[seenmostofit]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'S')orry to say but significant, game-changing fuel-efficiency improvement is a thing of the past.

[dsula]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seenmostofit', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'S')orry to say but significant, game-changing fuel-efficiency improvement is a thing of the past.

[seenmostofit]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dsula', '
')
I'm wondering how long this e-car craze will last. A totally wrong engineering answer to a problem which requires, less and simpler tech, not more of it.

[sparky]

.
Sorry but there is such a thing as a wrong engineering solution

If the product doesn't fulfill its functional design , it's a wrong solution

an example is during WW2 the German design of the King Tiger ( Pzkw VII )

it was a fine tank except for it's very high cost in time material and manpower to make
leading to very few numbers
huge consumption of precious fuel , high maintenance and low mobility

except for this , it was the battlefield king , when it could get there !

Electric cars fail on manufacturing cost , range , refueling time and life cycle cost

much better to design cars with very small engines , hybrids are better still

[SeaGypsy]

Americans always argue that it is not safe to be on the road in/ on a light vehicle. The argument is valid, with the US road statistics already appalling. The solution is clearly in mandating light vehicle/ cycleways, where all vehicles must have a maximum weight of a hundred kilos or so above passenger weight. An interim solution would be to separate out a lane on existing freeways, plus dropping urban speed limits. To encourage such development all taxes on such vehicles and their use should be removed. Heavy vehicles should be taxed on miles driven. If you own a 'monster truck' and only use it to haul firewood once a month 10 miles, the tax should be peanuts next to someone using a similar vehicle to commute substantial distances everyday. Point being it is not just engineering solutions but a combination of such with legislative and tax amendments which could make a real difference.

[careinke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'A')mericans always argue that it is not safe to be on the road in/ on a light vehicle. The argument is valid, with the US road statistics already appalling. The solution is clearly in mandating light vehicle/ cycleways, where all vehicles must have a maximum weight of a hundred kilos or so above passenger weight. An interim solution would be to separate out a lane on existing freeways, plus dropping urban speed limits. To encourage such development all taxes on such vehicles and their use should be removed. Heavy vehicles should be taxed on miles driven. If you own a 'monster truck' and only use it to haul firewood once a month 10 miles, the tax should be peanuts next to someone using a similar vehicle to commute substantial distances everyday. Point being it is not just engineering solutions but a combination of such with legislative and tax amendments which could make a real difference.

[seenmostofit]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '.')
Electric cars fail on manufacturing cost , range , refueling time and life cycle cost

much better to design cars with very small engines , hybrids are better still

[seenmostofit]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seenmostofit', 'i')t strikes me that cars of nearly any construction should be minimized. The number of problems which could be solved or minimized (outside of even the resource scarcity debate) with a population cycling around to work and play are sizable.

[sparky]

.
the ultimate economical car
much beloved by its owners , it kept generations of young people on the road
at the dazzling speed of 50 mph , for no fuel costs to speak of
because of it's amazing suspension it was impossible to flip, by hand or driving
( I've tried , hard )

when seat belt became compulsory , the joke ran that should not be charged
the road registration fee as it was a back pack

models ran trouble free from antarctica to the Sahara ,
one climbed to the Evrerest base camp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_2CV

[dolanbaker]

Apparantly, the original design brief was for a farmers car that could transport a box of eggs across a ploughed field without breaking any.

Small lightweight cars were are and will be a partial solution to the oil supply keeping up with demand issue.

[Beery1]

You can see the inherent problem with this just by looking at it, from a resource depletion standpoint. I mean, this thing weighs a ton - literally (actually, closer to 2 tons). And what is its primary task? Transporting around 200lbs a distance of about 10 miles, 5 days a week. My 30lb bike can do that, albeit a little slower (though not always), using 100% renewable energy. Cars are hugely inefficient.

The problems of resource depletion will never be solved by anything that looks like this. Until auto manufacturers start trimming the weight from their vehicles, we won't even begin to start finding solutions to the problem.

[Beery1]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'A')mericans always argue that it is not safe to be on the road in/ on a light vehicle. The argument is valid, with the US road statistics already appalling. The solution is clearly in mandating light vehicle/ cycleways, where all vehicles must have a maximum weight of a hundred kilos or so above passenger weight. An interim solution would be to separate out a lane on existing freeways, plus dropping urban speed limits...

[seenmostofit]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Beery1', 'A')nd what is its primary task? Transporting around 200lbs a distance of about 10 miles, 5 days a week. My 30lb bike can do that, albeit a little slower (though not always), using 100% renewable energy. Cars are hugely inefficient.

[ennui]

This statement is telling:

"It's a misconception that cycling is dangerous."

People's buying habits are often irrational. Cars are more than just utilitarian items. They are status symbols, fashion statements, an extension of our bodies to some. As such, you can not just trout facts and figures. You have to understand the psychology behind it.

Instead what you have here is a lot of proselytizing which didn't work in the 70s and won't work now.

The Volt looks like it does not because GM are idiots, but because if they made it like the EV-1 or (gasp) the Aptera it would have been dead on arrival. At least they have a viable niche car that people don't mock as "not a car".

When we get to the pain-threshold where maslow's heirarchy of needs reorients transportation not as an extension of ego but as a life-line, then things will change, but it hasn't yet.

[rangerone314]

People's buying habits ARE irrational. And they will pay the price for their irrationality.

[seenmostofit]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', 'P')eople's buying habits ARE irrational. And they will pay the price for their irrationality.