[LINK] Standards, please! The third coming of electric vehicles

[Karl Auer]

On Thu, 2012-04-19 at 09:48 +1000, David Boxall wrote:
> True, and that's a problem. Is making the problem worse a solution?

Again, perhaps it makes one problem worse, but the payoff is that it
makes reduces a different and IMHO far more damaging problem. It can't
be seen in isolation, always in comparison with FFV.
 
> I have no idea what you mean by FFV and FF. If you want to
> communicate, then avoid acronyms and initialisms

FF = fossil fuel.

> You're clearly passionate about battery-powered vehicles (BPVs).

Is passionate bad?

>  BPVs 
> are really only suitable for relatively short journeys. There are few 
> such journeys for which private transport is the best solution (or
> even a viable one, in the longer term). Most would be better travelled
> on foot or by public transport.

Not at all. The vast majority of car trips right now are not viable on
foot, nor by public transport (reasons include any of weather, distance,
disability, terrain, time of day, available time to complete journey,
need to carry things, lack of public transport...). While I agree that
public transport should be vastly improved, that is not in the hands of
the individual; their choice of vehicle largely is. Also, improving
public transport to the point where it will make any significant
difference to the numbers of car trips made is decades away even if the
political will could be found.

>  If a sensible BPV is possible, it's a long, long way off.

Define "sensible".  And note that you can buy all-electric vehicles from
several manufacturers right now (expensive, but available).

> BPVs are sexy and high-tech

No they are NOT. They are far less high tech than the crappiest FFV on
the market today. They are *simple*. It is one of the things that makes
them attractive.

> the energy needed to power a vehicle is liquid fuel (IMHO).
> I've just worked it out; by FF, you probably mean fossil fuels. Do you
> think that liquid fuels are necessarily derived from fossil sources?

Not at all. But tell me what liquid fuel (aside from fossil fuels) you
think might be a viable alternative. Most alternatives involve using
arable land for making fuel and/or the destruction of forests to make
room for planting fuel crops...

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer

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