Who Killed the Electric Car?

Amen! Well said.

Heavens, Yes! Let's squash competition... and no more bellyaching... Windows Vista for everyone ;-)

...Jim Thompson

In message , Jeff Liebermann writes

Our milk and much of the doorstep delivered milk in the UK is still delivered on electric vehicles with no refrigeration. I suspect the design of the vehicle hasn't changed much at all in the last 50 years, some of the 'floats' I see have registration letters that indicate they are over 40 years old.

(1) Any product you have in the public's hands exposes you to liability suits.

(2) In the automotive industry you have to provide parts for 7 years after introduction.

My guess is that the battery technology wasn't ready for prime time and they had some accidental "events" they didn't publish.

...Jim Thompson

Oh, there'll be competition, has to be. But there shouldn't be a needless one, such as umpteen shuttle services going to the airport but none to the local industry parks around here. We can't keep on pretending that it's ok to keep tooling around in big trucks just to go to the grocery store. Guess what, people around here have come to their senses about that. The number of flights leaving our local airstrip is down to about half, when walking the dogs we see lots of trucks for sale, lots of brand new Priuses showing up in driveways. Fact is, Toyota has recognized the signs of the time and GM has not. They'll better get cracking on it, and soon.

As for Vista: I was even contemplating removing the sign at the end of the driveway because it reads "Casa de la Vista" (we have a great view and a previous owner put it up).

The competition I was referring to is the sort that makes drivers do stupid maneuvers to get one or two cars ahead in traffic, or resorting to cutthroat tactics to get advancement in the business world. There is good competition, and as long as it is fair, it results in better products and better people. It's OK for people to engage in sports and games to outmuscle and outsmart each other, but when they buy extra horsepower and bigger vehicles and use them in a deadly real-life game on the roads, it becomes a problem. That is where cooperation is really needed.

I sure don't want Vista. XP is the first OS (since maybe MSDOS6.22) that seems to be stable and reliable. But at least there is Linux that I would consider if XP were no longer available. I use the automatic update feature, and I dread the day that I get a particularly lengthy update, and a reboot screen that reads:

"Welcome to Windows Vista! Microsoft has generously updated your old XP system to our latest wonderful product at absolutely no charge to you! Since you were a little short of disk space, we have removed those old files so you will have more room for the colorful multimedia presentations we have loaded there for your entertainment!"

Paul

Good old capitalist's rule: He who takes no risks will not win.

I have taken quite some risks in my career and I am sure you did. I expect the same from our corporate leadership, else there won't be progress.

A good company ups that to 15 or 20 years, at least. Else the reputation is toast and in automotive a loos of reputation is nearly a permanent thing.

Maybe they should send their engineers to a Japanese university then?

Sorry for being so sarcastic but sometimes the excuses the big three come up with are almost sickening. And they should stop calling 32mpg for a mid-size passenger car an achievement when my wife's 1995 Toyota regularly nets >35mpg.

Only over my dead body.

Or you want to finish that one design that the client needs on Monday and you realize that your CAD now only produces "An unknown error has occurred and the application is being debugged", followed by 10 minutes of trundling and a blue screen.

Try as I may, when I'm scurrying to my office, I can't avoid being cut-off by my dog ;-)

I agree. However I prefer excess power for my own safety. On many occasions I've simply out-run highway predators. I even had one occasion where some banditos ran out into the roadway to stop me... I simply took aim and sped up... I could see the whites of their eyes as they fled ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Strange. Our shepherd does the same thing with me. Every morning.

Man, what neighborhood do you live in? Even in rough-and-tumble South Sacramento where most of the shootings are that doesn't happen a lot.

On Fri, 16 May 2008 10:59:46 -0700, Jeff Liebermann put finger to keyboard and composed:

Australia has plenty of gas. Maybe this car would be a viable option:

"The fourth-generation Chrysler turbine engine ran at up to 60,000 rpm could use diesel fuel, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, JP-4 jet fuel, and even vegetable oil. The engine would run virtually on anything and the president of Mexico tested this theory by running one of the first cars - successfully - on tequila. No adjustments were needed to switch from one to another. The engine had a fifth as many moving parts as a piston unit (60 rather than 300). The turbine was spinning on simple sleeve bearings for vibration-free running. Its simplicity offered the potential for long life, and because no combustion contaminants enter engine oil, no oil changes were considered necessary. The 1963 Turbine's engine generated 130 brake horsepower (97 kW) and an instant

- Franc Zabkar

Damon Hill wrote in news:Xns9AA06CA593235damon161attbicom@127.0.0.1:

except they haven't DELIVERED any yet.Only the prototype exists.

Joerg wrote in news:YMjXj.285$ snipped-for-privacy@nlpi066.nbdc.sbc.com:

most utilities also add a fuel surcharge.Meaning FOSSIL fuel generation.

Go nuclear!

Franc Zabkar wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

The exhaust was also known to melt asphalt pavement...though I suppose that's better than a gamma tan from tail-gating a nuclear reactor.

--Damon, still hoping for a Mr. Fusion

Rover had built a similar car but AFAIR only one. The manager once let another guy whom he'd picked up somewhere take it for a spin and he was thoroughly impressed. But as usual the gas mileage was quite terrible. Probably there is a lot of load change lag as well. Somehow a great concept if one could get the NOX under control but nowadays all that is water under the bridge anyhow.

This was just east of El Paso, I10 eastbound, 3-4 Mexicanos popped out from behind an overpass abutment, waving their arms wildly hoping I would stop. Seeing no wreck, fearing a hijack attempt and seeing clear road ahead of me, I just took aim at one of them, keeping aim as he tried to dodge me. He barely made the edge safely.

What made this particularly amusing was I was taking Jennifer's furniture and stuff to her first year at Baylor (26 years ago). She was following right behind my 280ZX in a new Nissan Sentra... with instructions... in case of unusual circumstances, do _exactly_ as I do... so she followed my gyrations precisely... I think the Mexicanos were suitably frightened by the double-teaming ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Joerg wrote in news:CzkXj.1717$ snipped-for-privacy@flpi144.ffdc.sbc.com:

there's talk lately about new utility power meters that will meter your service according to time of usage so they can bill you extra for using power during high demand times.Coming soon,I suspect.

Jim Yanik wrote in news:Xns9AA0C9A91B41Djyanikkuanet@

Apparently Jay Leno has the first production model and they claim to be in serial production as of last winter.

I'm waiting to see how the battery pack holds up. Tesla had some teething problems with the transmission, too. We'll know more by this time next year.

--Damon

Joerg wrote in news:y9oXj.1330$ snipped-for-privacy@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com:

seems that would warrant and justify a lawsuit.