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Do any of you drive hybrids? (prius, volt, leaf, etc)

TroutBum said:
Also, I'd still like to know wtf The Internet Son was talking about -- Hybrids are destroying the planet? Huh?
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There was an article a few years back about a Prius being more polluting than a Hummer when considering mining heavy metals to production to recycling/landfilling. It wasn't scientific.
 
franklin said:
There was an article a few years back about a Prius being more polluting than a Hummer when considering mining heavy metals to production to recycling/landfilling. It wasn't scientific.
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Oh that. I thought that baby had been put to bed.
 
franklin said:
Stanley_Milgram.jpg


Catch up to Gameface.
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What does Milgram have to do with Godwin?

Oh. I see.
 
Beantown said:
Utah should have never redone the freeways like a million times over. The best way for public transportation to work is to make it more convenient then driving. It should be faster to get from Sandy to downtown on Trax. Yet this is not the case.
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Utah actually has a history of a once-effective public mass transit. I'm not sure it was run by the government. Used to be a lot of trolleys plying the major routes to downtown, with a warehouse for the trolleys at what is now Trolley Square. Like many cities of the early nineteenth century, the abandonment of these services was actually a goal of competitors like the auto companies and oil companies.

UTA runs a tax-subsidized imitation of the Philippine jeepney in their rideshare program. Rideshare routes are operated by some employers for the benefit of their employees, particularly in remote jobsites.
 
Qman said:
If they ever figure out the hydrogen fuel-cells properly you can solve the electric car's battery issues- cost, capacity and toxicity. An electric would be by far a superior vehicle.


Couple that with either natural gas power plants or nuclear power and we could cut our emissions by significant amount. Though I have to admit I am yet to see data to proves that we need to cut emissions.
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It is true that hydrogen does not emit anything but water vapor in its combustion, and it has a favorable energy/mass ratio. Using it directly in combustion is vividly deterred by images of the Hindenburg disaster, but is in fact no more dangerous than operating fuel cells with it.

Current batteries even Lithium-based, present a challenge on the distance issue. Double the driving range doubles the battery required. That is where the hybrid becomes a marketable compromise.

We build interstate highways which are quite serviceable, and the HOV lane is a mere gesture towards "solving" our congestion/pollution problems. Our politicians are already getting set up to get revenue from the hybrids by taxing them separately from the gasoline/diesel burners, but the hybrids are not the vehicles that do the damage so much as the trucks, and it's senseless to tax them when they are part of the solution to problems we are spending government revenues to solve.

I think it's time for a new innovative transportation infrastructure. A multitrack "monorail" between major metropolitan centers for a new type of vehicle. A lightweight "hybrid" that besides running on its own power and wheels can be hooked from on top to a track running along (over??) the Interstates which is energized and set up to reduce friction ala Maglev technology. When you approach to "on ramp" you activate a hydraulic arm that raises your "hook" and you drive into the hookup port. You would have a control that could activate switches in the track for you to allow you to exit when you approach your exit. You unhook yourself, pay your toll which includes your energy charge, and you drive off to work/play/shop with a driving range your car is built to do. Some folks might want more range, but a lot of folks would do just fine with only fifty miles.

I bet it wouldn't take long for truckers to want their own system, too.
 
TroutBum said:
Wait... what?

I drive a Prius and I love it. I am 6'4", so it tends to be a bit cramped in there, but I don't give a rats ***. I paid 30 bucks to fill my tank the other day and got 420 miles out of it. I don't care if my car came with an iron mouth attached to the front that required I feed it baby trees in order to start, I wouldn't trade it for anything.
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Manhood = revoked.


I was trying to find a thread that talked about what cars people drive. Didn't find one.


I drive a Mercedes-Benz C220, '95. Nothing special.
 
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