OT - don't drive an electric car, take the bus instead

[invalid unparseable]

[T]

S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R !!!

[T]

Just out of curiosity, how toxic are the gasses coming off that fire?

[Roger Blake]

Yikes!

Back in the 1960s the future of urban buses was going to be "super flywheels", where a large flywheel in a vacuum enclosure would be spun up to provide motive power. I guess that didn't work out either.

[T]

I saw a documentary on that. Its sorta of, almost, kinda worked. Very fascinating though.

[danny burstein]

[snip, including attribs]

It was also tried out in the NYC subway system way back in the 1970's.

ah....

[rbowman]

The city is very proud of their new Gillig electric buses. So far that brand isn't given to spontaneous combustion like the Bollores.

[invalid unparseable]

May be better to take your yacht:

[rbowman]

My yacht:

[micky]

I'll compromise. I won't take that bus.

[invalid unparseable]

Much better choice assuming it doe not have a lithium battery or use gas.

[rbowman]

The phone has a Li-polymer battery but I can toss it overboard if it acts up, even assuming I brought it with me. I've got a step counter app I like but I don't think it does paddle strokes.

Not yachts but I'm guessing $5 gas will put a crimp into the cabin cruiser market although a lot of them never leave the dock anyway.

[Ed Pawlowski]

We rented space to another business where I worked and he had a cigarette boat in the warehouse. Sold it when fuel was cheap but it could easily burn 20+ gallons an hour.

[T]

Do you fish from it?

[T]

Those bus fires were something to behold!

I do not think the extra dust from the extra weight from the batteries on BPEV's is that much of an issue. We have semi's with tons of extra weight running all around and the extra tire dust does not seem to be an issue.

The flying retreads all over the place is somewhat of an physical hazard to other vehicles, but a small one.

Things against BPEV's:

1) buy your own damned car.

2) the spectacular fires from the batteries.

3) they are hard to start in cold weather.

I personally would not own a BPEV, but to each his own, as long as you do not threaten me with imprisonment and loss of property to subsidize your taste in cars.

If FCEV's (Fuel Cell EV's) come down in price and the fuel becomes readily available, I'd certainly be interested.

Gasoline vehicles are getting cleaner and more efficient all the time too.

Let the market determiner things and the government and elites butt out.

[trader_4]

If we took that approach to seat belts, air bags, 10 mph bumpers, improved fuel economy, how much longer do you think it would have been until we got those? We tried that approach with food safety until around the turn of the 20th century. How was that working out?

[rbowman]

Nope. When I lived in NH I built one of these:

and fished from it. I tied onto something big and had visions of pike for supper. When I got it up to the boat it was a snapper. I figured the boat wasn't big enough for me and the turtle and cut the line. With the kayak with a stringer of fish overboard I'd be trolling for turtles.

[rbowman]

I don't see dust as a problem but I would expect increased tire wear with heavier vehicles and recycling tires isn't very efficient,

Also when you trace back the styrene-butadiene rubber used in many tires you're back at an oil well or coal mine.

[T]

Sweet!

I wrote my own fishing rules:

Rule #16: Fancy Equipment: with the exception of a good rod, nice reel, and good quality line and leader, eschew fancy equipment. You can catch fish with a fly on bare line with your hands. It is far more important to be out ?on the water?.

I am up to 29 rules now.

[T]

Pissed off turtle soup?