hunt and well funded and staffed.

 

This was a big deal because it would change how every single thing that we manufacture would instantly be engineered differently.

 

How come we never hear about that any more? Is there a conspiracy by the big energy corporations to aquire and sit on technologies that would potentially compete with their monopolistic position?

 

Wasn't there a guy in Austrailia that developed a clean two stroke powerplant? What happened to him?

 

Icehouse, where I have my shop, there is an area where all the tennants in the facility have dumpsters. I call them the "Magic Dumpsters". I get so much great stuff out of these dumpsters it is just mind blowing sometimes.

 

I get all my work clothes and even some really nice clothes get chucked. Somebody was moving it looked like and just couldn't deal with the stuff. It was like a dozen plastic garbage bags full of clothes and shoes. Some of it still had price tags on it.

 

I could go on and on. I get all my reading, books and magazines out of the dumpster. I put together a killer stereo for the shop with big assed speakers. I almost never buy new stuff unless it's tools or materials to build something rather than buy it.

 

One of my favorite lines, when somebody shows off their new F350 4x4 or something all loaded with goodies: "Hey Man, nice truck... payments."

 

Hey, you know what scares me? The Bush administration!

 

Well, I should go to work. This is a classic example of somebody with too much time on their hands.

[73super]

who is the master debater

 

masterdebater? I'm leaving that one alone. :eek:

[73super]

Actually.. MY take on the whole electric car thing is .. If they can improve the solar cell so we can generate the electricity to charge up our cars.. let's go for it. I recently watched "Living with Ed".. very good show. He went to Larry Hagmans house who is a total green guy. He has these huge solar cells that generate all the electricity he wants PLUS he sells some back .. thus providing other people with electricity as well. The thing is they have to make the initial cost a little less harsh for everyone and it would be wider spread.

 

Good to see you all passionate about this.. but take it with a grain of salt. Everyone has their opinions. :cool:

[hang_510]

who is the master debater on this forum? HAHAHAHAHA

 

dunno, but im a cunning linguist

[]2eDeYe]

Saw that cumming :lol:

[datzenmike]

Edit: Mike I found it!!!! Who couldn't love this car! Fuck yeah

 

Ice, I wrote a big long reply to the electric car ... and ushed the wrong button and lost it. (maybe for the best)

 

I think the reason this car will never get on the roads is because of the problems with the Li Ion battery that isn't advertised.

 

The Li Ion battery has a shelf life. This means it's like a piece of fruit, if you don't us it it will rot anyway. As soon as Li Ion batteries are made they start to loose their storage capacity. Under average conditions they loose 20% per year. If you buy a year old un-used battery, it's already down to 80%.

 

Li Ion batteries are easily damaged and will release their stored power VERY quickly generating heat and enough pressure to cause them to explode. Which will damage the ones next to it and so on and so on. Sony recalled lap top batteries because of possible exploding batteries in '06. The only way these batteries even get on the market is that they are built with several internal safety devices, one of which senses over heating and disables the battery... permanently! Would not like to be in an accident with one of these cars....

 

But having said that, we drive around with gas tanks full of explosive fuel.. no problem, most of the time. I did some checking. Gasoline contains about 45 mega joules of energy per kilo. TNT or dynamite contains 4.1 mega joules per kilo or one tenth that of gas!!! This means that a 15 US gallon gas tank contains the energy equivalent of, of... carry the one,... 922 pounds of TNT!!!!!!! almost 1/2 ton.

 

This is an exciting experiment though. Electric cars rock. If I remember my electronics class, electric motors make max torque at ZERO RPMs (stall or close to it) This is why an electric car rarely needs a clutch or transmission. It has all the torque you need for a take off in high gear.

 

As to the Li Ion battery power, this is like powering a car with nitro-glycerin. Fantastic results but not practical.

 

But hell yeah, I'd like to punch that buggy!

 

Just for you Jeff:http://www.plasmaboyracing.com/videos.php

[Icehouse]

i like it better too...

 

I liked your tree house story, now that was funny :D

 

 

 

"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence." - Justice Louis Brandeis 1927

 

 

I like that quote :D

 

 

 

Icehouse, where I have my shop, there is an area where all the tennants in the facility have dumpsters. I call them the "Magic Dumpsters". I get so much great stuff out of these dumpsters it is just mind blowing sometimes.

 

I get all my work clothes and even some really nice clothes get chucked. Somebody was moving it looked like and just couldn't deal with the stuff. It was like a dozen plastic garbage bags full of clothes and shoes. Some of it still had price tags on it.

 

 

Me to :D I bug my brothers and dad for there old clothes :D haha Ray said "If you hang out with Jeff you'll save a buck." haha its true :D

 

One of my favorite lines, when somebody shows off their new F350 4x4 or something all loaded with goodies: "Hey Man, nice truck... payments."

 

Haha that reminds me of the time I went to the bar with my Bro for his 21st. There was a group of 40 year olds walking out to a H2. He was showing his buddies his new rig. I over heard one guy as what engine it had, he replied "the big one" haha Made me laugh

 

Sorry don't always mean to dog on SUV's just couldn't help find humor in it. Like its some sort of sports car, I doubt the engine size would actually change the performance... Sorry I'm a dork :D

 

 

 

 

Hey, you know what scares me? The Bush administration!

 

Well, I should go to work. This is a classic example of somebody with too much time on their hands.

 

 

ME TO!!

 

2eDeYe;26219']

...as I said way back in the beginning of the thread...

There's more than enough oil left to kill us off if we continue to use it at the same rate.

 

I agree totally

 

Ice' date=' I wrote a big long reply to the electric car ... and ushed the wrong button and lost it. (maybe for the best)

 

I think the reason this car will never get on the roads is because of the problems with the Li Ion battery that isn't advertised.

 

The Li Ion battery has a shelf life. This means it's like a piece of fruit, if you don't us it it will rot anyway. As soon as Li Ion batteries are made they start to loose their storage capacity. Under average conditions they loose 20% per year. If you buy a year old un-used battery, it's already down to 80%.

 

Li Ion batteries are easily damaged and will release their stored power VERY quickly generating heat and enough pressure to cause them to explode. Which will damage the ones next to it and so on and so on. Sony recalled lap top batteries because of possible exploding batteries in '06. The only way these batteries even get on the market is that they are built with several internal safety devices, one of which senses over heating and disables the battery... permanently! Would not like to be in an accident with one of these cars....

 

But having said that, we drive around with gas tanks full of explosive fuel.. no problem, most of the time. I did some checking. Gasoline contains about 45 mega joules of energy per kilo. TNT or dynamite contains 4.1 mega joules per kilo or one tenth that of gas!!! This means that a 15 US gallon gas tank contains the energy equivalent of, of... carry the one,... 922 pounds of TNT!!!!!!! almost 1/2 ton.

 

This is an exciting experiment though. Electric cars rock. If I remember my electronics class, electric motors make max torque at ZERO RPMs (stall or close to it) This is why an electric car rarely needs a clutch or transmission. It has all the torque you need for a take off in high gear.

 

As to the Li Ion battery power, this is like powering a car with nitro-glycerin. Fantastic results but not practical.

 

But hell yeah, I'd like to punch that buggy!

 

Just for you Jeff:http://www.plasmaboyracing.com/videos.php

 

I think the should build giant Tesla coils, that way cars wouldn't even need a battery. If we had enough air planes wouldn't ether.

 

 

 

 

In conclusion the problem with an alternative power source is the return. Oil gives 20x the energy that is put into retrieving it. The safer and greener an energy source the smaller the return. Like the solar panels, the are costly, to get the return it will take years. That combined with making an energy source portable adds another obstacle. How to move 4000 pounds of car for as low of a cost as oil. If money was no object it would be simple.

 

I wish I could ride my bike to work :D

[Figbuck]

Speaking of Tesla, check this:

 

http://www.teslamotors.com/

 

About ten years ago, when I lived in the Bay Area, I saw a segment on Evening Magazine about the first protptype Tesla and the guy that started the company. It was pretty interesting and they had some clips with the car blasting around the old Alameda Naval Air Station runways. It was still a pretty cobby prototype. I forgot all about it until I saw a thing on PBS about electric cars. Man, this new car is a rocketship.

 

Speaking of rocketships, check this:

 

http://www.killacycle.com/

 

I dig cars. I'm a red blooded American Boy... I came up burning 27 cent a gallon gas and remember feeling ripped off when it went to 29 cents. Cars are just too slow for the most part. I'm just a bike kinda guy.

[tnip]

i don't think this ones been mentioned yet, i could be wrong.

 

http://www.enertiabike.com/

 

looks like a good lil commuter bike. altho a bike of comparable size, power, and abilities would be getting pretty decent mileage anyway...

[]2eDeYe]

That car from Tesla Motors is bitchin" :cool:

 

The Tesla Roadster’s specs illustrate what it does (0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds) — as well as what it doesn’t (zero emissions, zero motor oil)

 

[Icehouse]

Damn there is some cool shit out there!

[Figbuck]

That Inertiabike is cool. I want one bad, but not 14 large bad. Maybe three and a half to four grand. I dunno. How much are those little vespas and other little death rigs that people are zooming around on? I bet that thing flat boogies.

 

When that Telsa car was showcased on Nova they had a video clip of it posted on the PBS website. They took the car out to the infamous Altamont raceway and filmed the segment. There was a guy at the track that day that was like a teacher at the driving school and a local NASCAR hot shoe. They let him spin a coulple of laps in it and he came back with the biggest grin on his face. Max torque at all RPMs.

 

The tesla aint cheap either but I think I remember that the first production run was $250K. Now their cheaper.

[tnip]

yea i like the idea of the enertia. and the fact that it fully charges in about 3 hours is cool to me, you could easily use the full range and then just plug it in, chilll for a few hours, and then drive back home or keep going and use another full charge.

 

on a semi related point, there was mention as to the oils and lubricants derived from crude... i just saw a thing on tv about the maglev system used on japan's bullet train... pretty damn interesting. i had understood the general concept since i saw it the first time, but i didn't realize that the actual propulsion and all the electrically charged components were housed in the actual train, the rail is just an aluminum piece that "reflects" the charge of the magnet. it's pretty neat stuff, and severly cuts down on the amount of force that is needed to move an object, thus raising the range of the motor. while this is not really a viable system for many of these indivual person vehicles, it would work well in conjunction with some sort of centralized rail system that has easily and quickly accessed branches...

 

edit: i had typed up a long boring paragraph about some thing i was reading about a few months ago, but i couldn't find the site and without the info from the site it was kind of pointless... anyway i was searching and found this.

 

http://www.electricmotorsport.com/MOTORCYCLES/motorcycles.htm

 

5800 for a supermoto style electric motorcycle with a 20 mile range, 15 peak hp and a top speed of at least 45 (gearing changes top speed)

 

also someone had mentioned putting the motors right at the hubs, and somebody else said something about this being a bad idea (i think, i'm being lazy and not going back to find it). but i saw a thing gm did where they built a full size, or maybe it was a s10. it had two electric motors mounted as the rear hubs and it worked perfectly. was faster than the gas truck off the line and left plenty of room under the hood for batteries and controlls.

 

now i'm gonna be up all night reading about electric motorcycles.. haha it's already 4am

 

edit 2: japanese built "motorbike"

and for anyone that's ever seen akira you'll recognize the design and even the drive system that powers it, and that movie was made in 1988.

 

and here's a homebuilt electric motorcycle

 

i don't understand why he didn't retain the stock transmission. i'm sure it's more than adequate for daily driving, but it just seems like none of these guys use a normal transmission...

[Bleach]

Woman and 3 children die in an accident. Cause of accident is a gust of wind rolls an SUV! If she was driving a normal car this would not have happened. When do you ever hear of someone rolling a Nissan Maxima out on the open highway at the proper speed limit? never...

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21639981/

[denveratsun]

All good reading so far! Thanks guys.

 

Even the "know it alls" seem to be at odds about this topic.

 

I am pretty impressed with how long it has taken to develope solar as a viable option. :confused: I remember in the early seventies hearing talk of how we were all going to be driving around our solar powered space cars by the year 2020. :blink:

MAN...there is soooooooooooooooo much money leveraged against it! :eek:

If you were making what the oil execs were makin' you would be a little slow on developing solar as well. There is no form of control that any single corperation can use to keep track of it right? You can't patent the suns light. I mean, it just sits there...burning at 12 jillion kilowatts...spinning and burning all day! How can you profit from that? Once the initial investment of the hard parts is made...you can't.

I think that the answer is to realize that the "cost" might never seem worth it...but at what "cost"? How much is all this oil dependance going to cost us? How much would you pay to never have to worry about going to the gas station ever again? How smart would it really feel to get into your "car" (?) and drive all over the country on power from the sun?

 

I don't know man.

 

I love my little truck....and the great story behind how I got it, built it for my awesome Grandpa's 80th birthday, how Grandpa and I used to go to junkyards together to find little parts for it and how many times he would tell me total strangers offered him money for it:lol: but I end up being pretty negative about the whole state of the world we live in today...I know how hard I have to work to keep gas in the cars, food on the table and clothes on my growing kids bodies...pay rent and actually "do" everything this little life of mine requires.

 

I thank God for the freedom I have and for the grace He gives for free to live another day and for my amazing wife and kids to live it with.

 

Maybe I can build a love converter and connect it to my L16.

[thisismatt]

I think there is profit in solar and other electric generation and distribution ventures, it's just not as easy and the infrastructure isn't developed yet, which is the biggest problem. With current solar panel output and when you need to drive when there isn't enough light you'll need to recharge or maintain some kind of power stream to your vehicle, since batteries alone right now are restricting.

 

You know there are hydroelectric plants that operate off of a stagnant water source and simply USE power during the night to pump water, and then during the day use that stored water to generate power again? Power plants don't shut down when the demand is low (at night) so the power can be bought cheaply at these hours (thus the pumping) and then sold during the day as it's needed. We just need to offset the coal/oil plants so that the same could be done but with solar/wind to pump the water...essentially the water is a battery in times of no wind/sunlight.

 

We have the electrical grid, but it would be nice to have charging stations or some kind of road grid that would power vehicles as they drive. Profit could be made from this...regulated just like other utilities. There's no reason it can't be done, it's just right now oil is cheaper and when have humans ever had the insight to plan ahead for something like this?