At 08:42 on 12-10-96, John Meroth wrote to LAURA MILLER:
JM> LM> Does anyone know of any car dealerships that offer electric
JM> LM> cars? It's been something I have been interested in checking
JM> LM> out. I've already looked
JM> LM> into natural gas conversion kits for cars, but it's not a
JM> LM> practical option.
In Australia, LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) -conversion- 
is mainly worthwhile only for high-milage vehicles (like 
taxis), and even that is with huge price differences due 
to the different rates of excise on LPG and petrol.  
As a factory-fitted option on a new car, the "break-even" 
point is lower, though still a bit high.  
JM>Neither are electrics. Based on the energy lost during the
JM>charge/discharge  cycle and the methods of obtaaining that energy,
JM>your unless  energy provider derives its electricty from nukes, 
JM>your electric car will pollute far more than any diesel or 
JM>gasolene fed car.
Hmm, do you know whether removing just the losses due to 
the grid would change this balance?  
This has reminded me of an article I saw about 20 years 
ago in (I think) Popular Mechanics, which described a car 
someone had converted to electric operation, but with a 
turbine to recharge the bank of batteries.  The idea was 
to separate the production of energy from its use, 
eliminating the need for the car's engine to 
 1) run at variable speed, and 
 2) have peak output far in excess of normal requirements.  
I imagine it would be difficult to optimise such a design, 
compared with the flexibility (in payload, speed etc) of 
having a usually-overpowered petrol or diesel engine, but 
it may be worthwhile for at least some market segments.  
later, 
Geoff 
X CMPQwk 1.42 123 X
Resistance is useless!!(if less than 1 ohm)
--- Maximus 3.01
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