7/30/2008

The future of Transportation

Tom & Ray Magliosi

Last night, PBS had a program hosted by Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers as they looked at the future of transportation. They looked at conventional transportation, electric cars, Hybrid cars and methods of producing fuel. It was pretty clear to me that a lot of work is needed to define the problems and then find the solution. Not every car will work in every situation. I propose as a start;
  • We work on developing a small electric powered car that will support two people for "In and Around" trips. There would be limit of 40-50 miles and mostly be powered by batteries and charged up at night on the off peak times.
  • Second would be a more intermediate car that has a trailer for hauling things and room for 4 people. This could be a hybrid car that runs on E-85 ethanol or a combination like the prius with an electric motor and some internal power generation ability. Nothing would be wrong if this car could be also charged at night, using off peak electricity. I would think it would be nice if there was a generator trailer that you shared with other families that would allow this car to be used for trips of 1000-1500 miles. Above that Commercial transportation should be used.
  • Work on the continuation/development of solar, wind and Nuclear power for electric generation and use the Natural Gas to power what is now the diesel fleet of trucks.
I wouldn't eliminate the current fleet of vehicles and there would be exclusions for rare and antique vehicles. Wear and tear will cause these vehicles to be replaced soon enough. I think motor cycles are dangerous but they would fit in this plan.

If this is so easy for me, hy doesn't the Congress or one of the Presidential candidates propose some legislation that takes us towards some, and or part of this plan.

MUD
Posted by at

4 comments:

  1. Jenni4:07 PM

    Should've read this post first! There is still so much I don't understand, though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MUD4:46 PM

    But you are able to see in clear sight that there is a problem and our congress is doing nothing, bupkiss, zilch and it will continue. MUD

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jess B2:19 PM

    They DID have a high mileage vehicle that was cheap enough to mass produce, though our government thought it best to take it to the middle of the desert and destroy it before anyone got ahold of the technology. (can't remember if it was Carter or Reagan admin) The gov't is about making money and if we aren't using massive amounts of petroleum, that isn't happening. Yes, our government is bleeding us dry.

    ReplyDelete
  4. MUD5:07 PM

    Dear Jess b. Give me details not just a story. This sounds like an urban legend. I promise you that if there was a car that could get really great mileage someone would be making it and making a killing. The Government isn't bleeding us dry, our own stupidity has us in line donating blood. MUD

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)