Time to stock up...
- Thread starter 68R/T
- Start date
Fishy
Omnipotent Seaweasel
Roomie pointed out that of a US auto manufacturer is lookin gat thisa and they are working a deal, said auto company could potentially buy out and destroy all patents and this guy ends up screwed. I believe Ford did the same thing a few years back with their 100% electric vehicles. They bought out some guys patents, built 50 test vehicles and gave them to various types of people on I believe a 2 year lease. At the end of the lease no one wanted to give them back! Ford threatened lawsuit, reclaimed all 50 vehicles and destroyed them all! That's as I remember it anyways. I could be off on a few points.
68R/T
I got drunk and swallowed my teeth, now
IIRC their research proved that the energy needed to charge the batteries combined with the sulphurous fumes given off by the batteries gave off more pollution than the engines that they replaced.
Combine that with the cost of disposing/recycling/replacing of the batteries, the final cost of a vehicle could easily excede $100. :huh:
I heard too that the maintenance headaches caused them to start pulling the cars back in a nd destroying them long before the lease was up.
At any rate, the way things are now, a gasoline powered car has less impact on the environment than any of the full-on "green" cars. That's when you include the energy costs to manufacture, build, market, operate - everything involved from the first bolt to the last squeak of the crusher.
The "green" operating cars don't make up for the mess they made being built.
Hybrid cars are the best bet so far in terms of environmental impact.
I believe I heard somewhaere that the guy in that video is being courted by European countries for the technology. A place like Greenland (or is it Iceland, I forget) that is about 85% self sufficient in terms of it's energy consumption could use that technology to shed a good chunk of that last 15% of dependancy on outside resources.
At any rate, the way things are now, a gasoline powered car has less impact on the environment than any of the full-on "green" cars. That's when you include the energy costs to manufacture, build, market, operate - everything involved from the first bolt to the last squeak of the crusher.
The "green" operating cars don't make up for the mess they made being built.
Hybrid cars are the best bet so far in terms of environmental impact.
I believe I heard somewhaere that the guy in that video is being courted by European countries for the technology. A place like Greenland (or is it Iceland, I forget) that is about 85% self sufficient in terms of it's energy consumption could use that technology to shed a good chunk of that last 15% of dependancy on outside resources.
6pkrunner
I think I'm pleasurin' myself but I'm just
I read a real long version of the GM electric cars. There are still unsettled lawsuits claiming that GM did this multi-million dollar experiment planning its failure so they wouldn't have to do a major restructure and stay with internal combustion. How much of the espionage and counter espionage and counter counter counter espionage is real - well I don't know.
But some of the things that were done to ensure the vehicles had issues and service problems were pretty plain to see. Also 3 people wanted to buy the cars at the end of the 2 year agreement and GM threw every roadblock in the book up to not allow them to gain access to the cars was incredible. The gave 50 cars to 50 families for a two year period. Use them daily as you normally would use a vehicle. The first issue was a parts supply that was next to non-existance. And every part was had no similarities to a normal car. Want a headlight? Gee those came from NASA and they only made the needed 50 pairs - sorry. Need a new battery charger for the home station? Gee General Dynamics made them and we can get another - but it will cost $350,000 - you pay half please.
They got the real lemon 47 of them back within the two years. The three that worked were tied up in legal disputes and such - GM finally won as the title was in their name, but it really wasn't so cut and dry with the agreements of title transfer after 2 years......
Nice shots of the 50 of them smashed and cut up sitting in the boneyards at the end of the article.
But some of the things that were done to ensure the vehicles had issues and service problems were pretty plain to see. Also 3 people wanted to buy the cars at the end of the 2 year agreement and GM threw every roadblock in the book up to not allow them to gain access to the cars was incredible. The gave 50 cars to 50 families for a two year period. Use them daily as you normally would use a vehicle. The first issue was a parts supply that was next to non-existance. And every part was had no similarities to a normal car. Want a headlight? Gee those came from NASA and they only made the needed 50 pairs - sorry. Need a new battery charger for the home station? Gee General Dynamics made them and we can get another - but it will cost $350,000 - you pay half please.
They got the real lemon 47 of them back within the two years. The three that worked were tied up in legal disputes and such - GM finally won as the title was in their name, but it really wasn't so cut and dry with the agreements of title transfer after 2 years......
Nice shots of the 50 of them smashed and cut up sitting in the boneyards at the end of the article.