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That's interesting, I guess I'm not understanding why there is a renewable energy surplus when a huge chunk of our power production is still fossil fuels. I understand having a total power production surplus, just not a renewables surplus.
I see what you are saying. Yes, if the industry could stop playing the -- "Omigod! The Grid is afailin' We need to build More Coal/Nuke (etc.) plants, NOW!" game, then yes, we could sensibly keep expanding renewable and pull all the old dirty plants off-line over time.
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Any surplus from renewable energy we have should be used to take coal and oil plants offline.
On That we are in agreement.
Of course there are $ome other folk$ with a differing point of view. It is a money thing. Whomever gets to sell onto the grid gets the money.
(btw, there is almost No Oil based electricity production left on the US mainland -- most of that is on islands, and back-up generators, and end-of-line-backup for voltage sags due to use peaks and drop-offs.)
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Wikipedia: "The vast majority of this energy [in the US] is derived from fossil fuels: in 2005, it was estimated that 40% of the nation's energy came from petroleum, 23% from coal, and 23% from natural gas. Nuclear power supplied 8.4% and renewable energy supplied 7.3%,". If the west coast has already decommissioned all their coal/nuke plants, then the east coast will gladly take any surplus.
That is sort mixing overall energy sources and electricity use. Sort of (very) different animals. But going down that path will totally hi-jack this topic.
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I'm familiar with the concept of induction power, but not sure it's feasible. You would need induction coils on every stretch of road across the US. The electric fields may also interfere with other electronic devices. I'm not sure but I also think it would less efficient at delivering power than just a direct electric connection, although direct power limits mobility.
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Mostly a safety, durability, and acceptance thing.
The open air induction loop (like a transformer without a core) is rather lossy compared to hard contacts -- somewhere between 5 and 20% loss.
Hard contacts could be made safe, as well, cover the same surface (allowing the mobility) by segmenting the exposed portions and using fault detection.
Suppose it may come down to some sort of Coke v. Pepsi / Beta v. VHS / DVD v. Blu-ray sort of thing. I do not have a dog in the fight, either way.
The concepts and early patent claims are now well over 30 years old (leaving it pretty open for development). Presently South Korea and Utah (yeah, Utah) seem to be the folks leading the way, and they are both using open loop induction from what I have seen, so I am supposing that is the way the tree will fall.
LMAO, even if there was just one hydrogen powered car on the road in CA it would disprove your earlier statement:The first hydrogen powered car was put on the road by Honda in CA in 2005....
Since Honda has not released figures on how many cars they have in CA I can't answer that....
Obviously hydrogen fueling stations were not built in CA just to litter the landscape..............
In the 100+ years that electric cars have been on the roads they have not been able to increase their range over 100 miles.
For example, the 2010 Nissan Leaf and the 1908 Fritchle Model A Victoria have the exact same range on a single charge, what progress
This hydrogen technology is quite a bit more promising and positively more ecologically sensible than electric technology.
So the answer to how many hydrogen cars are on the road in California is, "very few." The car manufacturers are all playing around with hydrogen fueled cars. They play around with all different energy sources. That's called R&D. Let us know when I can buy a hydrogen fueled car from a dealer.
So the answer to how many hydrogen cars are on the road in California is, "very few." The car manufacturers are all playing around with hydrogen fueled cars. They play around with all different energy sources. That's called R&D. Let us know when I can buy a hydrogen fueled car from a dealer.
A: The car has been designed to drive from 25 to 50 miles on pure electricity stored in the battery from overnight home charging. The actual range will vary depending on temperature, terrain, and driving style.
After that the gas engine will kick in and allow the car to be driven an additional 344 miles on a full tank (9.3 gallons) of gas.
A: The car has been designed to drive from 25 to 50 miles on pure electricity stored in the battery from overnight home charging. The actual range will vary depending on temperature, terrain, and driving style.
After that the gas engine will kick in and allow the car to be driven an additional 344 miles on a full tank (9.3 gallons) of gas.
So the Volt will travel almost 400 miles before a fill up. Sweet. And then you just fill it up at a normal gas station.
I wonder how many mile the hydrogen fueled car gets before it runs out of fuel and there are no fueling options in the neighborhood?
So the Volt will travel almost 400 miles before a fill up. Sweet. And then you just fill it up at a normal gas station.
I wonder how many mile the hydrogen fueled car gets before it runs out of fuel and there are no fueling options in the neighborhood?
my car travels 400 miles before a fill up too. and i can fill it up at a normal gas station. and it didn't cost $40,000. i don't see how the volt is a step forward much at all.
Oops, got off topic earlier. Anyway the point was hydrogen takes a lot of energy to generate, may not be efficient to generate electricity which is then used to generate hydrogen, which then converted to power in the car, unless we had the energy surplus.
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Originally Posted by plwhit
In the 100+ years that electric cars have been on the roads they have not been able to increase their range over 100 miles.
For example, the 2010 Nissan Leaf and the 1908 Fritchle Model A Victoria have the exact same range on a single charge, what progress
This hydrogen technology is quite a bit more promising and positively more ecologically sensible than electric technology.
You forgot the sporty yet overpriced Tesla cars, which get around ~200 miles to the charge. Not really a vehicle for mass production, but they are being sold.
my car travels 400 miles before a fill up too. and i can fill it up at a normal gas station. and it didn't cost $40,000. i don't see how the volt is a step forward much at all.
If you are doing the typical 10-15 mile each way commute to work, you will see the advantage of the Volt --you won't have to buy gas. As a highway car it doesn't have an advantage over a conventional gasoline car.
If you are doing the typical 10-15 mile each way commute to work, you will see the advantage of the Volt --you won't have to buy gas. As a highway car it doesn't have an advantage over a conventional gasoline car.
right, but i personally would prefer the technology of a leaf vs the volt. i have a 23 mile commute, and the leaf goes nationwide in 2012. i'll be seriously considering it. the volt scares me a bit as a new vehicle with very new type of engine. but, we'll see after a couple years. i personally don't see the point. it's basically a chevy cobalt with a ritzier interior. i'd buy the cobalt for $20,000.
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It is a money thing. Whomever gets to sell onto the grid gets the money. 
