Letters to the Editor
Etrigone
Published Letters: 146 Editor's Choice: 30
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Hard to tell what it is...
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If I had to guess, I'd say it's a SmartCar, due to the form factor. One oddity is that they're generally not electrified; that is being looked into. Even if so, I suspect they're not 110V, but rather 220V.
It almost makes me think Zenn but again the form factor isn't right; something of a competitor to the Smart in their petrol/diesel pre-conversions as Microcars plus actually out of France. They're bigger too - 10' long versus 7' for the two-door/four-seater. Miles' are bigger still & four door/four seater.
Alternatively, it was just something to annoy Zod, and that's worth confusion. Odd to post a whine about something as short as this comic though, doncha think?
BlueAmberol: Without going into the why, putting a solar panel on your electric car is almost always not a good idea. I like the idea but it just doesn't work out.
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A few random comments
[Read the article: The Barack Obama of automobiles?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]@1969L46: You covered most of the stuff I'd say. It's really irritating to find people so down on electric transport purely because they assume an overnight transition and the worst possible scenarios of power production, use and component handling. As if normal gas cars are perfectly safe! One thing that always bugs me too is the idea of "we'll swamp the grid". I keep wondering - do people think that gasoline (and diesel) just flow out of the ground? How do people think we make them out of oil - prayer? If we don't use a given kilowatt hour of electricity for oil production and instead use it to directly drive a vehicle, even before you crunch the numbers that sounds like a win (hint: 3-4 miles/kWh for an EV is a better buy than using that power to make fuel from oil).
And, although making new power plants or generating capacity *correctly* is extremely non-trivial, compared to the frightening cliff of peak oil the activity is eminently doable.
In general with GM, most people are understandably cynical. I know I am - a number of associates & friends were pretty much engaged in battle with GM on their EV1 tactics. In one recent EAA meeting when Tesla was visiting and showing their wares, just the mention of leasing (due to the high price tag of the cars) engendered a collective groan and an immediate statement of "but we don't want to look anything like GM" from the Tesla folks.
At this point, I think about all GM can do is either show people how not to act or, perhaps, provide a minimum bar below which anything is a guaranteed failure - kind of like the C- barely passing student people use as a worst-case example, regardless of whether or not he someday becomes president.
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Duh me...
[Read the article: The Barack Obama of automobiles?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not to imply EREOI < 1 for oil, I just can't seem to get my words out straight today. Hopefully still understood that it takes some energy to make gas & diesel from oil, and less production of such will mitigate more EV use.
Really kinda wish I could edit old posts sometimes. :)
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You've pretty much noticed this before
[Read the article: Wal-Mart's slow-food epiphany ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When you were talking about how people were driving more efficient vehicles because, well, duh... the price of gas went up. More effective than any laws or regulations, reality is.
I suppose this is that "invisible hand" we keep hearing about. Dunno about you, but it's pretty visible to me.
The upside is that this is happening, and at least on the surface it seems good. I can think of two downsides, though:
If gas prices go back down, we'll be back to square one. This borders on the impossible, but it's worth mentioning.
Wal-Mart stomped a hardware store profiled in the movie about them, a store near where I grew up in NE Ohio and where my grandfather bought a lot of stuff to build his home & accompanying stuff. There is zero question in my mind that if they can pull off their bullying in this new world of high gas prices, they will, happily trouncing local businesses. They're quite smart & cunning; best case, it may just take them some while to figure out how and will be not as effective. None currently in my neck of the woods and it will hopefully stay that way.
Sorry to be so down on an otherwise positive article. I guess I'm holding a bit of a grudge against them.