[ETWolverine]

yes you would think that enviro-friendlies would be appalled at the strip mining at the lithium(for lithium-ion for future tech batteries which are less toxic ) ,and nickel ,and cadmium mines (both toxic in landfills ) .

The supply of lithium is very limited and most of it will be an imported mineral .....from South America and China.

I thought that L-Ion batteries were dangerous. Don't they have a habbit of exploding or catching fire when used in laptops? I thought I heard a story about that last year, with one company doing a recall of all its computer batteries.

[tomder55]

I was speaking specifically of toxicity and resource availability but yes they do explode sometimes because of over-heating .

That issue is being addressed so they can be made into hybrid batteries.
Technology Review: Lithium-Ion Batteries That Don't Explode

[spitvenom]

ET I know Dell had a big recall on their batteries for this problem I think like 4million batteries.

Dell to recall 4 million batteries - CNET News

Let me rephrase that Donn. It's not that I don't care. But I do a lot of driving. On any day I am in my car for at least 3 hours (except the weekends). I have a long commute to work. Plus all the other driving I have to do.

When it was time for me to buy a new car I needed something with GREAT mpg. The insight was coming out at the same time and I like the look of it. Plus the price of the car was less then I wanted to spend on a new car. So it just made sense to get it.

I was already aware of how they make the battery and shipping it to Japan then back to America. I understood all that. I am not some eco warrior. I am just a guy who was spending WAY too much on gas and now I am not. That is why I say I don't care because financially it has been a big help. Plus I got a $500.00 rebate from the PA DEP.

Oh and one thing I have found interesting with my hybrid it has an oil life meter on it. According to the manual you don't change the oil until it reads 15% oil life. I have had the car since the End of March and I just got below 50% it has a little less then 7,000 miles on it. So I save with Oil changes too.

[ETWolverine]

Who's going to volunteer to be the test dummy for that car?

"Yeah, we KNOW that they used to explode. But don't worry, we've got the kinks out of it now. It's perfectly safe..."

Yeah, right.

Elliot

[NeedKarma]

I would drive that car in a heartbeat.

[ETWolverine]

I would drive that car in a heartbeat.

Yes, I know.

You trust your government too.

[NeedKarma]

Yes. Canada is a good place to be.

[450donn]

You do know that the VW TDI diesel cars get better fuel economy than any of the current crop of hybrid's don't you? With a much smaller total amount of damage to the environment.
With current technology that is before us today hybrids and all electric vehicles make absolutely no sense. It is feel good technology to keep the enviro wackos at bay at best.

[spitvenom]

Oh I absolutely hate VW. I wouldn't drive one of those POS if someone had a gun to my head.

[NeedKarma]

The diesel spews out fumes that make me gag.

[spitvenom]

You do know that the VW TDI diesel cars get better fuel economy than any of the current crop of hybrid's don't you? .

Actually it only gets 41 mpg my Insight gets 48MPG or I should say rated at 48mpg. I can get 58 MPG in my insight also. But I will be run over on I-95.

2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Diesel Rated at 41 MPG Highway, Starts at $22,640 - Car News - Auto Reviews - Car and Driver

[ETWolverine]

the diesel spews out fumes that make me gag.

More deisel cars please!!

[paraclete]

Hi Tom not speaking about steam but the breaking down of H2O into H and O and burning same to produce energy and it is not an urban legend just needs mega bucks to perfect and no I don't think there will be a shortage of water it doesn't need to be potable.

Tom desalination plants exist in many parts of the world so the technology to convert from oil exists in that respect and it is possible to power those from wave technology so no additional carbon in the process. When we get our snouts out of the oil trough who knows what we will be able to do. It is our thinking that needs to be liberated

[tomder55]

just needs mega bucks to perfect

Yes that's the problem with most of the alternate energies... The allocation of large expenditures on a pie in the sky promise of something better than what we have . As of today it takes more energy to split water into it's basic components than the energy it would produce... and while we are at it ;what energy source would you use to do the separation? Right now these electric cars are going to plug into outlets to use electricity created by the burning of fossil fuels .

[speechlesstx]

Actually it only gets 41 mpg my Insight gets 48MPG or i should say rated at 48mpg. I can get 58 MPG in my insight also. But I will be run over on I-95.

2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Diesel Rated at 41 MPG Highway, Starts at $22,640 - Car News - Auto Reviews - Car and Driver

I used to get 46 mpg in my '95 Mazda Protégé. At the time it cost me about $6.50 to drive to Dallas, 6 hours away.

[spitvenom]

That's pretty sweet speech!

[paraclete]

I used to get 46 mpg in my '95 Mazda Protege. At the time it cost me about $6.50 to drive to Dallas, 6 hours away.

AH! The good old days:)

[galveston]

Ok. I went to the site and sure enough, if you run the A/C, your range will be less.

No statement about how much less.

So now we are looking at a car that will run somewhat less than 40 miles on a full charge. What speed will that be at? Not 70 mph, I bet.

I see it has a tiny motor that charges the batteries.

How do you go on a trip in it? If the motor will not pull the car at highway speeds on its own, then it will not charge the batteries fast enough to keep up with demand.

So what you have is a car suitable for short commutes only, and it costs $40,000!

I watched the commercial for it, and it appeared to be racing along at about 15 mph.

Would it be a hazard on the freeway?

Of course, you know why Government Motors is doing this don't you?

They can factor the mileage of the Volt in to offset the mileage of those SUV's to meet Café standards. Smooth.

[paraclete]

You talk about this as if it were all new. Company I worked for on the early 90's had an electric car for town use which could travel about 50 Miles per charge at reasonable speed. It was about $3,000 Dollars more expensive than the standard model. There hasn't been much development since then and at $40,000 it's a rort .

It was a fun device to drive, slow pickup and non existent braking, so generally dangerous on the open road and that is something that has to be solved with electric cars

[tomder55]

While GM is developing this $40,000 pig to sell the American sap consumers ;and as other automakers try to keep up with the ever increasing government regulations and mandates for safety and MPG requirements that greatly increase auto costs;Government motors is also developing (with the help of our tax dollar and $20 Billion investment in the company) a $4,000 car for overseas sales.
A $4,000 car from GM? - MSN Money



It will not create one new job for Americans because it will be made overseas... likely in China . Bet the UAW feels like they backed the right horse .

So here's the plan... buy a fleet of GM $4000 car ;and immediately trade them in with the Cash for Clunkers plan... that nets $500 profit/car . You could probably get enough cash to buy one of those American versions of a cheap small cars that satisfies all the regulations and mandates... the Smart Car... with it's $16,990 MSRP .