I hate to perpetuate a thread that appears to have no technical value to the forum but I really get frustrated when I see misinformation published at what is essentially a knowledge "watering hole". It's for that reason that I wish someone would crash the Wikipedia servers.
I digress-
Michaela nobody watches racing or the space program for the purpose of deciding what "product" to buy. The advancements and developments gained by these activites are often not specifically told to the consumer. It's simply that when you go to a cell phone vendor, car dealer or computer/technology store you see laptops advertised with "Now, twice the battery life of our previous model!" or "We've improved our MPG and horsepower by 30%!" They don't bother to tell you that these advancements came about through racing development or whatever.
You say that you have no knowledge and no time to develop something for yourself that you NEED and that you are forced to sit on the sidelines and wait for someone to sell it to you. That is the surest formula for perpetuating the sale of a product that you DON'T need or want! The only way to force any company to build what you demand is to NOT BUY what they're currently selling.
Big Oil says "We can charge what we want because people HAVE to buy gasoline"
Big Auto says "We can build, sell and charge what we want because people HAVE to drive to work"
Big Utility says "Now that we've been deregulated we can charge what we want because people HAVE to heat & power their homes."
That's a bunch of junk. The individual consumer has more power over these seemingly unavoidable purchases than you think.
Do you think we all come here with the know-how to build EV's? Many of us had never given it a thought until recently but we pick up a book and we READ. We inquire, collaborate with our neighbors, we make pests of ourselves, we learn. We take advantage of the greatest information and communication resource of our time- the Internet. We scrimp and save, and take time away from our jobs and familes to build these things because in the end, it's about freedom. I refuse to be oppressed by a company just as sure I refuse to be oppressed by a government. No one is going to tell me I HAVE to buy gasoline, a 13 MPG car, or even something as vital as electricity. I WILL free myself of these corporations, at least as much as humanly possible. I don't even have the luxury of living on a farm or a ranch far away from an HOA and all it's silly rules. I live in a townhouse in DC/Baltimore suburbs!
So how am I going to do this?
I'm going to fight my HOA and install enough solar panels to zero out my power bill (along with other power saving measures)
I refuse to buy another NEW vehicle until an AMERICAN auto manufacturer builds one that I want to buy. I will drive electric, ride the rails and recycle used vehicles until they do. I refuse to buy one from a foreign manufacturer even if a desireable model becomes available. I'll brew biodiesel or whatever I have to do to get by.
I'm going to take advantage of every new method that comes along.
I'm going to nag my legislators at every level.
I'm going to read, read, read and learn all I can and much more.
I'm as short on time and as thin on knowledge as you are. Just because I'm not a farmer doesn't mean that I have all this extra leisure time to devote to research and development. I work 10 hours a day and waste 3 hours a day commuting. On top of all that, I'm a reservist so I lose at least one weekend a month and one month a year to military duty. Sometimes more when I get sent to the Persian Gulf on missions to "spread democracy" to people that don't want it and don't know what to do with it. Nobody said that being a free citizen was easy, convenient or cheap.
Whining that "I can't do that" just perpetuates a victim mentality that our government, special interests and corporations will continue to exploit. Well I'm done being a victim. This is my declaration, this is my manifesto. How about you?
Rich A.Marylandhttp://www.austinev.org/evalbum/371.html
Message: 16
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:59:20 -0600 (CST)
From: "Michaela Merz"
[email protected]xx.xxx
Subject: Re: [EVDL] EV technology for the rest of us
To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List"
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Message-ID:
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Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
Jim: I am not watching Nascar's truck races to help me decide what truck I am
going to buy for our ranch. EVers today have the same choices they had 4,
5 years ago - maybe even less.
VCR's and Lithium are not comparable. True - there's a lot of talk going
on about Lithium - but where can I buy 'em? Including charger, balancer
and with realistic price tags? I might be able to get them in 3 or 4
years. But Chevy may have the Volt available by then and other EVs/Plugins
maybe available.
It is not speed that matters to 'normal' people. It's range. I realize all
that 'you only need 40 Miles/day .. jada jada' talk, but people don't want
to be limited to a drive through the neighborhood. You know how to built a
better motor now. That's great. I'd rather see a motor available to me
(including controller) that would help to capture all that energy
converted into heat while stopping my lead sled. And yes, I know about
Zapi controllers.
I am sorry if it feels like I would be 'bitching' . That's not true. I
just need to rely on stuff other people are building. I can't do it
myself. I neither have the knowledge, nor the time.
So - I guess while you have fun going to the races, I wait until finally
somebody designs and sells an EV that makes sense, including a/c,
regenerative braking and advanced battery technologies.
Michaela
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Has anyone else had success making su=
