Comments on: AGV Backmarker: Electrifying Season on The Salt http://www.roadracerx.com/features/backmarker/agv-backmarker-electrifying-season-on-the-salt/ Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:03:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Dave T http://www.roadracerx.com/features/backmarker/agv-backmarker-electrifying-season-on-the-salt/comment-page-1/#comment-1050 Dave T Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:32:36 +0000 http://www.roadracerx.com/?p=6565#comment-1050 I like the IDEA of electric vehicles (Not just motorcycles) but they have one huge flaw. They are not "zero emission" vehicles, they only move the emissions to a powerplant somewhere else. Usually a coal fired electrical plant, transmitting power over an already overtaxed transmission grid. We need more than electrical vehicles to create a solution, we need better powerplants (Nuclear? Wind? Solar? Tidal turbine? I don't know) better power transmission lines, and better batteries that aren't full of toxic heavy metals. Yes, batteries can be recycled, but is the energy and waste generated creating them being calculated into the pollution equation? In some cases there are going to be wrecks/fires/damage that will create toxic spills. How will those be dealt with? I'm not trying to be a naysayer. I'm just pointing out some questions that haven't been answered in the popular articles. One reason we use gasoline and diesel engines is that the energy we get out of the fuel is greater, and cheaper, than anything else. Maybe a solution (Not THE solution) is better utilization of fossil fuels. We waste almost 80% of the energy in gasoline as heat, shed through the radiator. We need to keep that energy and use it to create motion. Maybe ceramic cylinders? Just some thoughts, keep up the great work. Dave T. I like the IDEA of electric vehicles (Not just motorcycles) but they have one huge flaw. They are not “zero emission” vehicles, they only move the emissions to a powerplant somewhere else. Usually a coal fired electrical plant, transmitting power over an already overtaxed transmission grid. We need more than electrical vehicles to create a solution, we need better powerplants (Nuclear? Wind? Solar? Tidal turbine? I don’t know) better power transmission lines, and better batteries that aren’t full of toxic heavy metals.

Yes, batteries can be recycled, but is the energy and waste generated creating them being calculated into the pollution equation? In some cases there are going to be wrecks/fires/damage that will create toxic spills. How will those be dealt with?

I’m not trying to be a naysayer. I’m just pointing out some questions that haven’t been answered in the popular articles. One reason we use gasoline and diesel engines is that the energy we get out of the fuel is greater, and cheaper, than anything else. Maybe a solution (Not THE solution) is better utilization of fossil fuels. We waste almost 80% of the energy in gasoline as heat, shed through the radiator. We need to keep that energy and use it to create motion. Maybe ceramic cylinders?

Just some thoughts, keep up the great work.
Dave T.

]]> By: Brammofan http://www.roadracerx.com/features/backmarker/agv-backmarker-electrifying-season-on-the-salt/comment-page-1/#comment-1009 Brammofan Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:52:45 +0000 http://www.roadracerx.com/?p=6565#comment-1009 Great piece, Mark. Actually, your first lines pulled me in, as I'm a KC boy and a not-frequent-enough visitor of "The Rep". Not that you necessarily needed to do it, but this article fulfills any penance you may have to pay to Electra for slighting Mission Motors. I may be a Brammo fan, but Mission is doing some amazing things with electricity, speed, and two wheels. Great piece, Mark. Actually, your first lines pulled me in, as I’m a KC boy and a not-frequent-enough visitor of “The Rep”. Not that you necessarily needed to do it, but this article fulfills any penance you may have to pay to Electra for slighting Mission Motors. I may be a Brammo fan, but Mission is doing some amazing things with electricity, speed, and two wheels.

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