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

[Farrell]

Brian. You are way off topic. But........VERY WELL STATED. I wholeheartedly
agree. What is the deal anyway? Anytime you have to go off on a tirade
regarding an all-important topic like this, you have my full support! ;-)

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Trout" <btrout@desupernet.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2000 6:20 PM
Subject: Response to David I., electric cars, way off topic...


> 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 35 or 40 mph is pretty old and outdated.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.
>
>
>
>