Oolite Bulletins

I knew of the Lightning, but didn't realise that these guys were so close to having a model that somebody could actually order....

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-9997197-72.html

I found a video! But it's short and there's no sound...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUVd_R-ikGw

I found another video of an interview with the MD of Lightning Cars - this time with sound: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7524475.stm

I'm in love with this car! (...just in case my obsessive, one-man thread hadn't already alerted you... )

I read the article about it... it runs on electricity? Did I get that right? Well, I hope they make a cheap one. I know in india they made a car that runs on air. In the us, the price of gas is $3.72 per gallon. it used to be $4.00 per gallon, though. This is were I live. It can get better/worse in other states.

Don't Panic: FSOneblin

@FSO - You might be interested in an electric car that was developed in your country by General Motors called the EV1. It was very popular with those people who leased it (nobody was allowed to buy it). But after just a couple of years, GM recalled them all....

There was a feature film-documentary made about the EV1 called "Who Killed The Electric Car?" which I bought, and I was going to give you a link to a 2 minute trailer for the movie.

But my Google search also discovered that someone had just uploaded the entire film.

Electric cars aren't extinct in the US. A company called Tesla has made a sportscar based on the British Lotus Elise called the Tesla Roadster.

JohnnyBoy wrote:

@FSO - You might be interested in an electric car that was developed in your country by General Motors called the EV1. It was very popular with those people who leased it (nobody was allowed to buy it). But after just a couple of years, GM recalled them all....

There was a feature film-documentary made about the EV1 called "Who Killed The Electric Car?" which I bought, and I was going to give you a link to a 2 minute trailer for the movie.

But my Google search also discovered that someone had just uploaded the entire film.

Electric cars aren't extinct in the US. A company called Tesla has made a sportscar based on the British Lotus Elise called the Tesla Roadster.

Ok, Thanks for the links. I Think we all need to switch to electric or plasma (not solar, but they did make man made plasma I think. They are making a plasma power plant france. One little bit of it, and we will have power for millions of years.) Oh, by the way, thanks to everyone for not biasing against me for living in the US.

Don't Panic: FSOneblin

FSOneblin wrote:

Oh, by the way, thanks to everyone for not biasing against me for living in the US.

FSO, I wouldn't like it if somebody held me responsible for the unpopular actions of my government - and those same rules apply to you.

JohnnyBoy wrote:

FSOneblin wrote:

Oh, by the way, thanks to everyone for not biasing against me for living in the US.

FSO, I wouldn't like it if somebody held me responsible for the unpopular actions of my government - and those same rules apply to you.

From the sailor's POV, the American cruisers often outdo themselves in niceness to try and separate themselves from the their government's image abroad...

Cmdr. Maegil wrote:

From the sailor's POV, the American cruisers often outdo themselves in niceness to try and separate themselves from the their government's image abroad...

Cmdr. Maegil, often when I'm watching the evening news, I find myself asking how it's possible that people who seem to have so little grasp of the consequences of their actions can get elected to high office.

i want one. wonder what the insurance would be.

ramon wrote:

i want one. wonder what the insurance would be.

It would be nice to know, but there's no details on the Wikipedia entry.

Well, I'd guess at the top of the scale! Not only fast, but super-expensive parts. Bad combination(as far as insurers are concerned).

First these things have to work properly before you should consider insuring them.

These concepts are all nice, but none of them - including the Tesla Roadster - has been idependently acknowleged to reach the promised numbers, whether in performance nor range. We still lack efficient ways of storing electricity. Making full use of the performance of electric cars means their already low range drops significantly. Commuter cars and city cars would be a good point to start with electric cars. They don't need high performance, they don't need a high range and the needed infrastructure can be placed at crowded places (major cities) where it would make sense (economically). And even from a green point of view it's much better than electric supercars because commuter/city cars are mass used, supercars are not.

And there is actually one person following this exact pattern on a larger scale: Shai Agassi. His company (called project better place) has a great concept and some funds to realise it. They are going to install the needed infrastructure in israel and denmark, then they want to move larger markets (germany, to be precise). They want to sell cars like mobile phones are sold today. You sign a contract for a few years, pay them for the electricity you use and get a free car (or pay something for it, if it is a upmarket car). I think that is an great idea.

But as long as supercars are concerned: I love to burn oil.


FSOneblin: 4$ per gallon looks like much to you but it's still just half of what we pay here in western europe. Enjoy these prices as long as you can.

polyh wrote:

First these things have to work properly before you should consider insuring them.

These things have been working properly since 1835.

polyh wrote:

These concepts are all nice, but none of them - including the Tesla Roadster - has been idependently acknowleged to reach the promised numbers, whether in performance nor range.

Yes they have. http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/28/excl ... -roadster/

polyh wrote:

We still lack efficient ways of storing electricity.

We also lack efficient ways of burning gasoline. The average petrol engine outputs 10-15% of the chemical energy supplied by its fuel.

Electricity storage technology is constantly improving, but in the meantime people haven't stopped buying battery-powered laptops or mobile phones.

polyh wrote:

Making full use of the performance of electric cars means their already low range drops significantly. Commuter cars and city cars would be a good point to start with electric cars. They don't need high performance, they don't need a high range and the needed infrastructure can be placed at crowded places (major cities) where it would make sense (economically). And even from a green point of view it's much better than electric supercars because commuter/city cars are mass used, supercars are not.

And there is actually one person following this exact pattern on a larger scale: Shai Agassi. His company (called project better place) has a great concept and some funds to realise it. They are going to install the needed infrastructure in israel and denmark, then they want to move larger markets (germany, to be precise). They want to sell cars like mobile phones are sold today. You sign a contract for a few years, pay them for the electricity you use and get a free car (or pay something for it, if it is a upmarket car). I think that is an great idea.

This has already been done. GM leased thousands of EV1 electric cars to people in California for many years. Toyota leased the RAV4 EV. Ford leased the Ranger EV pickup and the "Think!" car. Have a look at the links to "Who Killed The Electric Car?" that I gave to FSOneblin earlier in the thread.

As for "the needed infrastructure" - well, it's already there. You and I use it everyday to recharge our phones and laptops.

polyh wrote:

But as long as supercars are concerned: I love to burn oil.

Polyh, I would never have guessed...

polyh wrote:

FSOneblin: 4$ per gallon looks like much to you but it's still just half of what we pay here in western europe. Enjoy these prices as long as you can.

Very true, Polyh. Here in the UK, we're paying the highest fuel prices in Europe. No wonder foreign companies refer to Great Britain as "treasure island"...

JohnnyBoy wrote:

No wonder foreign companies refer to Great Britain as "treasure island"...

I dont think they do :p The reason that the prices are high (relative to other countries) is tax, not profiteering by Big Oil. If anyone calls this place Treasure Island, its Gordon.

If you include all the taxes (VAT, etc.) then around 2/3 of the cost of petrol in the uk is tax. funnily enough if you tax the tax off, you find that we pay about the same as in america. This is not Rip Off Britain, this is Rip Off Government Taxes.