Are electric cars more energy efficient?

Fusion turns out to be a LOT harder than anybody thought. Physicists have been saying it is 10 years away for 50+ years, now. Tokamak looked promising until you understand the surface area to volume relationship, then it becomes obvious you can't have a thread of plasma many meters long at 10 megaKelvins, all the heat leaks away.

The only hope is a VERY compact plasma, and that is a hard state to maintain. And, the implosion devices are most likely to self destruct due to the massive thermal cycling. Not immediately, but it seems like they would end up requiring huge amounts of maintenance.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson
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What is the AVERAGE age of the north american automotive fleet?? As of June, 2012, the average age of an automobile is 11 years

Reply to
clare

And the cooling water pumps run off the grid? instead of off the reactor. And the backup generator was in the basement, where it flooded even before the reactor gave any trouble. Pretty poor design, when it comes to failsafe. But it was Japanese engineering, so of course nothing would ever go wrong. Now I've got nothing against Japanese products, but the japanese industrial culture is not responsive to outside suggestion - I worked for 10 years as service manager for a large Japanese industrial concern.

Reply to
clare

The reactor is American, I would call it American engineering.

Reply to
Ignoramus28574

Antimatter's not going to be an energy source. It may be a dandy storage method, but it's not going to be a source unless a large naturally occurring nearby supply of antimatter is discovered.

Reply to
J. Clarke

It's been a long time since any responsible physicist said it was 10 years away. They're talking 2033 at the earliest for a working reactor.

And the heat only leaks away if you're not putting it in faster than it leaks.

Or putting a lot of heat into it.

Why would there be "massive thermal cycling"?

Reply to
J. Clarke

The Honda Civic Hybrids get good reviews: -very- good gas mileage and don't feel like they're made of cardboard, unlike the leading hybrid from my favorite company. I, too like hybrids and would have bought a hybrid Tundra if they'd made one back then. I'd much rather get better mileage than I'm getting for all the running around I do. I have heavy loads which need the V-8 only rarely, once a week or two. The Camrys have a hybrid now and it's $10k less than the Nissan Leaf and nearly $20k less than the Obama Motors Volt. I was less than thrilled to hear that my buddy doesn't like the ride and feel of his wife's 2011 Camry. "Cardboardy" he says.

-- Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. -- Abraham Lincoln

Reply to
Larry Jaques

I went out and reassured my cars that they are all above average.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Har! Perhaps The Cull will have taken them by then. ;)

It's too bad that harmonics didn't play the part they did in the movie "Chain Reaction". We'd be there by now.

From material degradation?

-- Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. -- Abraham Lincoln

Reply to
Larry Jaques

That asteroid is coming closerrrr..................

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Was the entire installation American engineering, or only the reactor itself??

Reply to
clare

mine are generally old enough to vote before they retire.

Reply to
clare

Just replaced my wife's 16 year old (1996) Mystique - daughter's boyfriend is driving it while he waits for insurance settlement on his stolen 2005 C300H. It was a replacement for her 22 year old (1988) New Yorker.

Reply to
clare

It only 10 years away! (this time may be the charm)

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Can anyone say "Dark Energy"?

Reply to
Tom Gardner

And, I don't have to subsidize it!

Reply to
Tom Gardner

But if you buy a Volt, I get to pay for part of it! I drove one and thought it sucked. But I'm spoiled, a car should handle like my old RX-7 or the Honda CRX I had. Otherwise, might as well drive a truck.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

If you are looking for a small car, I would consider a diesel Golf from VW. A friend of mine has one, and is very happy with it. It gets 40 or

50 mpg (if memory serves), and he gets ~600 miles to a tank. And the heating and air conditioner work. I bet it's a lot cheaper than a hybrid as well.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joseph Gwinn

The average age has varied, and tends to increase during recessions and decrease when times are good. The 7 years is the amortization period for cars used in business.

And I keep my cars for at least that long, usually longer. I buy them new and start looking for the next car when they get to 100,000 miles, because I don't want to deal with all the repairs that come as the car starts to wear out. I used to keep them far longer, but it became too much of a hassle.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joseph Gwinn

Gunner Asch on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:20:49 -0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

About twenty years ago, there was a referendum to make Washington car tabs $30, instead of the formula based on an unrealistic depreciation schedule. (Olympia figured that your car was worth MSR for the firs three years.) My observation was that this would make buying a new car "pencil" out for a lot of people with three/four year old car. Which would be in turn bought by folks selling their six to eight year old cars. Which would in turn be bough by folks selling off their 10 year or older cars - which is the price point I could afford. Trickle down car sales. I can live with it.

tschus pyotr

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

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