Quote:
Originally Posted by SteamWake
In an attempt to return to the topic.......
Has anyone actually seen a performance envelop for this car?
What is its top speed? What is its top speed with the battery depleted?
What is considered a 'cruising' speed? What is the acceleration when the battery is depleted.
I get the feeling that this car will be hugging the right hand lane if you get my meaning.
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I would imagine it would be similar to other gas electric hybrids.
It
looks like a heavy car IMHO though i dont know what the curb weight is, i would imagine it would be similar to any other small to mid sized sedan based on looks alone.
Unfortunately, i dont think the day will come where there will be
no use for oil. It is a necessity, and probably will be for another 50+ years.
Too many applications rely heavily on oil for fuel and lubrication. Even with electric vehicles, parts will be required to be lubricated and greased,
some oil production will be required for this to take place.
one other thing nobody has mentioned is that oil will always be expensive no matter the demand.
here is what i hypothesize.
As demand
decreases in the future due to the implementation of electric cars, solar power etc etc the number of producers of oil will also
diminish.
this means that as the demand decreases, so will the price, quite steadily. Yet as demand continues its down trend... production will be forced to decrease. this raises the possibility that so few companies will be in the oil production and refining business... it will possibly become a "specialty" of sorts. thus increasing the price.
fortunately, as reliance on oil is also deeply reduced... it will be a cost we can afford as moving parts on vehicles aside from the engine require infrequent lubrication and fluid changes.
This is why i rip on cars like the volt. Though such hybrid electric vehicles are a step in the right direction, it would seem that the step is a little miscalculated or misguided.
Hybrid electric vehicles do extend fuel efficiency of a vehicle, but by how much? what is the life span of an electric or electric hybrid car? By what means do we dispose of the batteries when they are depleted or no longer any good? how much does that cost?
One thing the world needs to do is get on the same page with regards to oil dependency.
do we want to be completely oil free?
do we want to reduce oil consumption by 20%? 50%? or even 75%?
how much burden do we want to place on the average joe? (because i promise, if its going to cost Joe 2 years worth of income in taxes alone just to make the nation oil free... he probably wont go for that plan)
additionally, many nations around the world are not even remotely in a position to abandon oil and "upgrade" to another energy source... and those nations which produce oil wont have any incentive to back changes.
the higher that percentage of reduction goes and the more changes we make to oil dependency etc, the less viable hybrid vehicles become because they still use fossil fuels, they still use internal combustion engines, some of which require
almost a gallon and a half of oil for engine lubrication alone, not to mention the oil used on fuel production.
I have said it before and i'll say it again... we need a 10-20 year plan for the implementation of readily available, stylish, desirable and useful all electric vehicles. tax incentives for those who purchase them. Rebates for the recycling of fossil fuel burning vehicles.
if we want to take steps to independence from oil... we need to take aggressive yet calculated steps, and i maintain that hybrids are just a temporary fix to high summer fuel prices and do not IMHO address the long term financial and environemental problems posed by oil dependency.