Re: hybred muscle / electric commuting -- a modest proposal

[[email protected] (David Polewka)]

Kent Paul Dolan wrote:

> So I guess your answer is "zero", but you have too few intact
> brain cells left to express that answer in your own words?
>
> I am not at all surprised by that implication, and you answering
> with shovelware quotes you cannot read with understanding
> seems to have become a "law of the universe" ranking with
> the laws of gravity and the electromagnetic forces.

ASK NOT WHAT DAVE CAN DO FOR YOU!
ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR DAVE!
..
..
--

 

[Kent Paul Dolan]

Ron Ruff wrote:

> Probably around 90% of the US population is
> ignoring the present cost of fuel. I live in
> Hawaii where fuel is the most expensive... and I
> haven't noticed any drop in the number of trucks
> and SUVs being sold or driven.

Ummm, from the Honolulu Advertiser last month:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/May/03/bz/FP605030323.html

-> Consumers reacted sharply to rising gasoline
-> prices last month and turned away from large sport
-> utility vehicles and other trucks in favor of
-> small cars and gas-electric hybrid vehicles.

-> Ford Motor Co. said sales of its two hybrid models
-> -- the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner -- more
-> than doubled in April from the previous month,
-> while sales of larger SUVs and pickup trucks
-> tumbled. Toyota Motor Co. said it couldn't
-> produce its Prius hybrid fast enough to keep up
-> with demand.

-> Consumers also showed a growing appetite for
-> subcompact cars, including tiny new entries such
-> as the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris. James Press,
-> Toyota's U.S. president, said soaring oil prices
-> were reminding automakers "how close to the cliff
-> we're living."

-> Energy concerns are causing many car buyers to go
-> green. Wally Kulesza, a 44-year-old father of four
-> in Bethesda, Md., bought an Escape hybrid last
-> week. He said the SUV has been getting about 30
-> miles per gallon, compared with the 12 mpg he gets
-> in other SUVs he owns.

Read at the URL for the rest.

That seems directly in contrast to your claim.

FYI

xanthian.

 

[Ron Ruff]

Kent, your last post and the article you linked to contain no real
information that indicates a dramatic shift to fuel efficient vehicles,
beyond testimonials and hype.

This is the closest it comes to providing meaningful statistics:

"Overall, industry sales of new cars and light trucks in the U.S. fell
3.7 percent in April from a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp.
Cars, which had been slipping as a percentage of the overall market,
are slowly regaining ground. Last April, cars accounted for 47.4
percent of the total market; this month their share rose to 49
percent."

The percentage of cars has increased from 47.4% to 49% in the last
year... the balance being SUVs, trucks, and vans I suppose. Hardly a
dramatic change. And like I said in my post, not enough of a difference
to notice.

Would you care to speculate on how much the price of energy (in all
forms) would need to go up before a substantial number of people in the
US would *choose* to ride a bike instead of drive an *efficient*
vehicle? I truly think it would never happen... unless we suffer
complete economic collapse as well, and go back to doing nearly
everything by hand.