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Re: (ET) Electric Tractor Conversion Update
That's what's great about economical cars whether hybrids or not.
Granted that gasoline, a decpleting natural resource sold in a sellers
market for depleting US dollars is going to go up again. The higher fuel
mileage that an individual gets now, the better that individual is
prepared financially for any 'fuel crisis' at any time in the future.
That's something that is not cranked into the 'payback' calculations, nor
can it be. These economical vehicles are their own 'insurance policy'
against rising fuel prices, or God forbid, the next stage of 'peak oil'
or all out war, fuel rationing as happened in the days of WWII.
We are in a transition period as to 'economical vehicle' design at
present. Some 'pure gasoline' cars are approaching 'hybrid' standards of
mileage. Meanwhile, the hybrid's next stage is approaching - a three
way powertrain. Adding plug-in to these is the best of all possible
conventional automotive options. Especially in the case where the '3
way' vehicle owner has a short commute, within 'electric only' range (at
present about 30 miles for these). MPGE (miles per gallon equivalent) of
these vehicles when in 'plug-in electric' mode is on par with 'backyard
converted' pure electric only plug-ins which we figure to be about
80mpge. And as gas prices rise, 'miles per dollar in comparison' rise
accordingly, as 'gas only' vehicle miles per dollar fall.
Money is not the only issue. A more important issue is
sustainability. Pure electric vehicles are able to run on sustainable
fuel such as electriciy produced by hydro, wind, geothermal, sun, and
also nuclear power which is very close to sustainable. The Earth itself
benefits in sustainability through a healthier atmosphere for every
electric that replaces a conventional fuel burner
I would watch for 'planted' articles dissing the hybrids. The fuel
industries don't like the trend towards them one bit. Especially these
newer 3 ways that don't need fuel at all under 'short commute'
conditions. The automakers except for very few don't like them, they
will lose sales. And as people make the choice towards sanity in energy
use, the used car market takes a beating due to the glut of traded in gas
guzzlers, and their industry also reacts with articles downplaying and
'pseudo scientifically' debunking the hybrid concept.
Here is an important truth to counter some of these downs; A
friend of mine (in Hingham MA) Jesse Rudvasky just last week rolled up
260,000 miles in his Prius on the original batteries, with no major
repairs. The car still looks new and drives like new. He keeps track of
these things and claims that this is the Prius with the most miles on her
in the US - there are couple of them in Canada that are used as taxis and
have more trouble-free miles on them. And many more well over 200,000 in
Japan where there were first introduced, long before export.
In other words, Hybrid technology is perfected now, and more perfect
than many new gas vehicles on the market today. Cars that burn dead
dinosaurs and their foodchains have become dinosaurs themselves, are on
the way to extinction.
We live in exciting times. Transitional times, revolutionary times
in the fields of energy production and energy use. And we of this
discussion board are on the 'good' side. It is up to us, in every way,
to help this trend along. We are the people with the knowledge. We must
become the educators, the spokesmen, the activists, the newspaper letter
writers. The general public knows little of this revolution and must
hear of how we, with our electrics, are beating on the fuel industry who
has been jerking us around for years, and at the same time, helping to
clean the atmosphere of the only planet that we have. It is vital to the
future of our great grandchilrren yet unborn, and life as we know it.
Regards
Dave
Weymouth MA
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:02:33 -0500 SteveS <stevesgroups verizon net>
writes:
> Interesting article- two points:
>
> I didn't see a date, but the examples use $1.50 /gal gas. The author
>
> does state that higher gas prices do make the economics of the
> hybrid
> better.
>
> At the end, the author says:
>
> "And of course, though you never have to plug one of these babies
> into
> your wall socket, there are compromises -- such as less power --
> you'd
> do well to research."
>
> One - they don't have less power compared to their non-hybrid
> equivalents, but I thought it interesting that it was implied that
> not
> being able to plug one of these into the wall was a good thing. If
> you
> could plug it into the wall the economics changes dramatically in
> favor
> of a hybrid, esp if you have a short commute. In fact, people have
> spent
> many thousands on conversions to allow them to do just that.
>
> - SteveS
>
>
>
> Konstanty, Walter (GE Indust, ConsInd) wrote:
>
> > Think you got it about right......
> >
> > To confuse you more:
> >
> http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Saveonacar/P37272.asp
> >
> > Bottom Line - trade the SUV for a small Civic for commuting.
> >
> > ....Walt
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > *From:* Mike Finck [mailto:m finck setterlin com]
> > *Sent:* Tuesday, November 21, 2006 12:11 PM
> > *To:* elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu; ThompsonG DFO-MPO GC CA;
> > Konstanty, Walter (GE Indust, ConsInd); metman glasgow-ky com;
> > Dennis Pestka TycoHealthcare com
> > *Subject:* Re: (ET) Electric Tractor Conversion Update
> >
> > http://cosmos.ucdavis.edu/2005/Cluster%203/Dill%20Ha.pdf,
> > I liked the graphic presentation, but page 20 doesn't seem correct
> to
> > me. A conclusion about payback is made. I don't believe the
> 21,000
> > mile point would payback the initial additional investment of
> $6190.
> > 8.5mpg improvement would be about 70 cents a gallon not spent. At
> 70
> > cents savings per gallon it takes 8842 gallons to save $6190. Say
> 35
> > mpg and that's 309,000 miles driven, not 21,000!
> > Do I misunderstand?
> >
>
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> >
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>
>
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