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

[carl meyer]

Brian:  You want  an electric car?  When the government finds out how to
tax the sun, you'll  have an electric car with solar rechargable
batteries.  Mankinds problems are not technological but are social,
economic and political. Consider the problems of marketing  A
technological advanced piano with the bias generated by a predisposed
public that is convinced that A Steinway is worth three times what an
equalivalent no name brand will sell for and you will understand the
problem.  The world is okay, It's the people that are no dam good.

Live with it!

Carl Meyer
Santa Clara, Ca. 
> 
> 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 35 or 40 mph is pretty old and outdated.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.