US must shift cars, trucks off of oil

[Xaito]

Nobody would build a trolleybus/rail line just so you could make a trip to a big store and back to ranch.

The problem isn't the engine it's the power supply. Electric trains and trolleybus show that electric engines exist which are both small enough and strong enough to replace diesel engine powered vehicles.
So far the bottleneck is the battery which has limited recharge cycles and relatively short range between recharges.
Research can surely address this problem one way or another.

[Jurinko]

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/1...by-passes-gas/

They say the first time history repeats, it’s as a tragedy. The next time, it’s a comedy. I suppose this is the first repeat. When this circus originally debuted, unfortunately, Obama was only fifteen years old, and from reports, the head of the choom gang. Not that that is a black mark to a reprobate like myself, we’ve all been young, but it increases the chances that he might have missed the urgency and the drama of the moment when Jimmy Carter delivered a televised speech announcing his new official Energy Policy and the formation of the Department of Energy on April 18, 1977.

[archibald harry tuttle]

And Japanese did beat you on international markets. With V-8 you can sell cars in US, but not abroad. And without foreign market, you can close your car industry as it just wouldnt be able to survive.

Nope, it was all about the value of the yen.

[archibald harry tuttle]

Electric cars are actually more economical than your everyday car even with current battery costs, the reason not to own one is the lack of support infrastructure.

The infrastructure thing is a myth. Lets say as example that you have a car that can be plugged into a standard electrical outlet, if carry a gasoline run generator in the trunk you can stop in any gas station to fill the generator and then recharge anywhere along the road when needed. Now lets say instead of gasoline you have a multi-fuel or even better an any-fuel (those exist) generator then you can always recharge anywhere with anything available in the area. The insfrastructure story is a myth to keep alive the status quo (and mutual funds), what should be promoted (among other things) is self reliance in cars.

While electric motors are better than most combustion motors it does no mean current cars should just be discarded as junk. Kits to convert to natural gas have been around for a long time. We would consume less oil if people were allowed to make their own ethanol from food discards and garden trash. Some appliances could run on alcohol and it can also be used for home made biodiesel. Kits for hydrogen conversion also exist and generating it is not rocket science.

[archibald harry tuttle]

The problem isn't the engine it's the power supply. Electric trains and trolleybus show that electric engines exist which are both small enough and strong enough to replace diesel engine powered vehicles.
So far the bottleneck is the battery which has limited recharge cycles and relatively short range between recharges.
Research can surely address this problem one way or another.

Yes the problem with elctric cars is the batteries and great efforts have been made to keep it that way. Many years ago, when there was a semi-serious discussion about consummer electric cars, in a PBS(?) report a scientist from GM/Hughes said the problem was that no serious effort was been made in adapting already existing batteries used in missiles to be used in cars. He said while a lot of resources and personnel were assigned to develop the car itself, the team in charge of developing/adapting the batteries was too small and underfunded.

[archibald harry tuttle]

The goverment has no need to fund anythiing new, what it needs to do is stop pattent trolling.

[Kaiser Prussotroll]

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/1...by-passes-gas/

They say the first time history repeats, it’s as a tragedy. The next time, it’s a comedy. I suppose this is the first repeat. When this circus originally debuted, unfortunately, Obama was only fifteen years old, and from reports, the head of the choom gang. Not that that is a black mark to a reprobate like myself, we’ve all been young, but it increases the chances that he might have missed the urgency and the drama of the moment when Jimmy Carter delivered a televised speech announcing his new official Energy Policy and the formation of the Department of Energy on April 18, 1977.

Really, WUWT?

Seriously, this website is absolute bollocks.