i think you could make a pretty cool hybrid car with super performance.
have a gasoline motor for cruising and charging the battery pack, reclaim
power under braking rather than wasting it as heat.
you could have a pretty small battery for light weight and a very powerful
electric motor(s) to assist the gas motor. electric motors are great for
launches because they produce maximum torque at 0 RPM.
of course you might have only a few 0-60 in 2.5 seconds launches before the
battery runs down and you need to cruise a bit to charge it back up, but by
then the corvette will have given up. maybe turn down the power for a few
autocross runs. talk about torque on demand!!
in fact, i see that our local honda hybrid (NOT a sports car) on street
tires is a tiny tick behind a 127hp civic on R-tires in SFR!
-james
PS down with social engineering!
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael R. Clements <mrclem@telocity.com>
To: <Nandaholz@aol.com>; <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2001 9:37 AM
Subject: RE: Cheap Gas?
> Sure, yeah, let's tax the heck out of gas (and diesel) like other
countries
> do. Since just about everything is transported by vehicles that burn gas
or
> diesel, we can make everything cost more. This would be great for the
economy!
> And it would have another salient benefit: we could carry things on our
backs
> instead of transporting them with vehicles that use fossil fuels. Not only
> would this give us cleaner air, it would create thousands of jobs
overnight!
>
> But why stop there? We could also adopt the socialist economies of other
> countries, so we can enjoy right here at home the benefits of double digit
> inflation and unemployment, without having to travel to Europe!
>
> Seriously, consider that gas powered vehicles so far outnumber
"alternative"
> transportation, that making new gas powered vehicles even 1% more
efficient
> would lower overall pollution far more than a fleet of electric cars ever
> would. When you consider that the millions / billions of dollars spent so
far
> on electric cars and other "alternative" technologies, in the absence of
> government subsidies, would have been spent on current gas technology, we
> might have cleaner air today if these programs had never been enacted.
>
> In short, as Kevin says, social engineering sucks. Not only does it rarely
> (never?) achieve its intended objective, it usually exacerbates the very
> problems it was intended to solve, leaving a morass for future generations
to
> fix.
>
> just my $0.02. P.S. my sarcasm is directed at the idea, not at any person.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ba-autox@autox.team.net
> [mailto:owner-ba-autox@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Nandaholz@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2001 09:06
> To: ba-autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Cheap Gas?
>
>
> I really think we need to increase gas prices....say up to $5 per gallon
like
> in other markets around the world. This would have a serious impact on the
> amount of single occupancy cars and FUV's on the road, and would promote
> alternative transportation like motorcycles and smaller hybrid vehicles.
Maybe
> more attention would be devoted to telecommuting, shifted work schedules
etc.
>
> .. just my $0.02
> ~Nanda
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