[ausev] Electric is good, but ...

kenscircus at aol.com kenscircus at aol.com
Thu May 17 13:42:51 GMT 2007 

Then you would still have a big bulky vehicle to drive one person back 
and forth to work and errands – which is about 90% of our driving.
Additionally, during that 90% driving, the vehicle would be dragging 
around the extra weight of the fuel engine.  While driving the less 
than 10% highway distance driving, it would be dragging around the 
electric part.

We feel that, from our experience, we already have the ultimate hybrid; 
a totally separate drive train for the electric and a totally separate 
drive train for the ICE, along with totally separate chassis and body.

This cost us less than if we bough a new hybrid “do all” vehicle 
because the Explorer is paid for and we still have it, however, its use 
has been reduced from 100% to 10%.  Now we also have a car that does 
90% of our driving that no form of transportation can compete with in 
either energy or convenience.  The 10% expense of the explorer added to 
the 90% expense of Tweety would be very hard to beat with any one car.

Regarding performance, the electric part of hybrids are compromised by 
the loss of space and added weight of the ICE and the ICE is 
compromised by the loss of space and added weight of the electric.

This arrangement is working great for us.  We now have the convenience 
of two vehicles without the added fuel and maintenance of two.  We 
would have never realized this if we were not doing it.

I do want to be clear, however, that I am not in disagreement with your 
project.  I am expressing our discovery that specific purpose vehicles 
are a very good thing.  It is much like the difference between a 
universal “fit all” tool and a tool that actually fits the bolt.

Ken

P.S.
It is our goal to be total electric.  We have converted our house, and 
lawn equipment to electric.  Our vehicles are next...






-----Original Message-----
From: beesidemeusa at yahoo.co.uk
To: ausev at austinev.org
Sent: Wed, 16 May 2007 9:33 PM
Subject: Re: [ausev] Electric is good, but ...

What if you had one car the size of the Explorer that
could plug in at home and run like Tweety, yet could
still head out on a long trip and carry its own
electric generator that could use many different
fuels. That is what my idea is about. Also obviates
the need for an IC car and an EV and the added expense
of the 2nd car just to drive around town, the
steam-electric hybrid would combine the best of both.

Shows that the electric part of the hybrid can really
perform too, if pure EV's can.


--- kenscircus at aol.com wrote:

> Regarding the practicality of pure EV's:
> When Heidi and I bought “Tweety” our Myers
> Motors NmG
> (http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/983), we realized
> it would not be very
> practical considering the cost and limitations of
> EV’s.  It turns out
> we were wrong, very wrong.  I once read an email
> from Shari Prange of
> Electro Automotive comparing EV’s of today’s
> state of the art to
> microwave ovens.  They have their limitations, but,
> are extremely
> useful.  Microwave ovens are considered so useful
> that the vast
> majority of households have one.  You can’t make
> toast or broil a steak
> in a microwave, but, its value is in other uses.
>
> Heidi and I discovered that Tweety fills a niche
> that we never had
> before or even though of having.  It shines a light
> on a different way
> of thinking about transportation.  We learned that
> owning an all
> purpose vehicle is very inefficient.  We still have
> our Ford Explorer
> that used to be Heidi’s daily driver.  The
> Explorer is now only used
> for long trips or when we need a “buss”.  Tweety
> now does all in-town
> commutes and has subtracted 500 miles per month from
> the Explorer.  Not
> to mention maintenance costs.
>
> In addition to all this practicality, Tweety is an
> absolute blast to
> drive!  It is the most fun to drive vehicle either
> of us have ever
> owned.  And that is all because of its performance.
> Slow EV, at least
> in this case, is an oxymoron.  It is almost
> shockingly (no pun here)
> fast.  It will burn rubber until you get too scared
> to keep the petal
> down.  Pressing the petal down while cruising at 60
> MPH will slam you
> back in the seat like you just hit the afterburner.
> And with all this
> hot roding, Tweety uses $0.0055 per mile (derived
> from our electric
> bill).  That equates to over 400 miles per gallon.
> So, you get to have
> a really wild ride for almost free.
>
> EV technology is still in its infancy, but, we can
> now see the light at
> the end of the tunnel.  Battery technology
> breakthroughs are occurring
> rapidly now and the technology is essentially here.
> It just takes some
> time to tool up for mass production.  Regardless,
> the currently
> available technology is definitely very practical!
>
> Ken
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: beesidemeusa at yahoo.co.uk
> To: ausev at austinev.org
> Sent: Tue, 15 May 2007 9:26 AM
> Subject: [ausev] Electric is good, but ...
>
> EV's that I have read about either have low speeds,
> short ranges, high cost and long recharge times
> [when
> you can find a place to plug in], or some cobination
> of these. There is definitely a place for the EV in
> the mix of vehicles. I have not yet seen an EV that
> will go 400 mi.at highway speeds, recharge in 5 min
> and cost about the same as an IC hybrid. Since the
> idea is to have less pollution there is another way
> to
> go.
>
> Start with a plug-in EV that has short range, for
> those little trips, for slow traffic, but which
> could
> go 100 mph. Use the lowest pollution engine to drive
> an on board alternator which keeps the batteries
> charged for long trips. External Combustion has the
> least pollution because using a forced air flame
> results in very complete combustion. Biofuels work
> very well in EC use, while in IC engines they still
> require petroleum blends to run "properly" and still
> produce unburned hydrocarbons and other pollutants.
> Biofuels simply recycle CO2 and add no more to the
> atmosphere, which is the aim of using EC.
>
> An EC engine is a steam engine. The majority of
> electricity is produced by steam power, why not in
> vehicles too? I have attached my ideas so far. I
> wish
> I had $ and thumbs that would work [2 left ones] so
> I
> could build it. I would like to see someone do it
> and
> would like to discuss the idea further.
>
>
>
>
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