It amazes me how much cash is floating around in the country. I too am amazed at what stuff is bringing. I can’t imagine the depreciation on something like this Hummer!
It might be even cooler than you think, GM is throwing around torque figures north of eleven thousand foot-pounds. GM is somewhat less than forthcoming about the curb weight, prefering to bury it in fairly impressive gross combined weights? Perhaps it was engineered to carry golf clubs and look good in country club parking lots? For bird hunting, I'm sure custom dog crates would fit in the back, and Honda makes a decent portable generator? Maybe, wait for gen two or three?
GM is throwing around torque figures north of eleven thousand foot-pounds
Good Lord! That is a terrifying figure knowing how many people will be driving these things around that are not able to handle a vehicle like that. In the wrong hands these things are rolling weapons of mass destruction. Getting almost 4 tons of vehicle up to 60 mph in 3 seconds is a harrowing, and at the same time exciting, thought.
My kid has spent hours of time at YouTube, watching something called “Dead Tesla” pretty much documenting the trouble people get themselves into with electric vehicles. It can be, hilarious. One thing the drivers have discovered at the U of M is at sub zero temps, battery discharge is logarithmic, and not in the delivery driver’s favor. A 100% reading on the gauge in the dash is a distant memory after 45 minutes of use. Multiply the YouTube shenanigans of a little Tesla that is out of charge, by the weight and the distance to places people try to take the truck versions of electric vehicles.
I predict the “Dead Tesla” You Tube spot isn’t going anywhere.
The amount of cash " floating around" is an outcome of 10% of the population owning 90% of the wealth. They can't figure out how to spend it or what to buy. You can see it in auction prices for really good firearms; they just keep appreciating. If you didn't see the PBS documentary on extinction this week, look it up. It makes electric cars conclusive. Ted, I hope you're watching the trial.
Can I park a Tesla in my back yard, hook it up to my solar system, and power my house and drive my Tesla to the gun club and the Walmart any time I want, without sending any money to the power companies? How does all this work? I am a bit of a lightweight on this IT business.
That Tesla and all electric vehicles int most countries are subsidzed by our tax dollars by about $7,500. Tesla looses money on all of their vehicles and only makes money by selling electric vehicle credits to companies who don't sell any or enough to meet govt. mandated quotas. The market won't support them. It didn't in 1899 and it won't know without govt. forcing the issue.
I am a sitting director on the board of an electric cooperative (EMC), and have been for some 25+ years. As such, I have been privy to information that has helped me to understand the changes in electrical generation technology. Electric vehicles are here, and they are here to stay, IMO. They may not seem "reasonable" now, but they will be. They will eventually be economical. The storage of electricity is the big issue. How to make batteries lightweight as possible and as long lasting as possible, is where one great technological push is right now. Strides are being made, and more are to come. Storage of electricity is absolutely the big thing, not only for vehicles but for wind turbine farms and solar farms as well. Solar panels (and wind turbines to a lesser degree) only produce electricity during the daylight hours, but there are loads that need large amounts of electricity at night (factories, etc.). So, storage of that current that is produced by the sun during the day needs to be available 24/7. I have seen the cost of solar power go from exorbitant rates to rates, per kw/h, that are under the cost of coal powered. But! ...... it cannot totally replace fossil fuel generated electricity at this time.
As a farmer who irrigates I have made the switch, from pumping units that were powered by diesel and LP gas, to all electric units. Electric power is clean, economical and dependable (ice storms, hurricanes and tornadoes aside). I welcome and embrace electric powered vehicles. If I live long enough I may even run electric powered farm tractors and other equipment.
Personally, and maybe surprisingly, I think that coal is the most economical way to generate electrical power for decades to come. There is an over-abundant supply, and the infrastructure is in place to utilize it. But, it is not to be, it seems, due to political extremism. Too large a segment of our society has bought into the mantra that wind and solar is sufficient for the needs of America in the future, and that coal fired plants will bring about the demise of humankind due to pollution, etc. There will be many paradigm shifts before solar and wind totally replaces fossil fuels, if ever. The price of natural gas, as a direct result of fracking, is at the lowest it has ever been. Natural gas generates a significant percentage of America's electrical needs. Therefore, the local price of electricity is much lower than it would have been had not the fracking processes been developed.
Nice summary Stanton. There is of course no free lunch. Electric vehicles need to be recharged by electricity which needs to be generated somehow. But the incredible power and simplicity of the vehicles are amazing and everyone is jumping into it. Tesla provoked a revolution. When my wife considered buying a Tesla, the salesman said simply, "the only fluid in the car is the windshield washer." Pretty dramatic.
The GM Hummer sold at Barratt-Jackson was advertised as having a 305 Mile range and could be recharged at 10min for 100 miles (30 min for full recharge) and it could raise its ground clearance by 8 ", could go into crab mode, had three electric motors, and could accelerate 0-60 in 3 seconds....
But, the fuel cell is not dead either. I have a mechanical engineer brother who has been involved with fuel cells for years. But how to get hydrogen for it? Well...there are some American entrepreneurs working on that...and it may be more simple than one thinks. In any event, the day of the internal combustion engine is indeed drawing to a close.
Sure eightbore, that's all possible. The investment to do that will likely make that electric bill look pretty good. Solar works well to shave the peaks off and isn't always a bad idea. Stand alone is another matter.