Designgeek
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2004
- Messages
- 865
Yes, yes, and yes!
I agree, electric backpack blowers would be difficult due to long run times.
Electric drag racing: Yee-hawww!, this sport has something for everyone! Has the speed & thrills for racing enthusiasts, and the new-tech designs for green-geeks.
Electric vehicles: And also buses and refuse trucks, in both cases running on batteries rather than overhead wires. Those are both applications that involve a lot of start-stop driving, and low speeds over long routes, and they were successful. And of course small delivery trucks in cities. I think the reason all of these fell out of favor was cheap gasoline in the late 1950s through early 1970s, and the fact that when you buy a set of batteries, the cost is like 5 years' worth of gas in advance. When peak oil hits, the economics are going to favor electrics again in all of these applications, and probably also as "second cars" for households.
See also "plug-in hybrid electric vehicles." You drive on the batteries for short distances, and the internal combustion engine kicks in on longer trips to keep the batteries topped off. Then also, you can plug it into your wall socket to recharge overnight. So if most of your average week's driving is short hops, you're running on batteries, but when you scoot off for the weekend, you have the range advantages of internal combustion. Best of both worlds. I can't wait to see that technology in a minivan.
Electric tractors: way cool. Someone ought to bring back the original GE design. I even like the "boxy" styling, it's kinda' retro-70s-cool. Anything like this has to have a decent range of attachments, at least including a snow thrower and a dozer blade as well as a mower and a towable box trailer.
There are presently a number of electric "industrial vehicles" available. The most common ones are forklifts for warehouses, sweepers for parking lots and factories, and people-movers for factories and airports. The same chassis as used for the people-mover, is also used for various truck-like applications such as box bodies, flat platforms for moving heavy goods, and tipping bodies for landscaping on corporate campuses. And then of course electric golf carts, some of which are used as de-facto "second cars" in gated communities that feature golf courses.
All of this can be powered by clean energy sources such as wind and nuclear, which also don't put money in the pockets of people who fund terrorism. Win-win solutions all'round.
I agree, electric backpack blowers would be difficult due to long run times.
Electric drag racing: Yee-hawww!, this sport has something for everyone! Has the speed & thrills for racing enthusiasts, and the new-tech designs for green-geeks.
Electric vehicles: And also buses and refuse trucks, in both cases running on batteries rather than overhead wires. Those are both applications that involve a lot of start-stop driving, and low speeds over long routes, and they were successful. And of course small delivery trucks in cities. I think the reason all of these fell out of favor was cheap gasoline in the late 1950s through early 1970s, and the fact that when you buy a set of batteries, the cost is like 5 years' worth of gas in advance. When peak oil hits, the economics are going to favor electrics again in all of these applications, and probably also as "second cars" for households.
See also "plug-in hybrid electric vehicles." You drive on the batteries for short distances, and the internal combustion engine kicks in on longer trips to keep the batteries topped off. Then also, you can plug it into your wall socket to recharge overnight. So if most of your average week's driving is short hops, you're running on batteries, but when you scoot off for the weekend, you have the range advantages of internal combustion. Best of both worlds. I can't wait to see that technology in a minivan.
Electric tractors: way cool. Someone ought to bring back the original GE design. I even like the "boxy" styling, it's kinda' retro-70s-cool. Anything like this has to have a decent range of attachments, at least including a snow thrower and a dozer blade as well as a mower and a towable box trailer.
There are presently a number of electric "industrial vehicles" available. The most common ones are forklifts for warehouses, sweepers for parking lots and factories, and people-movers for factories and airports. The same chassis as used for the people-mover, is also used for various truck-like applications such as box bodies, flat platforms for moving heavy goods, and tipping bodies for landscaping on corporate campuses. And then of course electric golf carts, some of which are used as de-facto "second cars" in gated communities that feature golf courses.
All of this can be powered by clean energy sources such as wind and nuclear, which also don't put money in the pockets of people who fund terrorism. Win-win solutions all'round.
