creativforce

How PHEVs and EVs Will Sabotage America's Drive for Energy Independence

It's all good. John, your all-or-nothing thinking does not contribute much to the discussion (although I do love the research, facts and figures you deliver). The first electric car to hit the market will not be the last model. The 2014 Nissan Leaf may offer three different battery chemistries at three different price points. The Aptera, if successful, may come out with a four door sedan in 2011 on three wheels that doesn't even offer an electric motor. A small diesel would get better than 100 mpg in their highly aero dynamic, lightweight skin.
The Prius is a very good start, but that start was 10 years ago! We've spent 8 years in the wilderness under Bush. Thank the good Lord we are finally seeing some innovation. Can't wait to see what wins the X-prize. Hope I can bolt Poulsen Hybrid wheels on my 98 Corolla next year (that oughta be good for another 200,000 miles).

Seven Companies Profiting From Obama's 'New' New Deal

Money is a symbol for energy.

Everything we build to create, grow, collect or save energy from an infinite resource (the sun, the moon --wind and tides--, the atom) will enrich this nation.

The paradigm of previous centuries, that we can find energy or buy a dollar's worth for less than a dollar is an unsustanable fallacy in a finite system.

Whether or not we have reached "peak oil", "peak coal" or "peak any other finite resource," global warming should be the wake up call to the fact that we are running on our stores, and that is unsustainable.

Isn't all this discussion on energy policy like asking, "How long can a fat man go without eating?" It's a silly question, time isn't the issue ... the issue is he will die.

It's time to do the right thing and feed from the infinite.

I don't know if the end is near, but now that we most definitely know there is and end, why not be conservative and prepare for it?

Lithium-Ion Batteries and Centerfolds

I don't know what to believe on the Internet. But I read a couple of reports on world lithium supplies from geologist who say there isn't enough lithium in the world to supply10% of the auto market. Can you expect to build a business on hype alone? I wouldn't invest a dime in Lithium battery technology because geologists have already told us it can't work. The mineral is simply too rare. The hype machine on the other hand screams from every news outlet that lithium batteries will be the future.
I used to invest in a company called Power Technology (PWTC) that had a lead acid battery that was supposedly 50% lighter for the same amount of power as current technology, but it fell off the face the Earth about a year ago. EESTOR exists in a shadow world with Steve Meyers--the Water Car guy who may have been poisoned? Like him, EESTOR seems to be paranoid and unwilling to share anything about what they are doing. ECD (ENER) had a great battery that drove the GM EV1 for 100 miles on a charge, but now GM says they can't achieve 50 miles with the Volt? But somebody killed that Electric Car right? ECD couldn't sell their battery after Shell Oil invested heavily in their company in 1999. ECD didn't make a profit until they spun the battery division off this year and focused on photovoltaics. Ten years ago smart people with calculators were predicting that corn based fuels could only supply a small fraction of our energy needs and that it would take a barrel of fossil oil to produce a barrel of ethanol or bio-diesel, but the PR machine at GM, Big Oil and Big Agriculture convinced the American people that it was wave of the green future. Now most sensible people believe what the scientist said 10 years ago. E85 has done what scientists said it would do, drive up the price of corn to unrealistic levels , starve the third world and do nothing for US energy needs. But for some reason big investments were made by Verasun and others. I think I need to line my hat with aluminum foil because it looks like genuine, workable alternatives to oil are hiding or disappearing but ideas like biofuels and lithium batteries, that reputable scientists have already told us can't drive the future are being hyped beyond belief. In 1964, my first car a 1958 VW beetle had a top speed of 85 miles per hour and averaged 40 mpg. Today the only car on the US road that beats that mpg is the $30,000 Prius. The base model Ford Focus gets 37 MPG in the US, which is pretty decent mileage. But it gets 59 MPG in Europe which is 60% better gas mileage! Why? Am I crazy, or are powerful people trying to sell me more gas? If EESTOR is real shouldn't they be working with GM instead of a puny golfcart maker like Zenn? Could Lockheed's interest be to keep EESTOR ultracaps out of the hands of our enemies (or out of the hands of people who would drive electric cars. Our enemies is us?)