The Rocky Mountain Institute sponsored (and probably still does) the
development of high mileage vehicles. The last presentation I saw from them
was over 12 years ago and they claimed to have a four passenger car then
that could get 500 miles per gallon. It was a gasoline-electric hybrid that
used an 18 hp gasoline engine that ran at rated speed all the time. When not
needed for power the extra energy went to charge the batteries. It could go
135 miles per hour but only for short periods of time. Their target was 1000
miles per gallon. One big hurdle is air conditioning which takes about 18 hp
by itself. Cars of this type would be a lot different from conventional cars
of today. The bodies would be very light composite material and the seats
would probably be mesh to be self cooling. Special windows would not let the
sun in when warm but would permit light. There would be lots of changes in
the way cars are made and used. Collision safety adds weight and I don't
think they had factored that in yet. Much can be done when the marketplace
demands it.
/jmac
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Scott Peden
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 12:24 PM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Re: OT Probably controversial
In regards to the Smart Car, Well, if Bumper cars is your idea of a freeway,
I supposed I'd be afraid in my little Nissan Pick up truck.
In person that car looked quite substantial, was up higher than ,y Nissan
and rocked less when I pushed against the side. And the view, almost no
metal/plastic to ruing anyplace you want to look.
WE got the redneck Yo Ho boys in their jacked up 4 x 4s here too. They try
to intimidate the Humm Vee's too let them by also.
I suppose they are for sale here in the US, one of the links that was in my
post showed them for sale and the one I got to look at had Nevada license
plates.
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Jay Maynard
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 5:06 AM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Re: OT Probably controversial
<< snip
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