Response to David I., electric cars, way off topic...

[Brian Trout]

Hi David,

You wrote:
>Where is my electric car?  I drive less than 60 miles a day and I think
they >would work for me.

I have been waiting for many years, well, at least since about 1980.  I
remember back in about 1990, when we thought that GM was _Really_, not just
speculating, _Really_ going to put their little 'Impact' into full
production.  Well 1990 came and went, and I never saw one for sale anywhere,
at any price.  There have been stories and rumors for so long now that most
of us who are interested have pretty much given up.  The latest thing I saw
was an advertisement by Toyota (I think) advertising some kind of electric
hybrid to be coming 'next year'.  (I've heard that one before, I'll believe
it when I see it on a showroom floor, for sale, with the opportunity to take
the little bugger for a test drive and buy it if I lay down the cash.)

For the most part, the only access the general public has to an electric
vehicle is through the few people who are taking regular gas burning
vehicles and converting them, which is not a cheap proposition even if you
can find one of them.

Electrics wouldn't be for everyone, but for some, they could be wonderful.
The idea that they're only good for 30 or 40 miles to a charge and only go
35 or 40 mph is pretty old and outdated.  The Impact (which was intended to
be built 10 years ago) was designed to be able to travel distances of up to
120 miles or so per charge and travel at highway speeds up to 70 mph, with
acceleration rivaling any common passenger car.  Not too shabby if you ask
me.  And there's the bonus kind of stuff, like... your engine has only ONE
moving part, not a few hundred. Your muffler will never fall off, you don't
have one.  Your radiator will never fail overheating your engine, you don't
have one.  Yes there are negatives, but you can't tell me that the car I'm
driving, or the car that you're driving right now doesn't have any
negatives.

In this, the ecological age, with a vice president (and presidential
candidate) who is so interested in clean air, and water... why are they so
intent on perpetuating the ever looming "oil crisis"?  Why do we spend
billions and billions of dollars in the middle east trying to "protect" our
oil "interests"?  If we would pump a few of those 'billions' into our own
economy, promoting the petroleum free technology that WE ALREADY HAVE, maybe
things would actually change for the better.  Why is there so little R&D
when it comes to electric power generation via photoelectric cells, solar
powered steam turbines, wind generators, harnessing the power of moving
ocean waves...??    No, we have to build coal fired power plants to belch
smoke into the air, and nuclear power plants to give us nuclear waste to
deal with, and burn fossil fuels to drive ourselves around.  It's almost
like we've picked all of the worst things, and made them work.

Enough of my tirades.  Sorry it's so far off topic.  (It just pushed one of
my buttons!)

Take care,

Brian T.