You didn’t mention price. Are they equal in price? If not, what kind of fool would spend an extra $K where incremental value returned is $J, (J, K are positive real numbers with J << K).

Consider this scenario: a customer walks into a dealership, on the right you have a quiet, clean, eco-friendly car that never needs gas and hardly ever needs repair (few moving parts, no heat, oil, exhaust, fuel delivery etc) and on the left you have a backwards, expensive, destructive, soon-to-be-obsolete vehicle that’s hyper expensive to fuel and will break down. What kind of fool would opt for the latter?

Despite the incredibly successful efforts by Big Oil to sabotage this it will come to pass, and when it does oil cars are going the way of the cotton gin.

Now how about some fast and quiet electric boats?

Here’s a link about the 100MPG Hummer, was to be unveiled in detroit in April…

“The prototype we’ll see in Detroit at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress on Monday features a series-hybrid drive train similar to the Voltec system in the Chevrolet Volt. Like the Volt, the H3 will be driven solely by electricity. The engine — the 260-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder used in the Pontiac Solstice — will drive a 100-kilowatt generator to recharge the three lithium-ion battery packs. Fisker Automotive is using the same engine in its Karma range-extended EV.”
Link to wired story:
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/04/behold-americas/

also their video: http://www.rasertech.com/media/videos/hummer-fuel-economy-explained

This just shows it is doable to drive a badazz rig and get excellent fuel economy. I bet this thing will cost a mint but as a first step (or for those with buckets of money now) it is a reminder of what America can do when we put our mind to it!

We’re rooting for you GM and Chrysler. We know you can build great cars when you want to. Now is the time for you to show America that you are our partner in getting off oil. The 100MPG Hummer just shows that cars don’t have to be cramped or crummy to get great mileage.

NPNS::Electric Cars + Nuclear Power + Solar + Wind + Geothermal = American Energy Independence

Hybrids will continue to sell well, but people are going to start demanding more.

Plugins are the next evolutionary step with hybrids given that the price to charge up is so much cheaper than burning gas–even with today’s temporarily cheap gas.

EVs are the future. No doubt at all in my mind. EVs are 75% efficient while ICEs are 20% efficient. Maintenance costs are going to be significantly reduced with EVs, and I suspect interiors will wear out much faster than motors, controllers or even batteries.

However, rangephobia will remain until a recharging network can evolve, and it’s going to take time to build it–but far less time than for the hype of hydrogen to evolve into something viable.

Enter the series hybrid, or Volt. It pushes us closer to EVs than anything else out there. As the batteries improve, 60, 80, 100 mile AER will become possible with the Voltec powertrain. If ultracaps are added or used, then recharge times may drop to minutes. The technical challenges to evolve a vehicle from series hybrid to EV are probably the smallest of any other such evolution.

For you iMiev lovers (me too!):
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/mitsubishi-i-miev-electric-car-second-battery-factory-kyoto.php
=============================

Thats what I love about the iMiev project, not only do they hit all their deadlines, not only do they have over 1,000 ‘pre-production/test’ vehicles on the road now, and not only are they going into full, real production in 6 weeks…but they are also constantly bringing in more capacity, and constantly increasing volumes as the time to make good decreases….a trend that is woefully lacking anywhere else in this segment.

There is just something about the EV business that screams ‘BS,’ I don’t know if it is because of so many failed projects, or just so many darn press releases and concept cars compared to exactly zero mass produced EVs on the road at the moment.

It is no secret that I love the iMiev project, and it is my first choice…but even if you don’t like it at all, and would never buy one, they are going to be the ones that prove to the world that, ‘yes, EVs are real, you can buy one at your local dealer, you can have warranty and service without hassle, just like a regular car…and they can have 4 seats.

/that can’t be a bad thing

#147 DonC
…so noted

Take a look here at a demo of a BIG switch that attempts to remove power. Since you are connected to a large inductive load (L), and you attempt to disconnect the Current (I) instantly, then theoretically, your voltage goes to infinity. This causes the large arc, since V = L(di/dt), where di/dt is the change in current over time. If dt = small, then V = BIG, and therefore the switch attempts to maintain current (I) and makes the large arc you can see in the video (I have posted this several times, as my favorite demo of L(di/dt) in action!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQQMK1Rvq0A&feature=related

“Cost of energy increase” is a completely dysfunctional and totally worthless argument. (Less than a hundred “conservatives”[sic] are denying the ease and need for electricity “conservation”, and, I reject any ever-present denial completely.)
If ever
there was only one thing,
and one thing alone
which we morally should (and must) pay a little more for
and use a lot less of, it is:
Energy, which,
****************
SHOULD
****************
cost more if it is sustainably-derived in a non-carbon manner.
Many people with vast square footages in all their mansions want cheap coal electricity. They are the very ones who can afford the 10 to 15 percent more for it if it did get that high, since that is the square footage they chose to buy in the first place.
I have a modest 1483 square foot house. I have gotten my electricity usage down to 386 kilowatts a month!! The hottest month on record was last July. I perfected a way to be very cool in my energy-efficient/weatherized house for only that many kilowatts for that month here in Texas!! (Using a 2 hour timer on the hvac, hvac tech installed, and setting it to better “accumulate the cool”, then automatically shutting it off for the evening, instead of cycling an inefficiently narrow temp band).
These FEW people in opposition, are people to be identified as petroleum and coal interests, and no-one else at all !! NO ONE ELSE AT ALL!!
They know this is a threat to them, that Voltec is ascendant. They likely will try to attempt to see how they can escalate their veiled, if not direct threats to everyone else, (not just directly to me, twice now, in the last 2 years). (The second being from natural gas interests, which, does not make sense to me since it is half the carbon of coal, and is needed for stand-by electrical generation. Also, it seems to me, it is at least minimally-energy-appropriate/required, since it can be used most extremely-frugally, therefore natural gas is ok for that reason).
But, again and again, the same tired old theme of increased energy cost, however, will become increasingly more and more false.
Do you realize that as more and more Wind Energy comes online, that the “fuel” portion of your electric bill could actually begin to disappear in the next few decades?
It is conceivable that the coal electric generation facilities in 20 years may actually have to pay money into the system to have the privilege of being able to maintain being physically connected.
(As I understand it, it makes a very loud “bang” if the disconnect swing-arms of the system are commanded to disconnect any inappropriately-timed electricity generation input that the system can not handle, or has not otherwise properly-responded to the extremely tight one-sixtieth of a second specificities of the grid).
This is why the economics of coal are rapidly going down the tubes.
This is why no-one, for the long term, ought to consider building new coal fired power plants. Why?
If I can conserve electricity to the extent that I can, then so, can anyone else who merely takes the very easy path to also do so.
Everything we can save can go toward the affordability of us getting that Volt. (Just don’t neglect your preventive maintenance on your current auto, so as to prevent a huge consequential loss later).
Dan Petit Austin TX