Why bother with it?

[deacon]

I saw something on a thread recently and thought I should respond. Then I gave it a second thought and decided not to because the author still wouldn't get it. So I thought one more time so let me just say this, if everyone was the same there would only be one type car and one size engine and in any color you wanted as long as the color you wanted was black. Oh we had that once. Then it was get a horse that was heard. Innovation like crap happens like it or not.

Yes ebikes are pretty slow for the most part, but you can make one as fast as a gas bike. It's expensive, and a lot of trouble, but you can do it. Yes, it would also be a moped in he eyes of the law but hey that's okay, because it can be done now.

Range, you can carry about half a gallon of gas in a typical gasoline bike. If you pay enough, you can get a few litho packs and do that fifty mile thing. Yes it would be a pain but that's today. The things Ebike people are doing will pave the way for that kind of thing to be common one day. Probably pretty soon if Ecars hit the road in any real numbers. Battery swap stations very well might spring up beside today's gasoline pumps at the corner convenience store.

So the innovators and experimenters of today are the early automobile owners of the 1900s. Yes all my bikes are black.

 

[BarelyAWake]

Battery swap stations were actually common for a very brief period - till suddenly they and the Ecars they serviced suddenly just disappeared... I'm not one for "conspiracy theories" mind you, it's not a theory if it actually happened;

"General Motors reluctantly built the car to comply with California zero-emission regulations which required auto makers to sell a certain percentage of zero-emission vehicles in that state. When the regulations were dropped due to pressure from the car makers and oil companies, GM abruptly pulled the plug on the EV1. The cars were all leased vehicles, so GM took all of the cars back from their owners and had the cars crushed and destroyed..."

Who Killed the Electric Car? description
Who Killed the Electric Car? homepage

A fascinating if depressing documentary with all statements substantiated with reputable sources, pictures, actual film footage, and statements from actual owners.


One of the things that bugs me most about the latest Ecraze and the "waiting" for innovations/tech is pretty simple. Ecars were among the first - long before we adopted gasoline for it's ease and convenience;

History of the electric vehicle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We've had the tech for a long time and it only gets better... obviously there is something else afoot.

 

[deacon]

actually i do remember reading about the Edison e car. And of course I do remember trolleys. Now there is an idea that could come back with the wires buried in the street. I heard there is a wireless charger for some cell phones. You just put the phone beside the charger and turn it on. no direct connection. So if that were possible for cars cities could one day have a buried power line for them to hum along. With just enough power storage to get to the out of the way places that don't have the charge line in the street.

Who knows what is possible if people keep plugging away at it. I wish I was smart enough to work out a battery solution. I have a heck of a bike now. I rode it today from my house to the home depot and back just like a motorcycle. No pedal not even to start it off. I ran with the traffic at one point because I needed to be in an outside lane so I goosed it. I was very much surprised.

The problem is that this kind of riding eats up the power big time. And even when SLA batteries are still above shut off voltage, the amps are so far down they are practically useless. I much prefer this type of bike to the gas ones. I might be struggling with the batteries till the end of my days.