Warp With Batteries? Close Enough!

By Number Six

Thursday, August 03, 2006 at 06:57 AM

Wow. And I mean WOW. Ultra-wow! This is not even funny, as it is absolute proof of what we progressives have known for too long now....

It's the Tesla Motors Roadster, and it's a nightmare for BushCo, Big Oil, neocons and the other greedy cretins running this nation, and as was said about the Wrights and their Flyer 1..."it can't be done"!!

You're talking to a guy who fell in love with Detoit years ago, and too, still gets a killer buzz at seeing a parked Bell 222B. But this? An electric car with real balls??

-100% electric (WHAT? No hydrogen fuel cells? No primative internal combustion? No turbine operating at 1,000 F? What gives here?)
-0 to 60 in 4 seconds (Oh my Gawd!!!)
-135 mpg equivalent (the mind boggles...)
-250 miles per charge (considering my S-10 does 300 per tank, that ain't chicken change!)
-about 1c a mile operational costs (do they plan on making aircraft? Huh? Soon, please?)

No, chill, I'm not in the ad business, and this is no endorsement, but, it is a beautiful thing to see. Okay, it's sexy, too.

But, it's solid proof of what too many of us in the engineering business have known: We been bullshitted, haven't we? Of course we have, many of us have known: It was a matter of time before some clever nut would marry DC-brushless, switching power supplies and batteries into a thing with real teeth. Golf cart this is not!

If it sells, and it probably will, it may well pave the way for cars and trucks of the same breed. Zero emissions, kids. No sound. Press pedal and warp off to work, to school, to take kids places.

So, why has technology like this been hidden for so long? Answer: It's, well, remember that old Alec Guiness flick? The Gray Flannel Suit?

A total-electric vehicle, if it becomes a standard for the roads, would do many, many things:

-Put Exxon-Mobil into Chapter 11
-Make GM, Ford and the rest look like morons
-Decrease the sorts of emissions that are causing global warming
-Free of us of having to deal with those assholes in the Middle East (ALL OF THEM!!)

Okay, the idea is far from perfect. One of the drawbacks of electric cars is, of course, the base laws of thermodyamics: You got to charge the girl. Charge means moving electrons. Moving electrons comes from grids, transformers, cables and generators. Meaning, more draw on what we have already.

A bad thing, yes, as much of our moving electrons get that way from burning coal poorly. Nuclear? I still get chills hearing the word "Chernobyl".

But...we got to start somewhere, do we not?

As an engineer, I have personally seen huge changes in power supply technology, not to mention down-sizing battery packs to pretty small doohickeys. What has this brought?

-A friend of mine bought himself a
weed-wacker that runs on rechargables. No more need to mix Klotz and 87 octane. No more mess. Quieter, too.

-A big breakthrough most never hear about? Radio-controlled (RC) modeling. Many of my buddies who fly airplanes, helicopters, or those into racing...haven't used "glow fuel" systems for five years now! No more 2-stroke noisy engines that wreak of dripping oil. And they fly as well or better than gas/glow systems. See for yourself.

Now, finally, automobiles. If battery tech can fly models or cut the grass, why not a trip to Wal-Mart and without looking like you're piloting a golf cart doing it?

Because we may well piss off Chimpy, his handlers and his fascist goons. Hey! I can live with that!! GIMME!