Re: Electric Cars Not Yet Viable

San Francisco is very hilly, and most people don't want to hike, so it's possible to part in most neighborhoods if you are willing to do a bit of healthy work. Not downtown of course, it's dense and flat. People mostly take public transit to downtown, BART and MUNI, both mostly underground. Lots of UBER and LYFT lately too.

SF used to have private, informal shuttle vans for commuting, like the NYC "gypsy cabs" but the city didn't want them competing with MUNI so outlawed them. Big mistake.

I park a couple hundred vertical feet from work, no problems.

That walkway crosses over the US101 freeway, and it's steep uphill on the other side in all directions to the places where one can park. Nice workout after clicking a mouse all day.

My house is similarly a few blocks from a BART station, but way uphill, so lazy commuters don't park on our street. And it's a very nice walk.

I'm assuming they'll plug in for rapid charge while passengers are unloading and loading.

The numbers don't look great there. It weighs 4850 lbs to haul 4 passengers and has 20 minute endurance.

We'd need seriously better batteries to make this sort of thing practical. It would need more energy per kg and very fast recharge times to be economical.

Some sort of tiltrotor would be more efficient but probably not very safe.

A lot of people have been working on this sort of thing for a while now.

They showed one on the news last night, in OR I think, at a testing facility. It held a few people, had a range of 35 miles. It could still be fine for a commuting service, ie to get commuters into and out of NYC, but there would have to be a big field somewhere for them to go to, land, sit and recharge.

rather that the US lobbying system is designed to leave people who are mak ing a lot of money out of a particular market free to set up regulations th at make it difficult for innovative competitors to get into the markets tha t are making the current generation of fat cats all that money.

And an even better job of telling everybody that you lead the world in almo st everything. My experience was that US products were rushed to market too fast, and never properly thought out, but that was in a couple of smal and specialised areas.

Airbus outsold Boeing two to one at the most recent Paris Air Show, and ASM L in the Netherlands now dominates the semiconductor lithography machine ma rket.

innovative competitors. Did it happen with the PC? MSFT? Apple? Cell pho nes? Electric cars?

Haven't run into any specific examples since IBM messed up the local area n etwork standards to try keep their internal standard looking competitive.

The Underwriters Laboratory system is a non-tariff barrier to trade. It too k a while for Europeans and the Japansese to work out work-arounds.

ut rather that the US lobbying system is designed to leave people who are m aking a lot of money out of a particular market free to set up regulations that make it difficult for innovative competitors to get into the markets t hat are making the current generation of fat cats all that money.

most everything. My experience was that US products were rushed to market t oo fast, and never properly thought out, but that was in a couple of smal a nd specialised areas.

Like the orders at that show determine everything? Figures you'd choose the socialist company over the private one. Airbus just had a spectacular fail with the A380, which is headed to the scrap yard fast. Boeing sure had that right. Airbus bet 15 years ago on a huge plane for a hub model future. Boeing said, no the future is more long, direct flights. They bet their future on the 777 and 787 and they were right.

and ASML in the Netherlands now dominates the semiconductor lithography ma chine market.

Well whooptie dooh! And WTF does Australia dominate? Kangaroos?

t innovative competitors. Did it happen with the PC? MSFT? Apple? Cell p hones? Electric cars?

network standards to try keep their internal standard looking competitive.

Nuff said.

ook a while for Europeans and the Japansese to work out work-arounds.

What's the problem? You Aussies can't make shit that doesn't catch fire or shock people?

When I was in HP Labs, a co-worker (who I bumped into last week!) was learning to ride a unicycle.

The characteristic sound was "whoosh ... crump", as he whistled along the aisles between cubicles, but couldn't manage a right-angled turn at the end.

Also had someone that laid out his parachute on the floor, when repacking it.

Fun day.

Bumped into? Did anyone get hurt?

But so do gas vehicles. And they are better than electrics for long trips.

Youtube has some great(awful) helicopter crashes. One of my favorite people died in a helicopter crash.

Imagine downtown rooftop to airport vertical-lift shuttles. Envision noise. Envision the things falling out of the sky over downtown.

I'm sure you are correct - Bhopal, Love Canal, overcrowded ferries sinking, no food inspections, etc. are a but small price to pay for progress. Who needs regulations after all?

However Canadians are kind of stupid that way, we think our government is here to help protect us from unscrupulous people, countries, and companies.

Nobody's perfect, so any government can go off the rails from time to time... Keeping a rein on government's excess is what elections are supposed to do.

John

Nah. We like each other :)

Spare aircraft doesn't sound economical.

Not very economical either.

See YouTube for lots of gas powered

Add "crash" and "die" to your search.

remember that for every man who regularly flies a gas-powered ultralight aircraft there must have been a day where he woke up and said to themselves "You know...I really should get into flying gas-powered ultralight aircraft."

something similar happened with every cabin cruiser boat owner:

Apparently some people reason "I did something very dangerous, and nothing bad happened, so I can do even more dangerous things." Like taking meth, you progress to lethality.

I don't know why anyone would want one of those.

Yeah, all three of my houses are detached. I have no interest in living wh ere I can't stretch my elbows. I stayed with my brother in his town house after a recent surgery and I actually got claustrophobic.

At some point those who park on the street will have options for charging o vernight. It will take some time. Once EVs start to saturate the market f or those who have overnight charging options there will be a lot of pressur e to provide ways to charge for everyone.

Just like gas stations grew up on street corners all over when fume belchin g, horse scaring autos appeared, we will be able to rid ourselves of that n uisance and the bother of having to drive to gas stations to gas up the car simply by providing outlets by the curbs as many towns in the north alread y have.

I may have mentioned that Tesla has started construction of the planned Sup ercharge in Frederick. That will be a big improvement for me. Huzzah! In another five years level 2 chargers will be much more ubiquitous for local charging. If you can't charge at home, you will be able to charge at work .

Resistance is futile! Over the next 10 years EVs will become the dominant vehicle sold.

I think we can disprove that with two words, Brexit and Trump.

where I can't stretch my elbows. I stayed with my brother in his town hous e after a recent surgery and I actually got claustrophobic.

overnight. It will take some time. Once EVs start to saturate the market for those who have overnight charging options there will be a lot of press ure to provide ways to charge for everyone.

ing, horse scaring autos appeared, we will be able to rid ourselves of that nuisance and the bother of having to drive to gas stations to gas up the c ar simply by providing outlets by the curbs as many towns in the north alre ady have.

More electric car derangement syndrome. And I'd rather be scared by a car, then run over by a silent, deadly electric vehicle.

upercharge in Frederick. That will be a big improvement for me. Huzzah! In another five years level 2 chargers will be much more ubiquitous for loc al charging. If you can't charge at home, you will be able to charge at wo rk.

t vehicle sold.

Sure, dream on. I suppose you think we'll see free healthcare for illegal aliens, reparations for slavery, the govt paying off all student loans, retroactive tax refunds for gays, elimination of airplanes and no more deportation of any illegal aliens too.

It only needs to run for a few minutes, and sailplanes are light.

Actually, several people have done it.

I can't believe some people are dumb enough to be buying EVs at this early stage in their development. It can't be anything other than virtue- signalling.

The battery technology isn't here yet. A quantum leap breakthrough (nothing less) in battery building - something totally novel - is the only way these things can seriously challenge IC vehicles. They'll never come close as things stand with poor range and absurdly long charging times. Whoever gets to discover and patent that new battery will become richer than Croesus and more famous than Edison.