Hi Mike
On (04 Oct 97) MIKE ROSS wrote to Alec Cameron...
 AC> Uncontested 85 years you say- makes 1912. I don't have the statistics
 AC> but ONCE UPON A TIME [pre 1912 I suppose], the World Speed Record was
 AC> held by battery electric auto.
 MR> Wow! You must be old to remember that! :-)
Nah. I read about that. I began to build my own EV in 1946. But I made no
progress beyond the controller. Those semi circular copper rods were just
too hard for me to file as I am basically clumsy.
 MR> The subway system here in Montreal (somewhat similar to Paris) uses
 MR> motor control technology which accelerates the train so smoothly you
 MR> won't spill a drop of a rim filled coffee from 0 to 60mph. The stops are
 MR> just as amazing. It runs on inflated rubber wheels so it's very smooth.
On most rail systems, the lateral roll is too severe to risk rim filled
beverages.
          
 MR> They only keep a driver in the lead car so a human can intervene in an
 MR> emergency.
Same principle in London where the driverless tube trains have run since 
bout
1965 on the Victoria Line. Each station platform has a number of emergency
stop switches on the platform walls, so if a person falls to the track then
an "innocent bystander" can stop the train pronto.
Inflated rubber wheels incidentally are very wasteful of energy. A big 
dvance
in battery EVs was the introduction of steel belted radial tyres- pumped to
considerably higher pressure than usual, these run very cool and thus waste
little energy.                                                        ^^^^^
Which gives a chance to mention some of the wasted energy in a HOMEPOWER
scene: radiant energy loss from the rooms to the sky [glass windows exposed,
curtains or blinds left open in winter];  prolonged hot showering after we
have gotten clean;  thermostats turned up instead of putting on an extra
garment; refrigerator back end too close to wall/ dirty/ or otherwise poorly
ventilated;  using a deep freeze unit when not really justified: the money 
ou
saved in buying huge packs of meat, is lost as kWHr if the meat is not eaten
within a few weeks.   Cheers......ALEC
... ........When I contemplate the moon, my head aches [Galileo]
--- PPoint 1.92
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