6th Gen Fail - Hybrid for Overlanding

They also have the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) where any currency can be traded in for real physical gold unlike our fake Western Comex Gold paper market. Saudi can now accept Yuan for oil payment then turn right around and buy real gold with it at the SGE. Here in the West the FEDS can drive down gold prices to support their paper dollar by naked short selling gold futures in this Comex market without delivery because of course it is paper. Soon China will prevent the West from manipulating real gold prices and gold will be 10k an ounce. IMHO. China is a powerhouse like it or not...

I have the first JackMa1 license plate in Arizona...

 

You're right in that EV's won't save the planet, but it's that they're just a band-aid for car dependency and a bone for the automotive industry.

Diesel-powered charging stations are uncommon and there's likely a couple posts you're referring to that have made the rounds but misrepresented the situation. Looks like a "gotcha!", but it's smarter than it looks.

Diesel can be used as a backup for say, solar, so it's not running 24/7 at all which is how that Australian charger is set up.

It could also enable charging in edge cases, farther out places where there isn't sufficient infrastructure to just plug-in a charger since folks like to bring up their remote travels when EV's come up. Solar is great too but hmm, nighttime is a thing.

TFL had a test where they used an F-150 hybrid's generator feature to charge a BMW i3. It sounds stupid: Gas > DC > AC > DC > i3's battery.

But the calculations took the range gained in the i3, the F-150's fuel burn and translated it into the i3 getting 22 MPG. Obviously not good for such a small car, but just fine for a vehicle that would usually be charged by more efficient methods.

TL;DR - Small number of less-optimal stations doesn't mean EV's are suddenly contradictions. "Perfect" is the enemy of "good" after all.

Take this image. It's supposed to be a "haha electric actually bad" shitpost but it's just literally a plug-in hybrid with extra steps. Drive around town on electrons, fossil fuel convenience when going the distance. Best of both worlds, still slashes fuel use. (if you're able to charge regularly and aren't a medical courier.)

 

i call and raise you

 

That has to be in Florida somewhere.

 

ive seen many variations so its proably not unique to just florida

 

Im just saying the Florida Man and crack pipe vibes are real on that one.

 

Respect.

That guy knows overlanding is a lifestyle. What it does is more important than how it looks while doing it.

reminds me of the conversation in pulp fiction where Samuel L Jackson says he’s just going to give it all up and he’s gonna walk the earth, like Cain in Kung fu. To which travolta responds, “that’s called being a bum”.

 

I’m not defending or putting any one down for what they think.

but I would think the diesel generator is more efficient that gasoline. But then there are the trees that are being cut down for solar farms. Some think it’s great we have solar, I think it’s bad we are cutting down all these trees. Everything is a give and take, and for some they feel using a battery in the long run is better for the planet. Do any of us really know? I certainly don’t know what the right answer is.

 

in Austin they are cutting down trees that look to be at least 100 year old. To build a cement cultural pavilion or whatever it’s called. I appreciate the culture… but build around the tree, no especially it being an outdoors thing? Nonetheless, I digress. I’m not a tree hugger, but… the narratives of these folks is, sheesshh.

 

It takes more than a diesel generator powered station to draw a conclusion of whether or not EVs are good or bad. My gut falls, into, neither. But what do I know.

 

That sounds like something an old codger like me would do!! There was a time fresh out of high school when I wanted a Chevy Vega really badly. Fortunately, I didn't get one.

 

Don't feel bad. I ended up with a Ford Pinto as a first car. At least you got the hot date. Ain't no hottie getting into a Pinto with a teenager...

 

Exactly. My parents gifted me a 75 Pinto wagon. I'm sure they knew I wasn't getting laid with that thing...

 

Since we've gone down the road and I don't feel as if I'm hijacking the thread...

Why aren't diesel electrics (like trains) more popular for passenger vehicles? Do they not meet some emissions standards or require expensive and dilussion equipment like DEF?

When hybrids busted onto the scene a few decades ago, I had hopes they would eventually become an option because it sounds good to the ear at least.

Maybe on paper they don't make sense

 

I'd say the quartet of more stringent regulations on diesel (compared to say Europe), less availability, higher cost plus it being a more expensive option (and needing to bring over or engineer a new type of powertrain) dampen it's appeal - especially when gas-electric hybrids are doing great these days.

 

First, I meant to say dilution vs dilussion. Oops. You guys got it though - essentially the tech added to reduce emissions that drive up cost.

And yeah, I wouldn't expect it to catch on now that hybrids are pretty set with their engineering.

I guess I'm just surprised that since the tech already existed on locomotives (although super sized), it wasn't used for passenger vehicles when all this started. Back then, I don't think DEF was required and emission standards were less strict. Diesel was still expensive though

 

My first car was practically space age by comparison.


(not mine but this is exactly it, same color even)



Ooooops......

 

Cutting down trees to build a solar farm is just plain stupid. full stop. I don't care if you are republican or democrat or liberal or conservative, its dumb.

Lots of commercial rooftops and parking lots that make a fine place to put solar. In hot climates where solar is most effective the rooftop arrays give you nice side benefits of shading that helps reduce cooling load.

Up here in MA that's what we see a lot of - solar on office parks, home roofs, over parking lots and sometimes filling the open land inside highway cloverleafs.

The diesel question is an interesting one. Even pure Diesels would be a big improvement in efficiency vs. non hybrid gas cars we have now (Deisels easily push into the 30-40% thermodynamic efficiency range even in regular cars - big train and ship diesels can edge close to 50%. Without extreme engineering like Atkinson cycles and turbos its hard to get gas beyond the 20s %). I read somewhere a long time ago that the reason you never saw diesels so common here in the US vs. Europe was 2 fold:

#1 - emissions standards for particulates, etc ( ironic that "progressive" Europe always lagged so far behind the USA in that regard)
#2 - The refinery mix in the US favors producing a much larger share of light distillates like gasoline because of the perceived lack of market demand for diesel.. this probably drives up the price of diesel relative to gas further reducing consumer interest. i.e. vicious cycle.

I've driven more than a few Diesel cars here and overseas and hte instant torque of a well designed turbodiesel is fun.

 

The new Ram 1500 has a gas-electric system that is very similar to locomotives.

Mitsubishi also uses it on the new Outlander.
I believe both manufacturers call the engine a “range extender.”
I expect you may see more vehicles with that same system soon.

 

It drives me bananas that we are not doing more to put solar panels on roofs. They have built a few mini farms near some highway exits up here, but far more clear cuts to place solar there. Oh and what happens to all that water now, before vegetation used it, now I’m sure there is more impact with the water running off the panels and hitting the ground in basically same place. It will erode.

 

or you could be like california and pretty much null any point of having solar panels now.

that new rule "california electric bill based on income" pretty much negates any point in going solar.

not sure if its still in the works or what happene to it.

 

Wow I didn’t know that was even a discussion, I wonder if they got the idea from China or Russia?

 

Don't worry, some state legislator from northern MA...errr southern ME will have a bill in Augusta to do the same in Maine soon enough...

 

Had a tesla run out of juice in the middle of the road last summer. It was right by my house & caused a backup. Some CDOT worker pulled up with a diesel generator to charge it enough so the guy could move his irresponsible ass

 

One would think that a Tesla would start yelling at the driver BEFORE it runs out of gas... er, juice.

 

They certainly do, and then pull more and more power as the electrons tick away. Wonder if it was one of those content creator types since testing range by squeezing everything out isn’t uncommon.

(Saw someone do it to a RAV4 Hybrid, I admit I was curious how it’ll behave.)

 

I didn't know much either - if you search there are a lot of news articles about it. From a quick skim of a few it sounds like it was a proposal that originated from the utilities themselves - to have separate fixed charge portions for low and high income households, and balance off increase fixed charge income with lower usage rates. Sounds like it was a backward attempt to make electricity cheaper for poor people and put more of the baseline burden of maintaining the infrastructure on wealthy households.


But in any case it sounds like its moot as a new bill this year seems to have overturned it.

 

Ya, let’s move away from an area we don’t like, to an area that is not like we’re we are leaving, and then change the laws to mirror the place we just left. I’ve lived in Central Maine, Northern Maine, Western Maine and now Southern Maine. One of these parts is not like the others.