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On June 11th, 2010 at 7:15 pm MPGomatic Said:
20 million plug-ins in five years is a tough row to hoe, considering that America lacks the battery production facilities, the raw materials, and the overwhelming will to buy (along with the financial means).
The answer to domestic energy independence cannot be found in just one technology. To solely embrace and promote electric vehicles is a call for failure.
On June 11th, 2010 at 10:24 pm jstack6 Said:
it’s easy. I already made my 05 prius into a plugin with 40 mile all electric range last year. http://www.pluginhybrid.com is the best. It was the samew price as updating to a 2010 prius that only gets 51 mpg! It’s a winner for you ,the environment and the economy !
The US imports 60% of our oil, 112 million barrles a dar, 1 Trillion a year.
It’s as easy as doing the right thing. You don’t need an incentive ,just a heart for the USA
On June 11th, 2010 at 10:26 pm jstack6 Said:
PS riding a bicycle is even better and I commute to work year round on mine. That even helps your health !
On June 11th, 2010 at 10:31 pm MPGomatic Said:
@jstack6 – Very cool. Which conversion kit did you use on your Prius? Can you travel at highway speeds on just the electric motor?
On June 11th, 2010 at 10:36 pm Michael Caughey Said:
The BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf should be our wake-up call. Our country is in deep trouble and needs to implement a can-do manufacturing mentality similar to what we did during World War II. We proved then we can do it and it can be done again. This would solve a myriad of problems and put millions of americans back to work. Our government should be involved and our private sector should be involved. We need to upgrade our broken and outdated grid system and turn it into a smart grid system as well. We need to put our citizens to work building solar panels and wind turbines and not importing these items from China. When you put people to work with good paying jobs, you solve a lot of problems with our economy. The government can and should get the ball rolling by adding electric and plugin hybrids to their fleets of vehicles. They should also add solar panels to all government buildings. These two things alone would be incentive for the private sector to follow suite. There should be a fast track requirement for utilities to install large commercial solar arrays, wind farms and geo-thermal plants. We need to shift towards non fossil energy right away. The BP Gulf oil catastrophe should be recognized as the dead canary in the mine. We are in an emergency situation and must act NOW!!!
On June 11th, 2010 at 10:41 pm MPGomatic Said:
@Michael – Good stuff. Keep in mind that all of the lithium (for batteries) and rare earth magnets (for the motors) will need to be imported from countries including Bolivia and China.
On June 11th, 2010 at 10:57 pm jstack6 Said:
FYI< MY plugin will only go 52 mph in pure electric mode. so we always take city streets which we find is much safer and never gets stuck for hours like a highway.
On a long trip on the hight we get over 100 mpg for the fist 100 miles.then just 50 mpg like a regular prius.
Since 95% of our trips are to work and back over 90% of our trips are 100% electric, we can also use the same car for long trips and not have to have 2 cars.
By converting our 2005 I feel we also recycles our car in the best way, making it better !
On June 11th, 2010 at 11:02 pm Michael Caughey Said:
Unfortunately we will be required to import certain raw materials for awhile. But if we put together a “Manhattan Project” group of scientists, I believe we can come up with a battery system that will be even better by using our own natural resources and not have to import rare commodities from other countries. Never underestimate good ole American know how when our backs are up against the wall. And I do believe our backs are now up against the wall.
On June 12th, 2010 at 12:33 am Joseph Conti Said:
Michael,
I have a better Manhattan project for you, it’s called the D-cycle.. It changes just 5 components in today’s engines and transforms the architecture into a much more efficient machine.. I’m talking at least 30%. This will be for every car out there today. Check us out at http://www.yanengines.com We have prototype data and the theory that says it’s possible. A full scale engine will tell all. We just need to identify a fleet owner that’s will to share in the benefits.
On June 12th, 2010 at 12:42 am Joseph Conti Said:
This configuration will also apply to diesels.. It’s amazing how all the exerts can’t understand all the inherant inefficiencies that we have been living with for the last 100 years of the internal combustion engine.. to have 2 revolutions of the the crankshaft and only get one power stroke. We complete 4 thermal cycles, and get a power stroke every revolution. We need to put together a grass roots effort of a few people with machining capability to get this demonstrator off the ground.
On June 12th, 2010 at 12:04 pm MPGomatic Said:
@Joseph – I’m there, brother … This effort is entirely self-funded. I can only hit the road and produce alt fuel videos when I have the funds to do so.
Can you team up with a 3D video guy to produce demonstration videos from your models? Something more beefy than the basic animation that’s currently on your website.
A demo car will rock, once you have the resources. Take a look at what the Automotive X-Prize teams are doing … it’s amazing.
On September 21st, 2010 at 2:22 am Travis Flickinger Said:
it always has been the ingenuity of the people that mad this country what is is, the government had no part is our greatness. the people built this country, it is a country built by the people, for the people
government needs to step aside once and for all, they are whats keeping us from making progress