Do we really need gas powered vehicles anymore?

SharinganUser

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I have been wondering this lately, about why anyone really needs vehicles that travel 1000's of kms and can go 200+ km/hr??? Most people these days live in the city or suburbs and don't really need that kind of power. Also, I was walking on top of a cross over the other day and witnessed a traffic jam. Why was this important? Because most of the vehicles had one or 2 people in them and a police car was caught in the jam because no one would/could move out of the way. Someone might have been prevented from being saved because there is way to many cars on the road.

On the other hand Ferrari's and Mustangs are cool.
 

speakeasy

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It's called the consumption culture. At the heart of it, people confuse wants with needs. The majority of shvt people have they don't really need. Sometimes I ride my bicycle 25 miles just for the hell of it. Gets me around, zero emissions, no worries about traffic jams as I can ride in the streets or the sidewalk. Don't get me wrong, I have a car too and certainly use it, but for things like running errands around my area or stepping out to grab a bite to eat. I ride my bike. Plus it's 75 degrees in SoCal even in January. It's just a good excuse to get air and sunshine and get a workout all at the same time.
 

search1ng

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you need cars to get from point A to B quickly in certain situations and/or you don't want your outfit dirtied, etc. What people lack is common sense. Walk or ride a bike for close distances, it won't kill you, it'll save you.
 

Maxtro

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No, gas powered vehicles are not needed anymore. The only reason they are still around is because of greed, from the oil companies and current car makers. It is now possible for every car on the road to be electric.

I would LOVE to have a Tesla Roadster It can go 244 miles on a charge. That is much further than the average person needs to go in a day. The only thing really needed are charging stations on the highways for those that want to drive long distances. If only I had $109,000

In all honesty if Ford, GM and Chrysler were making electric cars; they wouldn't be in the mess they are in now.

We've been driving cars with internal combustion engines for over 100 years. It's time to bury them.
 

War Against Betaism

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I was at the LA Auto Show a couple months back and Honda introduced this vehicle that runs on hydrogen, I dunno how well it will be received though, I thought electric cars were going to be revolutionary.
 

speakeasy

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I remember when I was kid, people thought cars were going to fly by the 21st century. Still waiting for that.
 

ready123

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most electric vehicles can't go 200+ miles. more like 50 miles and the battery is dead. I know this because I use the company EV for field work once in a while. It feels like I'm driving a gocart and coworkers get so paranoid about the battery they don't even want to turn on the radio or air condition.

EV's would have been revolutionary if you could actual go somewhere besides around the block with it. the technology just isn't a viable replacement right now
 

War Against Betaism

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In due time electric vehicles will probably equal to that of the efficiency of a gas fueled car but putting research into a product that isn't really all that popular doesn't seem like a great idea.
 

Alle_Gory

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ready123 said:
most electric vehicles can't go 200+ miles. more like 50 miles and the battery is dead. I know this because I use the company EV for field work once in a while. It feels like I'm driving a gocart and coworkers get so paranoid about the battery they don't even want to turn on the radio or air condition.

EV's would have been revolutionary if you could actual go somewhere besides around the block with it. the technology just isn't a viable replacement right now
Not only that but the charging time. Even with the best battery system you need to build some kind of high power quick-charge station. Normal outlets cannot do the job quick enough.
 

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bigjohnson

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Maxtro said:
No, gas powered vehicles are not needed anymore. The only reason they are still around is because of greed, from the oil companies and current car makers. It is now possible for every car on the road to be electric.

I would LOVE to have a Tesla Roadster It can go 244 miles on a charge.
This is such a load of BS. I'm taking my parents to Yellowstone this weekend, 850 miles one way, 3 people. I have to cover about 2000 miles in about 60 hours. Current electrics can't do what people need to do. Most *******s that could use a Tesla to commute should be riding a damn bus or bike if they are really worried about staying green.
 

dbot

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bigjohnson said:
This is such a load of BS. I'm taking my parents to Yellowstone this weekend, 850 miles one way, 3 people. I have to cover about 2000 miles in about 60 hours. Current electrics can't do what people need to do. Most *******s that could use a Tesla to commute should be riding a damn bus or bike if they are really worried about staying green.
Right, because a 20-mile commute is definitely bus or bicycle appropriate.

The average person doesn't use their car for cross-country road trips. They use it to get to and from work, which is normally around 5-15 miles. Several manufacturers are planning to release vehicles that can run anywhere from 40 to 60 miles gas free, before switching over. So if you only drive your car 30 or 40 miles per day, then you'll never have to worry about gas. Just plug it in when you get home, and you're set. Lots of people, including myself, can benefit from such a vehicle.
 

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Electric vehicles will solve nothing with the environment. Hybrids are absolutely terrible for the environment, to produce them, they ship various parts all over the world, using up a ****load of fuel along the way. Plus the batteries are very bad when they aren't usable anymore, incredibly toxic.

Onto electric vehicles, ever wonder how they get their power? BY POWER PLANTS USING FOSSIL FUELS TO MAKE ELECTRICITY. You'll just replace car emissions with more power plant emissions. It solves nothing. We'll still run out of fossil fuels.

What we need is something like a car that runs on good old water. 0 emissions, plenty of fuel.

There is one great application for hybrid cars. Since they use braking to charge their batteries, they are VERY useful in the city. You brake a ton in the city and never go above the threshold for the electric engine meaning you hardly ever use any gas. Only place I can see where they would be beneficial.

I think our best alternative for the time being is diesel. Diesel technology is much better than in the past and actually allows for decent cars. BMW is really pushing them, which is great, but those are out of most people's price ranges. We need a honda diesel car or any other cheaper car company to make a diesel version of their standard sedan. It's not a long-term solution, but it can help slow the process down and give us enough time to develop good alternative technologies.
 

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bigjohnson said:
This is such a load of BS. I'm taking my parents to Yellowstone this weekend, 850 miles one way, 3 people. I have to cover about 2000 miles in about 60 hours. Current electrics can't do what people need to do. Most *******s that could use a Tesla to commute should be riding a damn bus or bike if they are really worried about staying green.
I love how you picked apart certain sentences in my post that you couldn't use to attack my thought.

Here they are again.

Maxtro said:
It can go 244 miles on a charge. That is much further than the average person needs to go in a day. The only thing really needed are charging stations on the highways for those that want to drive long distances.
How often do you think the average person drives 200 miles in a day? As for your Yellowstone example. As I already mentioned, for those that need to drive long distances, charging stations should be implemented. I'm sure that if somebody actually tired, a charging station that can charge a battery in a short time could be developed. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't exist already.

War Against Betaism said:
In due time electric vehicles will probably equal to that of the efficiency of a gas fueled car but putting research into a product that isn't really all that popular doesn't seem like a great idea.
That's the problem with electric cars right now. But you know what, electric cars were popular when they were around. The problem is that the general public doesn't think they are viable.

I suggest that everybody should watch "Who killed the electric car."

Anyways look again at the Tesla page I linked earlier. In a few years prices will come down and other models will be out. The age of gas powered vehicles is fading.
Scorrere said:
Electric vehicles will solve nothing with the environment. Hybrids are absolutely terrible for the environment, to produce them, they ship various parts all over the world, using up a ****load of fuel along the way. Plus the batteries are very bad when they aren't usable anymore, incredibly toxic.

Onto electric vehicles, ever wonder how they get their power? BY POWER PLANTS USING FOSSIL FUELS TO MAKE ELECTRICITY. You'll just replace car emissions with more power plant emissions. It solves nothing. We'll still run out of fossil fuels.

What we need is something like a car that runs on good old water. 0 emissions, plenty of fuel.
I agree that using oil to make electric cars is stupid. However the whole process of going green must start somewhere. First cars will go electric then possibly down the lines so will the big trucks. Ships will probably go nuclear.

As for how power is being generated. Ever heard of alternative energy production? In the future more and more power will be generated from solar, wind and water plus various biofuels and possibly more clean nuclear power.
 

Scorrere

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Maxtro said:
I love how you picked apart certain sentences in my post that you couldn't use to attack my thought.

Here they are again.


How often do you think the average person drives 200 miles in a day? As for your Yellowstone example. As I already mentioned, for those that need to drive long distances, charging stations should be implemented. I'm sure that if somebody actually tired, a charging station that can charge a battery in a short time could be developed. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't exist already.


That's the problem with electric cars right now. But you know what, electric cars were popular when they were around. The problem is that the general public doesn't think they are viable.

I suggest that everybody should watch "Who killed the electric car."

Anyways look again at the Tesla page I linked earlier. In a few years prices will come down and other models will be out. The age of gas powered vehicles is fading.

I agree that using oil to make electric cars is stupid. However the whole process of going green must start somewhere. First cars will go electric then possibly down the lines so will the big trucks. Ships will probably go nuclear.

As for how power is being generated. Ever heard of alternative energy production? In the future more and more power will be generated from solar, wind and water plus various biofuels and possibly more clean nuclear power.
I can see what you're saying, but we should probably get those alternative energy sources in place first. Forcing the powerplants to also provide energy for every car would lead to a very high increase in the total energy they need to make. I don't even know if with the current fuel sources that the power plants could meet the demands of millions of cars.

I do remember reading something about an MIT professor finding a much more efficient and cheap way to use solar which could really help. We need more breakthroughs like that. Right now, solar and other sources aren't very efficient and very expensive to put in place.
 

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ready123

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a lot of power plants use natural gas, which burns cleaner compared to petro. they even have natural gas vehicles as a petrol alternative. plus we have hydro, wind, geothermal and other technologies which are totally green and slowly replacing fossil fuels

in order for EVs to replace gas powered vehicles
- battery efficiency needs to be improved. my commute to work is 40 miles one way. on the wkends i might take a 70 mile drive out to OC. or I drive 20-30 miles one way to hit up clubs in Hollywood or downtown. 50 mile battery won't cut it. I know most people got smaller commutes than me but you still won't be able to do sht else except go to work and back
- charging technology needs to be improved and made more accessible
- load capacity on the power grid needs to be increased. if everyone was charging their EV daily, we'd get blackouts. more power would need to be generated and this is a big infrastructure change that would take time
 

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Are they really needed? Well no, if the proper systems are set up, its quite possible for most people to live without a car. See other parts of the world as proof.

But in North America things aren't set up like that, and introducing things like trains and subways is all but impossible now that we're mostly sprawled out in suburbs.

So, for the foreseeable future anybody in North America that does not live in a major city will need some sort of personal transportation.

Sure we need to be smarter about how we use it, people driving SUVs or vans and only ever having one person in it is stupid. But still, the way our world is set up we need cars.

So how about replacing gas? Current alternatives are simply not ready, and any government pushing is a stupid waste of time that will probably do more harm than good. Consider the huge push by environmentalists and politicians for ethanol. Oh, surprise, after pouring in billions of dollars it turns out that it was a MORONIC idea. It needs much more fuel to produce than it releases, it is literally impossible to ever grow enough corn for our needs, even if food production was completely stopped, and in the process we caused a humanitarian crisis by driving food prices through the roof.

Think about it - did the world need government incentives to switch from coal powered steam engines to diesel and electric, from candles to light bulbs, or from floppy disks to CDs? Superior technology is snapped up quite quickly once it is clearly better. If this choice is forced prematurely by the government.. well unfortunately they seem to have a track record for choosing wrong.

Similarly for electric cars and hybrids. Forget the hype, they will not save the world. Look up the ingredients of the batteries sometime - some of the most toxic chemicals around. And electric cars need literally hundreds of pounds or tons of batteries each to get any sort of reasonable range. These way a lot, and as everybody should know, the heavier a car is , the more energy it uses. These batteries are also expensive, and further, need to be replaced pretty often, for a LOT of $$$. And charging takes hours, so even if there were charge stations at every gas station, you better bring a PSP or something, because you'll be there a while.

Further, as already mentioned, most of our electricity is generated from fossil fuels, and the only alternative genuinely ready for prime time is nuclear, which most people don't want. But even if we switched to renewable energy (and the required capacity would be massive if there was a large scale switch to electric cars), there's still lots of inefficiency. Huge amounts of power are lost carrying it from the power station to your house.
Sure, you could have an electric car despite all this for every day driving, but then what about longer trips? Should you keep two cars just in case?

Hydrogen may someday be a solution (though again we need to find a cheap way of generating other than the current method of getting it from natural gas) because it is perfectly clean yet can be used much like gasoline currently is. Unfortunately this technology is getting much less attention than electric.
 

theunflushables

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Scorrere said:
Electric vehicles will solve nothing with the environment. Hybrids are absolutely terrible for the environment, to produce them, they ship various parts all over the world, using up a ****load of fuel along the way. Plus the batteries are very bad when they aren't usable anymore, incredibly toxic.

Onto electric vehicles, ever wonder how they get their power? BY POWER PLANTS USING FOSSIL FUELS TO MAKE ELECTRICITY. You'll just replace car emissions with more power plant emissions. It solves nothing. We'll still run out of fossil fuels.

What we need is something like a car that runs on good old water. 0 emissions, plenty of fuel.

There is one great application for hybrid cars. Since they use braking to charge their batteries, they are VERY useful in the city. You brake a ton in the city and never go above the threshold for the electric engine meaning you hardly ever use any gas. Only place I can see where they would be beneficial.

I think our best alternative for the time being is diesel. Diesel technology is much better than in the past and actually allows for decent cars. BMW is really pushing them, which is great, but those are out of most people's price ranges. We need a honda diesel car or any other cheaper car company to make a diesel version of their standard sedan. It's not a long-term solution, but it can help slow the process down and give us enough time to develop good alternative technologies.
Abso-friggin-lutely! This made me think of a clip from one of my favorite shows Top Gear where they tested a Prius against a BMW M3. Watch this clip.

http://www.topgear.com/us/videos/more/thirsty-prius
 

speakeasy

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The problem is, in the modern age, we have designed our lifestyles around the car so much that we can't even imagine our lives without them. Think about older cities like NYC and San Francisco that were laid out before cars were invented. You don't need a car. You can walk everywhere or take public transit. You simply don't have to drive if you don't want. But now we built our cities around freeways and suburbs and everybody wants a big ranch house 30 miles from the city center with a 60 mile round trip commute to work. Well that's not sustainable. If we got used to the idea density and pedestrian friendly cities like you have in the Northeast and in Europe and major Asian cities like Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore we wouldn't rely so much on burning a gallon of gasoline just to the store and buy a gallon of milk.
 

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