szer0
New Member
SVTdriver said:
Heh...I'll be 67 in 50 years. Chances are I'll be too bitter about being old to care.
High gas prices and the new Pony
- Thread starter MustangGT01
- Start date
Heh...I'll be 67 in 50 years. Chances are I'll be too bitter about being old to care.
SVTdriver
Founding Member
That's kind of sad. I'll be 84 in 50 years. And as far as I am concerned. I'm just getting better each year. I can out party most 21yr olds I know. And frequently do.
Since I'm already 56 (how did that happen?) I'll probably be dead in 50 years but I intend to drive my Mustang until I can't.
But as I have said before, I welcome alternative energy vehicles to reduce our dependence on oil.
I saw a lady filling up her Expedition today--at $2.19 a gallon. Ouch. Oh, and she was alone, as are most of the SUV drivers I see around here.
But as I have said before, I welcome alternative energy vehicles to reduce our dependence on oil.
I saw a lady filling up her Expedition today--at $2.19 a gallon. Ouch. Oh, and she was alone, as are most of the SUV drivers I see around here.
scottie1113 said:
yeah, that's the main problem, i guess that's pretty obvious... big trucks with one person in them. i think the escalade esv pisses me off more than anything. it doesn't even try to pretend to have any purpose other than look cool and huge. At least the hummer actually has some pretty sweet offroading capability, not that anyone that buys one will ever use it.
about those concepts being expensive and just concepts.... i can name a couple cars that cost about $200K and put out around or even less than 470hp. Of course concept cars are crazy and outlandish, that's what they always are... i just wanted to mention these things to show that hybrid doesn't necessarily mean Honda Insight. Hybrid tech is sweet because it applies and promotes the development of lots of things that were gonna be using when hydrogen power finally becomes feasable, like electric motors and battery packs. the companies that get good at doing that stuff are gonna lead the way in the future.
either way, i wanna see hybrid drives in city busses and delivery trucks and so forth before mainstream cars, cause it makes more sense for those things. A bus could use the mad torque of an electric motor off the line (again, the prius gets 295lb-ft from 0-1200rpm), and regenrative braking makes a lot of sense for a bus that lives in stop and go traffic.
SVTdriver
Founding Member
mustang sallad said:
I don't knock the hybrid technology. I think it is too expensive. But it does have some decent power potential. And I agree. Instead of all buses and cabs should become hybrid technology. Before I try to force my life into a pattern for the buses (or other mass transit). I want to see it more useful. Mass transit can work in a major city. But it doesn't always work as welll in the suburbs. Like my last job. If I had worked in Seattle. I could have taken a bus to work. But I worked in a small suburb and buses did get near enough to be effective until after my start time.
SVTdriver
Founding Member
consistancy. At least that is one of the reasons they do it on a dragstrip. The other is maybe someone doesn't know how to drive a manual. And would rather not learn on a high hp mustang.
a great quote i remember from some movie, like buffalo 66 or something like that. some girl is hassling a guy for not knowing how to drive stick...
his response: "i drive luxury cars that shift for me!"
well as far as that whole "americans get the cheapest gas" thing goes, in montreal, we just hit what i think is an all time high of 94 cents a liter, which i think converts to about 2.70 american per gallon. They say its gonna get higher too. people get pissed off at me any time i say this, but i'm happy any time the price goes up, that just gets more people out of there cars and into buses and trains. but yeah, that only works in the cities.
his response: "i drive luxury cars that shift for me!"
well as far as that whole "americans get the cheapest gas" thing goes, in montreal, we just hit what i think is an all time high of 94 cents a liter, which i think converts to about 2.70 american per gallon. They say its gonna get higher too. people get pissed off at me any time i say this, but i'm happy any time the price goes up, that just gets more people out of there cars and into buses and trains. but yeah, that only works in the cities.
Have you ever been stuck behind a bus in congested traffic?? How many people were on the bus? Think about how much polution a typical Honda/Focus/Neon puts out compared to that bus. If the bus is not full, then small cars would probably be a better answer in most cases.
Have you ever asked where the electricity for subways, trams, and trains come from? 90% is from fossil fuels. What exactly are you saving again?
Have you ever asked where the electricity for subways, trams, and trains come from? 90% is from fossil fuels. What exactly are you saving again?
63_Fairlane said:Have you ever asked where the electricity for subways, trams, and trains come from? 90% is from fossil fuels. What exactly are you saving again?
hahaha, yeah, that's a big problem in most of america. that's where i wanna work, clean electricity generation. before we start using any hydrogen cars, we gotta make sure the electricity we use to produce that hydrogen is generated in a clean way, or else there's no real benefit.
Montreal's subway and electric trains are pretty clean, over 75% of our power comes from hydro, all that does is flood out the natives and poison the water... hehe, any source of energy, no matter how "clean" has to have some effect on the environment.
About the whole bus thing, would you say a bus pollutes any more than 10 honda civics? That's probably something like a 200 litre, 40 cylinder engine... I rarely see a bus with less than 10 people on it, usually more like 30, up to about 70 at rush hour. That's a lot of cars off the road. If you think of it just in terms of the space a bus takes up in a traffic jam, its maybe about 3 car lengths.
Individual cars are wasteful because of the ratio of the mass of what you want transported and what you're using to do the transporting. Of all that mass that your engine is accelerating, maybe like a tenth of it is the stuff that you actually want to get from point A to point B. That's why i like my 30lb bike.
Being within spitting distance of Niagra must be nice. The rest of Canada and the US are not so fortunate.
I like to bike ride myself, but a 15+ mile (24km) commute would not be much fun on a bicycle.
I am glad you live in a metro area where mass transit works. I don't. I see empty or half empty buses all of the time. Most location can't support that type of transportation. I do agree, it can take some cars off the road, but the bus has to be full or half full all of the time to really make a difference.
Don't get me started on Hydrogen. Let's see we burn some fuel oil, boil some water, send it through a turbine, generate electricity, send it a hundred miles, loose some of it through step up and step down transformers, then we'll make some hydrogen by breaking up some perfectly good water. Yeah, that's more efficient than regular internal combustion.
Let me know when somebody whips up a Mr. Fusion in their basement, and then we can get on with the hydrogen economy.
I like to bike ride myself, but a 15+ mile (24km) commute would not be much fun on a bicycle.
I am glad you live in a metro area where mass transit works. I don't. I see empty or half empty buses all of the time. Most location can't support that type of transportation. I do agree, it can take some cars off the road, but the bus has to be full or half full all of the time to really make a difference.
Don't get me started on Hydrogen. Let's see we burn some fuel oil, boil some water, send it through a turbine, generate electricity, send it a hundred miles, loose some of it through step up and step down transformers, then we'll make some hydrogen by breaking up some perfectly good water. Yeah, that's more efficient than regular internal combustion.
Let me know when somebody whips up a Mr. Fusion in their basement, and then we can get on with the hydrogen economy.
mustang sallad said:
Do you own stock in the Bus/train company or something?
Mass tranisit only works efficently in tightly packed cities of over 1 million people, like Montreal or NYC.
mustang sallad said:
Opec is raising production, prices should start to drop or at least stabilize http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4943789/
SVTdriver
Founding Member
63_Fairlane said:
Speaking as a former truck driver. That time statemen is only partially true. There are other factors to add into it being slow. Like like guy who cuts the bus off just to get in front at the next turn. Or the guy who won't move when the light turns green. But you can only see the slow bus But even if it was 3-5 times slower. What about those 10 or more people that would have asingle occupant in the car. Which would create more cars infront of you than the bus is long. And you don't know how bad any one of those drivers could be. Like a little old lady driving at 15 mph because anything higher scares her.
My point is it works out about the same. You really aren't saving anything, but it gives some folks a warm-green-fuzzy feeling. The bus gets terrrible gas mileage, is slow from a stop, and can't manuever in tight spaces.
I understand defending the driver. I have no issue with truck/bus drivers; the vehicle is the issue. A bus or an eighteen wheeler for that matter is a congestion creator. They are slow from a stop compared to even the most economical car. If a vehicle isn't moving, what gas mileage can you expect? Zero miles per gallon isn't too good.
I understand defending the driver. I have no issue with truck/bus drivers; the vehicle is the issue. A bus or an eighteen wheeler for that matter is a congestion creator. They are slow from a stop compared to even the most economical car. If a vehicle isn't moving, what gas mileage can you expect? Zero miles per gallon isn't too good.
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