Dark Side of Hybrid Vehicles

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jason
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Abeness said:
All I said was it's being tried, jim. The RAND Corporation thought in
1954 that home computers of 2004 would fit within a single room. I don't
have the source of the picture/caption I have (probably from something
like Popular Science), but the sucker is complete with a large steering
wheel (yes, a steering wheel), lots of analog gauges covering a whole
wall (yes, gauges!), and a maybe 18" teletype tractor feed printer. It's
also got a large TV mounted high on a wall. With the Fortran language,
it was expected to be easy to use. Hah hah.

Point is that we don't get anywhere unless we try stuff, however
far-fetched and unworkable it may seem to some. Fact is that Honda is
trying the fuel cell in consumer vehicles. Whether it will ultimately be
safe enough for mass use, I dunno, but they're trying it with hydrogen
and I'll be interested to see where it goes. I don't think that the
project would have gotten as far as it has if the safety issues were
insurmountable.
Click to expand...

/please/ read sci.materials abe. pretty please?
 
jim said:
/please/ read sci.materials abe. pretty please?
Click to expand...

Look, jim, Uncle Al won't convince me that it's unworkable (though I
gotta say his "shitanium" comment in anotehr thread had me in stitches).
So there are technical challenges to surmount? So it's currently an
expensive proposition? So it may not be the most efficient thing around?
Does that make it impossible? No.

I'm not much invested in the issue, frankly. Haven't explored the Honda
FCX stuff either, actually, just ran across it today for the first time.
I'm not saying it's safe, and am quite willing to accept that there are
dangers. I do intend to keep an open mind about it. One of these decades
we're gonna run out of oil (or the surface of the earth will sink into
the void we've left behind by pumping it all out <g>), and we need to
pursue alteratives.
 
Abeness said
All I said was it's being tried, jim. The RAND Corporation thought in
1954 that home computers of 2004 would fit within a single room. I don't
have the source of the picture/caption I have (probably from something
like Popular Science), but the sucker is complete with a large steering
wheel (yes, a steering wheel), lots of analog gauges covering a whole
wall (yes, gauges!), and a maybe 18" teletype tractor feed printer. It's
also got a large TV mounted high on a wall. With the Fortran language,
it was expected to be easy to use. Hah hah.
Click to expand...

Don't believe everything you see on the Internet. That is a
"manufactured" composite using an altered photo of this submarine
manuvering room console:

http://home.att.net/~jeff1_satobserve/photo17.htm


The whole story is at:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp



Casey
 
Steve said:
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=27&article_id=9489&page_number=1

Hardly any bias evident there! lol....

He drives an F-350 dually and a H2.
Click to expand...

"While the greenies and their flunkies in the so-called major media
palpitate over the future of the hybrid..."

I got this far. Brock Yates is past his shelf life.
 
Elmo said:
Actually, that's what scares me about the Toyota parallel system. It's
SO dependent on the software, there's no way to limp home.
Click to expand...

Get used to it - ultimately everything will be programmed (but not by
Microsoft, please, God).
 
dang, why do you need to buy Honda civic hybrid if you can buy Honda
jazz with comparable MPG? lol...........

i definitely would prefer honda jazz with lower engine that has
comparable MPG...LOL
 
Casey said:
Don't believe everything you see on the Internet.
Click to expand...

Hah hah, thanks for refs, Casey. Normally I don't, but this one
apparently slipped under the radar. In any case, my opinion re: progress
remains.
 
Sparky said:
Get used to it - ultimately everything will be programmed (but not by
Microsoft, please, God).
Click to expand...

Amen, Brother Sparky. Reminds me of that old "if your car ran MS Windows
3.1..." gag that circulated by email many years ago. Was pretty funny.
 
Actually, they're true gasoline since that's their *only* power source.
"Hybrid" is a spin that gets people to purchase something they otherwise
wouldn't.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I am as skeptical of "marketing" as anyone but I really don't
think that people are buying the word, 'hybrid.' Some buyers like the
high milage/green benefits. Others like the technology. I don't
think anyone is buying because they like the word.
 
The current edition of "Car and Driver" (magazine) has an
interesting article about the dark side of the hybrids on page 26.
The date on the cover is September 2005.

If you own a hybrid vehicle or plan to buy a hybrid vehicle,
I advise you to buy a copy of the magazine and read the article.
Click to expand...

So could someone please summarize this dirty little secret?
 
Sparky said:
"While the greenies and their flunkies in the so-called major media
palpitate over the future of the hybrid..."

I got this far. Brock Yates is past his shelf life.
Click to expand...
 
Sparky said:
"While the greenies and their flunkies in the so-called major media
palpitate over the future of the hybrid..."

I got this far. Brock Yates is past his shelf life.
Click to expand...

what ya expect from a rich, fat, old, alcoholic white man? dudes got a
nose like WC fields...
 
dang, why do you need to buy Honda civic hybrid if you can buy Honda
jazz with comparable MPG? lol...........

i definitely would prefer honda jazz with lower engine that has
comparable MPG...LOL
Click to expand...
jazz not available yet, and some peeps need to sport their "eco-bling"
 
Abeness said:
Look, jim, Uncle Al won't convince me that it's unworkable (though I
gotta say his "shitanium" comment in anotehr thread had me in stitches).
So there are technical challenges to surmount? So it's currently an
expensive proposition? So it may not be the most efficient thing around?
Does that make it impossible? No.
Click to expand...

no, it's not impossible, but neither is actively reducing the mercury
content of the oceans or mining manganese from the moon. it's just
wildly dangerous and spectacularly uneconomic. sounds great politically
though, that /that's/ what the whole hydrogen car hoopla is all about.
and the extraction of "research funds" of course.
 
Elmo P. Shagnasty said:
Actually, that's what scares me about the Toyota parallel system. It's
SO dependent on the software, there's no way to limp home.

A simple series system like Honda's IMA is really the essence of Honda
engineering.
Click to expand...

But Honda's system doesn't work nearly as well. The Accord Hybrid is
almost a joke with its tiny 15HP electric motor. It can go on full
assist at 20MPH and you don't feel any acceleration.
 
jim beam said:
hydrogen? no. logistics prohibitive. wildly unsafe.
Click to expand...

One might have said the same about acetylene. There are ways to solve
the pressure problems. Some have already been discovered and are
waiting for technology improvements. There may be even simpler
solutions in the future.
 
A simple series system like Honda's IMA is really the essence of Honda
engineering.
Click to expand...

But Honda's system doesn't work nearly as well.[/QUOTE]

As in "not as efficient," I agree. But in the real world, it's better
to tradeoff the complexity of the Toyota system and get something that's
less efficient but simpler in execution.
 
Abeness said
Hah hah, thanks for refs, Casey. Normally I don't, but this one
apparently slipped under the radar.
Click to expand...

This seems to be one of the ones that slips under most people's radar.
I've overheard conversations where the topic was that "crazy-looking
idea for a home computer with a steering wheel". It does look just
like something out of an old Popular Science magazine.


Casey
 
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