Roger wrote:
On 15 Aug 2006 10:50:17 -0700, "Bret Ludwig"
wrote:


Robert M. Gary wrote:
Steve Foley wrote:
If they're burning oil to make this fuel, it makes no sense. If they're
something not easily refined into gasoline (coal, solar, nuke, methane), it
does.

As an engineer and an MBA this argument has never made sense to me.
Electric cars use power that may be produced using oil. The idea is a
large, centeral engine is more efficient (less oil, less expensive,
etc) than millions of individual CO dumping engines. Whether that
central engine burns oil or butter makes no difference, as long as its
more efficient than the individual engines.
Whether that centeral engine puts out electricity or ethanol make no
difference.


There is no reason to burn oil to make electrical power (for utility
use.) Even burning natural gas is wasteful. Coal and garbage are what
we should be burning for power, if anything at all.

Beech did a lot of work with LNG. It was, like all Beech designs,
expensive, complex and a pain in the ass to maintain.

Electric cars are actually going to be nuclear cars because the
electric cars will be charged at night, stabilizing the grid load from

That is one of the main fallacies of the electric car. They also need
to be charged during the day due to limited range.


Electric cars will supplant rather than replace IC cars. The people
who are good candidates for electric cars are those that customarily
drive a 5 to 25 mile radius to work, as 10 to 50 miles is the optimum
range of electric cars. Those with substantially longer commutes or who
mostly use their cars for long trips are simply not good candidates for
electric cars and no effort should be made to sell those people an
electric car.

Vacation trips and occasional longer drives are best handled in one of
two ways. Electric cars can be built with low power gensets making them
"electric-primary" hybrids (as opposed to today's hybrids which are all
"gasoline primary" hybrids.) Or, a second vehicle can be used.

The only need to charge during the day for people who fit the EV
mileage profile would be third shift workers, who therefore are poor EV
candidates as well.