I can't help but be suspicious of any electric hybrid with an enormous petrol engine. Is there really any need for that kind of engine in anything any more? You can build a 150BHP diesel engine with 2-3 times the fuel economy. Even a more moderate petrol engine - say 2 Litre - is surely plenty.
Why would you spend extra money on an electric hybrid to use next to no fuel for most of the week and then suddenly feel the need to make up the difference on a long journey at the weekend? I just don't understand the thinking.
Doesn't this magic 10X the capacity of Li-Ion figure pop up fairly frequently? I really hope that someone actually cracks it - it could have huge implications for electric or hydrogren/electric hybrid cars.
Plane Stupid's activities might well be plain stupid if what you're talking about here actually happens. But, as you point out, it probably won't. We have a government that keeps bashing us harder and harder with fuel taxes for the privilege of driving to work while promoting airports that this country doesn't need - I believe that it's generally agreed that we have the required capacity and then some. This idea that the country will benefit hugely by being little more than a fuel depot for international travellers seems completely daft to me. Air travel, in probably 99%+ of cases, is purely a luxury.
As for the carrot and stick, those taxes that come from charging for pollution need to be channelled into an alternative. A useful public transport system would be a bloody good start. Buses and trains are unpleasant and ridiculously overpriced thanks to, strangely enough, a failure of the marketplace to function as it ideally should. The problem is not really the market or the private companies involved, it's the relationship between the government and the market - which is the same place that everything else to do with "green" taxation and action will fail if things continue as they are now.
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3 posts • joined Tuesday 22nd December 2009 11:58 GMT
V6 Petrol??
I can't help but be suspicious of any electric hybrid with an enormous petrol engine. Is there really any need for that kind of engine in anything any more? You can build a 150BHP diesel engine with 2-3 times the fuel economy. Even a more moderate petrol engine - say 2 Litre - is surely plenty.
Why would you spend extra money on an electric hybrid to use next to no fuel for most of the week and then suddenly feel the need to make up the difference on a long journey at the weekend? I just don't understand the thinking.
10X Li-ion!
Doesn't this magic 10X the capacity of Li-Ion figure pop up fairly frequently? I really hope that someone actually cracks it - it could have huge implications for electric or hydrogren/electric hybrid cars.
Plane Stupid?
Plane Stupid's activities might well be plain stupid if what you're talking about here actually happens. But, as you point out, it probably won't. We have a government that keeps bashing us harder and harder with fuel taxes for the privilege of driving to work while promoting airports that this country doesn't need - I believe that it's generally agreed that we have the required capacity and then some. This idea that the country will benefit hugely by being little more than a fuel depot for international travellers seems completely daft to me. Air travel, in probably 99%+ of cases, is purely a luxury.
As for the carrot and stick, those taxes that come from charging for pollution need to be channelled into an alternative. A useful public transport system would be a bloody good start. Buses and trains are unpleasant and ridiculously overpriced thanks to, strangely enough, a failure of the marketplace to function as it ideally should. The problem is not really the market or the private companies involved, it's the relationship between the government and the market - which is the same place that everything else to do with "green" taxation and action will fail if things continue as they are now.