Comments on: Forget Oil! The Future is in Electricity

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:41:55 +0000

I look forward to electric or hybrid toads and camp grounds with recharging stations.

By: Manuel Enos

Manuel Enos — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:39:24 +0000

Well, we can go out to California and soak up some of that oil seeping out of the ground that the green tree huggers won’t let us drill for. I mean, get off the green ticket until we have a viable source. We can get off foreign oil tomorrow if this country will get off its collective butts and shut the talking heads in government up and let the experts go at it!! Fund it!!! Don’t start trying to scare everyone into the lean green so called mean machine which ain’t so!! We have more natural gas than anyone in the world and we are not tapping it and changing our engines to that clean alternative because the talking heads believe everthing that Al Gore and his so called experts spout daily..People should really study things before they go trying to shove it down our throats..I mean, look at the great economy that change has brought on us because it had to be saved right now!!

By: Wilkie Cheek

Wilkie Cheek — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:39:00 +0000

Califorina– It’s full of Fruits and Nuts— Wind don,t blow it sucks — – Bless there hearts

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How To Improve Air Quality With Alternative Fuels! | Chemical Agents — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:09:58 +0000

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By: John Shelton

John Shelton — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:02:53 +0000

I will add this on the assumption that Wayne is asking a question that he is serious about and not just making a joke. I am not an engineer or a trained expert of any degree whatsoever, but I have been an automobile and/or highway truck mechanic since automobiles – and trucks – had DC generators. The primary problem with generators was the need for significant maintenance due to relatively rapid wear of commutator and brushes. As the automobile required more and more current to power an increasing number of devices, this problem also grew. (the more current that flowed through the brushes, the more rapid the wear.) This was probably the biggest single reason for the birth of the alternator (aka, AC Generator). The actual output from an alternator is actually DC current suitable for supplying the DC current necessary for re-charging a battery. The three phase AC current is rectified by the diode pact so the actual output is a DC current. A couple of other factors favoring the alternator was the ability to produce a given amount of power from a physically smaller package and a device that was significantly lighter in weight for a given output. Ok, so much for history.

Wayne, to answer your specific question, I would ask you a question in return. What would power this generator in your F-150 pickup? A battery cannot recharge itself. It would have to have some kind of source of power that would be converted to electricity for recharge. Even if it is recharged from an home electrical outlet, it must be converted to a DC current of the proper voltage. The typical source of onboard power to recharge a battery in a full-electric vehicle such as your theoretical converted F-150 is a gasoline or diesel engine. Since you would have your 50 mile battery pack, you could exceed the output of your engine driven battery charger for climbing hills and accelerating and make it back while going downhill and slowing because under these conditions the electric motor would be acting as a generator boosting the output of the engine powered generator. HUGE mileage gains are possible this way over anything that is currently being produced, but there is no dream on the horizon of a perpetual motion machine. Einstein didn’t even have such a dream.

By: Bob Difley

Bob Difley — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:55:34 +0000

Ron – It will be a while before electric power evolves to be able to handle airplane. In the meantime, we can eliminate our need for foreign oil by converting our automobiles to electricity and investing in more efficient engines for trucks, boats, and planes.

By: Bob Difley

Bob Difley — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:48:53 +0000

Good question, Wayne. Does that have something to do with perpetual motion? Any of you engineers or mechanics out there have a good explanation?

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:20:11 +0000

How long a cord are you going to put on airplanes?

By: Wayne Berry

Wayne Berry — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:16:20 +0000

If I put an electric motor on my F-150 and it will go 50 miles before going to gas,
why can’t I put a generator on it to keep the battery up to power while I’m driving so I don’t need to go to the gas engine? All cars used to have a generator before going to alternators. Just wondering. Any geniuses out there? We need one.

By: Bob Difley

Bob Difley — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:15:36 +0000

Dan says on Nov. 30th. “Can’t we do green and energy research to help spur the economy as with other projects now being purposed?”
Seems to me like it would be a good investment by the government to achieve both goals–getting people back to work and forging ahead on alternative energy. You can bet the government will spend the money anyway, whether it be to bail out AIG, Detroit, or others with their hands out. Like, Dan, I’d like to see the money also do some good for the economy as well as individuals and energy policy.