HYbrid taxis in chicago by 2012

I read this in the newspaper and found a site that now Chicago is thinking about putting all taxis on hybrid. i think its good, knowing how polluted chicago is...

http://media.www.chicagoflame.com/m....Want.green.Taxis.City.Vehicles-2910073.shtml

 

I am not convinced that hybrids are the way to go. If so, then why do I keep having to buy new batteries for my cordless phone? Battery technology is nowhere near where it needs to be. Why are we making cars more expensive, when we ought to be investigating the oil corporations monopoly, to see why they are price-gouging the gasoline so high? If costs are manipulated out of control, then what good does a little more "conservation" of gasoline do? They'll still get too much of your limited money regardless.

 

maybe by driving vehicles that don't rely exclusively on gasoline, we could break the stranglehold of the oil corporations, hmmm?

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but hybrids use gasoline too. What a bummer!

Well maybe I am sorry to burst your bubble, I'm not really so sure about that part.

 

you obviously don't know what the word 'exclusive' means. go back to kindergarten.

 

I dont know what kind of phone you have if you have to keep buying batteries for it, but the phones ive had and i know others...they last for a while....pretty soon this whole planet will be run by electricity, so why start now?

 

Electricity could be very good to run cars on, well if only there was a mobile power outlet? Electricity seems to work well, for subway trains. Just don't touch that "third rail." The problem is, once one disconnects from the power grid, the price of electricity shoots way up. Anybody want to hazard a guess, at how much a kilowatt-hour costs, from some handy AA batteries? Apparently too much, judging by how many digital cameras come with costly, non-standard, rechargable batteries. Most anything that runs on batteries, either conserves power, doesn't use much power, is under-powered, or the batteries deplete their charge in a matter of minutes. Well except for forklift/pickers, which use a huge battery, as the counterweight to keep them from tipping over when lifting a heavy load.

Electric cars would be practical now, if only the problem of providing the electricity, could be better solved in a highly portable manner. Electric motors have excellent acceleration. They are also quite quiet and efficient. If the hot gasoline engine was eliminated, it should, as I figure, result in a car heater that warms the car, faster. An electric heater wouldn't be all that much additional load on a battery, that can power a car at highway speeds for a reasonable duration. The reason cars usually don't have such heaters now, is because the electric conversion had been inefficient, and because there was so much waste heat available anyway from the hot gasoline engine. Since the car air conditioner doesn't use the waste heat, it cools immediately, upon starting up the car.

How does the "anti-gravity" emittors work, on the flying cars of The Jetsons cartoon? Perhaps they are electric? The electricity coming from a miniature and safe, on-board nuclear reactor. After all, heat isn't particularly likely to directly make a car fly? Well unless it has noisy jet turbines aimed at the ground to provide lift?

Everything will be run by electricity? Perhaps. There is a natural "progression" to technology, especially when smart people ask what's wrong with the technology, so that even better technology may be developed. In the early history of cars, they had "steamer" cars. Imagine having to wait for some 20 to 30 minutes before departing, for the steam pressure to build up. And then, steam boilers tend to have this nasty habit of exploding. After seeing many ship disaster movies, already I think modern technology has also helped make ships safer. No more boilers to explode? Don't they now use turbines to drive generators, to electrically drive the propellers, eliminating the huge space-wasting long propeller shafts?