Dying for a Chevy Volt, but....

[gfretwell]

Dummy, Everyone knows you put raccoon in a smoker ;-)

[gfretwell]

The US does not really buy much oil from the middle east and "the Americas" as a whole are pretty much energy independent. Most US oil is domestic or comes from Canada and Mexico.

Obviously oil is a world commodity and shutting down the gulf would affect everyone but it would be because Europe and Asia would be competing for western oil.

[gfretwell]

Freezen's the reason

[trader4]

I guess it depends on your definition of "much". From what I can find, looks like we are importing about 20% net of our oil from the mideast. Better than if it was half, but it would still be a huge problem for the USA if it were cut off.

[The Daring Dufas]

I'd like to see fuel cells running on natural gas to supplement or supplant power from the grid for homes. The country has ample supplies of NG now and the power grid may go down during severe weather but the NG service rarely fails unless it's a situation like the 100 year storm that hit The East Coast. The technology for CNG powered cars and fuel cells exists now and it works but like any technology the infrastructure is not all there at this time along with the production in numbers that would bring the price down. ^_^

TDD

[Ed Huntress]

All of the alternatives have limitations. The Honda Civic CNG car that they sold until a few years ago had little trunk space and a 120 mile range. If was good for commuters and it was popular in one of the western states (Idaho? Utah?) where they didn't have a transportation-fuel tax on natural gas.

For something between $3,000 and $4,000, you could buy a home refueling station from Honda that would fill your tank(s) overnight.

[whoyakidding's ghost]

Yes but EA isn't interested in an actual EV. He thinks there could be a cheap, full electric, long range, no computer, no airbags, lightweight, roadworthy car that can also reduce his utility rate and be so simple that even a proven mental midget could build it. He COULD try doing some basic research, perhaps starting by reading the manual for an electric wheelchair controller. But it's easier to keep making unsupportable claims. It's akin to a child thinking he can climb a ladder to touch the sun. When the ladder doesn't reach he gets a taller ladder.

[The Daring Dufas]

Alabama Gas has been running their service trucks on CNG for decades and the information on the new Honda lists it's range as 200+ miles and it can be refueled in minutes at a CNG filling station as opposed to hours for a battery charge for an electric vehicle. Like any technology, CNG for passenger cars needs more development to make it ready for prime time. I do think CNG is closer to practical reality than electric power for passenger cars. ^_^

TDD

[Ed Huntress]

Aha! So they're back in the market, eh? Is it available in the US?

If you have CNG fueling stations around, though, you're lucky. If there are any here, I don't know about them. There's one in Newark (don't go there on purpose, please...) and another on Staten Island. (only about 10 miles, but the toll is $12 cash, one-way. No thanks.)

CNG has a way to go for most areas. Gas in NJ is relatively cheap, anyway.

I agree. We'll be in fracking paradise before long....

[whoyakidding's ghost]

Lots of different tech for different apps. More power to them all.

"Before long" reminds me of the cull date though. :) I went for something I could drive until the 2000lb, $15k, 300 mile range EV Beetle hits the market. :) I hear they're going to include bell bottoms and paisley lined pointy shoes for early adopters.

Going on a 200 mile round trip today. No range anxiety, but it will push down my EV percentage a bit. :(

[dsi1]

The hydro-elastic was pretty radical and cool too. It did have that nasty habit of uncontrolled steering oscillation but that was just part of the excitement of owning this FWD English car. You couldn't get that kind of fun from a rear drive MG or Spitfire - those had the self-jacking rear ends. :-)

That's right - we had the big Mini.

[Ed Huntress]

I've been saving mine, waiting for the fashion cycle to swing my way.

Get an EV and find a couple of those 10-hp Stirling generators that Philips made for Winnebago back in the '70s (quiet, on-board electical generator). Put them on a trailer and hook up cables to your batteries. Then you can just pull off the road and shovel in some wood chips, bird poop, or whatever, and go another 100 miles.

[dsi1]

Sorry, I meant hydro-elastic SUSPENSION. I guess the proper BMC or BLMC term would be "hydrolastic."

[Ed Huntress]

The "self-jacking rear ends" were early Spitfires, not MGs. MGs were solid rear axles with semi-elliptics. Early Spitfires had swing axles.

You may be thinking of the first AH Sprites. They had quarter-elliptic springs and were almost self-steering (into the ditches on the side of the road) above 70 mph. No jacking, though.

[Michael A. Terrell]

I rarely got to see a RADAR scope, and only when I was carrying a 21" video monitor into or out of the control room. I worked the other end: The pulse transmitters, receivers & timing circuits. About all I really saw were the two channels of weather data for the pilot ready rooms while working in our shop.

[harry]

Military bases were actually constructed on the Canadian border to facilitate this plan.

So lets see. Enslavement. A whole (US) economy built on it. Until we abolished it. (White house built with slave labour.)

Equality laws in America onltenacted in the 1960's. Ku Klux Klan. An American president who wanted to ship them back to Africa. Assassination of black leaders. Invasion of Hawaaii and enslavement of it's population. Invasionof Philipines and other parts of Spanish empire. Subversion of numerous South and Central American countries. Good example here:-

2.80.9333.29

[harry]

OVER the world

rolled and were

Tell me about your's since your Nazi war criminal died.

Ours is part of the European effort in Guiana.

[harry]

So a bit like American automobiles? Nothing much changed there then.

[harry]

You eat bacon and eggs?

[harry]

I have been in a couple, they are not that authentic. They don't sell proper beer. Just a chemical substitute.

BTW, I hear they are watering your beer down over there. Is that to reduce the bad taste?