From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Wed Jul 03 2002 - 18:14:12 MDT
Mike Lorrey wrote:
>John B wrote:
>
>>The current, near-future plans for larger-body
>>vehicles following the hybrid mold will include a
>>mid-size truck. Unfortunately, it is expected that the
>>truck will improve its efficiency some 7% IIRC,
>>
That 7% is calculated with vehicles of matched performance. Looks
to me like that 7% improvement is almost free. Furthermore, the
savings depends a lot on how a vehicle is used. On the freeway,
where most of the fuel is used in pushing air out of the way, there
is not much savings in going with hybrid technology. But for those
of us unlucky enough to spend a considerable amount of time
sitting in slow or stopped traffic, the hybrid vehicle really shines.
>>If true, this merely is a matter of the fact that MOST of the savings
>>you get from 'green' cars is by cutting corners with structural strength
>>to save weight (i.e. making a less safe vehicle), which you can't do
>>with any pickup truck that is to be useful for anything,
>>
Sure, of course much of the structural weight in a pickup truck
is used in making a frame sturdy enough to resist the twisting
from the good old Detroit V8. (Im not criticizing, I drive one of
those and I like it.) The hybrid doesn't need all that arn, since it
has electric motors on each wheel, so it can carry 300 kg of
batteries, 50 kg of internal combusion, 50 kg of generator and
still save some weight overall. There may be some safety tradeoff
for the driver I suppose, but the hapless proles in the other cars
are actually a little safer, and the pickup might be able to compensate
with more airbags and such.
>>I will say, though, that the hybrid pickup is likely to be the most cost
>>effective, since it's likely simply a stock body/frame with a new
>>powertrain.
>>
They might even be a little cheaper, altho they might not
be as good for hauling the boat down to the lake. I dont
have a boat. Or anything else with a trailer hitch. As soon
as a true series hybrid pickup comes shows up, I might
well be one of its customers.
Of course, I will then need to think of some other way
to burn the fuel that will be saved, this to do my part for
the world economy (stimulating international trade) and
the environment (liberating the sequestered carbon).
BTW, there was an article in the SJ Merc today on how
the growing of crops in the American west could cause the
global climate to cool by having plants absorb the sunlight
that would otherwise heat the ground. The plants use that
energy instead to evaporate water off of the leaves.
Oh dear, global cooling, expanding icecaps, beachfront
property decreasing in value by being left high and dry by
the retreating oceans, the horror of it all.
spike
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