Season premiere?

I think Football cut into it but was that the one with the evil car? It looked pretty damn funny escpecially the thing about Ed Begley Junior's car.

Awl38 wrote:

Yup "The Honking" was the season premiere. Football cut it in about 1/2 of the eastern markets. It has to do with what division your city is in, and about 20 other mind numbing factors that make it one of the most complexly inane pro sports on TV.

It was meh.. Some good lines but overall not a top of the heap episode. And Electric cars are evil. Just follow the electricity back to the grid and it usually ends up being a worse pollution source. Like here in Cleveland more then 1/2 our power is based on Nuclear and the rest is mostly Coal. A modern computer controlled gas engine is much cleaner mile for mile.

On Wed, 22 Nov 2000 06:40:23 GMT, Mike Zaite wrote:

In theory, electric cars can be powered by solar energy. Parking can be covered with solar panels with their own temporary power storage. There is an ongoing test project somewhere in Europe on this concept. It works quite well is you have plenty of sunlight and tend to make short trips. (sorry, I don't remember exactly where the test is)

Cadillac had a great concept with the 4-6-8 engine. When cruising on the highway, only 4 cylinders would fire. As more power is needed, the others are added back in. Unfortunately, the car was introduced before it was really ready and it didn't work. Now no one will try it again.

Scientific American ran an article a few years ago on a methanol engine. The primary problem with methanol fuel has been using it in a converted gas engine. If an engine is designed from the ground up to run on methanol, you could achieve performance to rival gasoline. Methanol can be made from wood scraps, recycled paper, corn cobs etc.

At least ten years down the line they will hopefully develop high density metal hydride storage. That will allows large amounts of hydrogen to be stored in a small volume at normal pressures and temps. That, combined with a low temp fuel cell and an electric drive system could produce a car that can go thousands of miles between refuelings.

--Larry

"Larry F" wrote in message news:[email]...

I saw a Mercedes A at some scientific exhibition last week which used methanol as fuel. It supposedly handles very good (comparable to normal car). There was very little info available though :( The methanol engine produces CO2 so it might not be "the" solution. Again, I have very little information, so I have no idea how large the amount of CO2 is compared to a gasoline powered car.

"Larry F" wrote in message news:[email]...

You're forgetting the monkeys that have to fly out of all our asses before the oil companies let something like that see the light of day. You think big tobacco is bad?

In message , "LooseChanj" wrote:

Hence the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius. These are clever designs, and not (as) threatening to the Oil Companies.

Cheers, Will

On Fri, 24 Nov 2000 10:00:28 -0700, Dwayer wrote:

The big oil companies are definitely slowing down the process, but they are not stopping it. The two examples you cited and the upcoming Ford 40 MPG SUV show they don't have a total strangle hold on the technology.

Blaming big companies has a lot to do with scapegoating. While they have on many occasions worked to prevent new technology from hitting the market, there is another group which has done far more. The people. Especially people in America. During the oil embargo of the early 70's we all swore that we'd ride moped rather than send our money to the Arabs etc. However, when oil prices came down, we flocked to the dealers and bought gas guzzlers all over again.

Electric cars and the solar panels to power them are on the market. If people would buy them, we'd be set. What percentage of the <20MPG vehicles on the roads today could easily be replaced with 30+ MPG economy cars or 60+ MPG hybrids. If the hybrids had a little more battery power, they could go 25 miles without the gas engine. In many places, a solar panel over your parking spot for an 8 hour workday would charge it up enough to make the 10-15 mile drive home. A panel at home could top it off for the return trip to work. While at work, a backup battery at home could store up extra power. For longer weekend trips, the gas engine is still there. In the long run it would be cheaper than buying gas for an SUV, but the up front cost turns people away and big giant SUVs let the neighbors know you're important.

OPEC production is at an all time high and yet gas prices are way up. Why? Demand is at an all time high.

I am not defending the actions of the oil companies. I believe they have had people killed for opposing them (Shell in Nigeria comes to mind). I think they are scum, pigs and card cheats. But that doesn't excuse the excesses of the people who waste fuel routinely because it's cheaper than conserving.

--Larry

On Wed, 22 Nov 2000, Larry F stated this considered view. Waking from my doze, I hastily scrawled -

Definitely NOT in the UK, I'd say! :)