Electric and hybrid cars

[Asper Sarnoff]

Everyone who is saying electric cars aren't viable and just a gimmick: remember that petroleum fuel cars were once a gimmick too.

The difference being that your option back in the late 19th century was trundling along after a horses ass, while the alternatives nowadays are... considerably better than that. It didn't take that many years before the internal combustion vehicle had surpassed the horse in pretty much every measureable category(maybe save exactly enviromental impact.), while I predict it'll take many, many years before electric cars surpass the internal combustion car as much.

Fun fact time! Do you know that when Rudolph Diesel invented the diesel engine, he designed it to run on peanut oil. Biodiesel! Because he believed that to be more enviromentally friendly. In the 1890's! After his untimely death(suicide because of financial problems we believe), the patent fell into the hands of the oil companies, which converted it to run on their own petroleum-based mixture.

[Sabre]

The difference being that your option back in the late 19th century was trundling along after a horses ass, while the alternatives nowadays are... considerably better than that. It didn't take that many years before the internal combustion vehicle had surpassed the horse in pretty much every measureable category(maybe save exactly enviromental impact.), while I predict it'll take many, many years before electric cars surpass the internal combustion car as much.

Fun fact time! Do you know that when Rudolph Diesel invented the diesel engine, he designed it to run on peanut oil. Biodiesel! Because he believed that to be more enviromentally friendly. In the 1890's! After his untimely death(suicide because of financial problems we believe), the patent fell into the hands of the oil companies, which converted it to run on their own petroleum-based mixture.

I question that fact. The reason being I heard it that while he was alive, the diesel engine was known as a oil engine. Not only that but there was a bit issue a while back where there were people running cars on chip pan fat.

Performance isn't really a major issue with electric, rather cost. Batteries are heavy, fuel cells are expencive, and however you work it getting fuel is more expencive than petrol/diesel. If we invest smartly, we can develop more effeicent tech.

[Robert Monroe]

The difference being that your option back in the late 19th century was trundling along after a horses ass, while the alternatives nowadays are... considerably better than that. It didn't take that many years before the internal combustion vehicle had surpassed the horse in pretty much every measureable category(maybe save exactly enviromental impact.), while I predict it'll take many, many years before electric cars surpass the internal combustion car as much.

Fun fact time! Do you know that when Rudolph Diesel invented the diesel engine, he designed it to run on peanut oil. Biodiesel! Because he believed that to be more enviromentally friendly. In the 1890's! After his untimely death(suicide because of financial problems we believe), the patent fell into the hands of the oil companies, which converted it to run on their own petroleum-based mixture.

It isn't much of a difference. Honestly, I'd take a horse driven carriage over a car. Horses are noble and lovely animals, you can't crowd the streets with them like you do with cars, and they're slower so you enjoy where you're going instead of making life a race. But I digress. Either way, the point is you can not dismiss experimental new technology because its "impractical". All new technology is impractical, and it only gets better by being used and endorsed. Old-timey cars were expensive novelties that were rickety and noisy and smelled bad. The horse had every advantage on them, then. Yet the car came out on top despite the odds. Why? Because people invested in the gimmick to make it less of a gimmick. If technology is not invested in, then it just falls apart.

[Sabre]

It isn't much of a difference. Honestly, I'd take a horse driven carriage over a car. Horses are noble and lovely animals, you can't crowd the streets with them like you do with cars, and they're slower so you enjoy where you're going instead of making life a race. But I digress. Either way, the point is you can not dismiss experimental new technology because its "impractical". All new technology is impractical, and it only gets better by being used and endorsed. Old-timey cars were expensive novelties that were rickety and noisy and smelled bad. The horse had every advantage on them, then. Yet the car came out on top despite the odds. Why? Because people invested in the gimmick to make it less of a gimmick. If technology is not invested in, then it just falls apart.

You can glog up roads with horses. Have you never been to the British middle class parts of the country side?

[Robert Monroe]

You can glog up roads with horses. Have you never been to the British middle class parts of the country side?

Sadly, my butt has been limited to pretty much just the place I was born for most of my life.

Either way, I still like horses more than cars, and country roads > bigass freeways.

[kkstarfox]

All cars should run on nuclear energy >:V

[Psygonis]

The problem of nuclear energy is that it's not scalable at will. Either you don't need a lot of energy, like for peacemakers that embed 10~15 years-long nuclear cells, either you gotta make it big, in the current nuclear power plants.

[Asper Sarnoff]

It isn't much of a difference. Honestly, I'd take a horse driven carriage over a car. Horses are noble and lovely animals, you can't crowd the streets with them like you do with cars, and they're slower so you enjoy where you're going instead of making life a race. But I digress. Either way, the point is you can not dismiss experimental new technology because its "impractical". All new technology is impractical, and it only gets better by being used and endorsed. Old-timey cars were expensive novelties that were rickety and noisy and smelled bad. The horse had every advantage on them, then. Yet the car came out on top despite the odds. Why? Because people invested in the gimmick to make it less of a gimmick. If technology is not invested in, then it just falls apart.

Entirely correct, but what I'm saying is that it didn't take many years before the automobile surpassed the horse in just about all the measureable categories the average trafficant was interested in, reliability, range, speed and comfort, getting from A to B in the fastest manner possible with the least amount of inconvinience. Sure, they were always the more expensive option, but after the model-T came along, well within reach for the middle-class household. Dare I even say they aren't hopelessly inefficent in comparison either? After all, lifestock amount for more greenhouse gasses than all the various forms of transport combined.

So far, electric cars fall down on range, and surprisingly enough, enviromental impact, which is kind of the whole point abput having them in the first place. Even when focusing purely on what mpg they get, the more efficent combustion cars have them well and truly beaten. For electric cars to move on from gimmick to a serious alternative, we need to come up with a cheaper and more efficent way to store energy than NiMH batteries, and it needs to have significantly less impact on the enviroment to produce the batteries/whatever they will be called. (The Chevrolet Volt/Opel Ampera uses LIB batteries. I don't know how much enviromental impact the production of those have.)

Some day, the electric car will overall be better than the combustion car, but I bet you not going to happen anytime soon.

All cars should run on nuclear energy >:V

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon

Didn't survive downscaling. The insulation that was required to make sure passengers and passer-bys didn't end up with two heads made it so heavy that the reactor that would fit in couldn't move it.

[Sabre]

we need to come up with a cheaper and more efficent way to store energy than NiMH batteries,

When I read that, I had to double take, out of habit I read that as NIMH as in Secret of NIMH.

[kkstarfox]

I meant it jokingly guys ............