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On Nov 1, 2006 12:58:55 PM Libra wrote:

...but I traveled a lot and when I parked it at the airport it would drain its own battery. That sucked. I bought a Toyota Matrix and it gets about 30 MPG, and the Prius hovered around 42 MPG.

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Something I just found in the Solar Living section of Gaiam is this car battery charger:

http://www.gaiam.com/retail/product/17-0339_MSTR

Might have helped with your problem at the airport.

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On Jul 19, 2007 10:05:38 PM peacefulfitness wrote:

Forget about hybrids the key is to be critical of your daily driving patterns.  Use human power, and public transit.  One person in one car is just so wasteful.  Remember that suburban america created this fuel crisis were starting to live.  It's going to get a lot worse.  Americans need to change their transportation lifestyles now.  Bottom line.

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In part I agree....  But where is the transportation to back us all? People started buying many cars in one home because there was a crisis in a house of 4 with one car since most of the suburbs, and even big cities, do not have a reliable transportation system...  And since space is bigger in the entire world because of our demographic expansion we need to drive to work sometimes far from home and no time to drop husbands/wifes or kids off on our way.... In order to get million of people to change we need to offer them a solution first.

I STILL HAVE a Prius. 1) If there are no early adopters, there will be no development. 2) I drive less; where's your will power and/or conscience? 3) Getting 45 MPG, which is what I get, is better than 25MPG.

I am not a dilatante. I work in the Org Food industry, I do not eat meat. I built an earth sheltered solar heated home from downed trees.

Why scoff at others? It makes folks like me scoff at folks like you.

We have to start somewhere. Believe me NOT buying a Prius is not going to inspire the Government. 

Edited by: chinchillables on Jun 4, 2008 7:02:17 AM

I think one real solution is something that will still allow us to maintain an anyone can go anywhere society, costs 1/4 or less of a "car" these days,  has very little maintinance, and is simple enuff to work on yourself, as well as being able to use virtualy any fuel/energy source, uses zero petrol, doesn't "need" a battery, and is based off a technology we have had for a long long time... it is of course a steam engine, that runs off compressed air.

Ill leave it up to you to look into the concept, wiki Motor development international, or air car, or any of the other thousands of ways of getting information about it, but I will point out a few key benefits.

Compressed air is a mechanical energy, you can "get it" from any source of energy you want, or need to, from geothermal, tidal, solar, wind, petro, a hand pump, an excersize bike, etc

The engines are fairly simple, it is afterall possible to make an air engine with 2 parts...one moving, and one non moving, all you need is a centrefugal(sp) pump..and blow air into it and you have a basic air engine, take a steam engine, and replace the boiler with an air tank...it prob won't work perfect...without some design conciderations, but it uses the same thing...air on the go. 

The total car has a very manageable number of components...only what you need, which aint much, and then what you want.. an electrical system is a must.....lights are good, which aint much more

your travel range is determined by how many tanks you have, and your gonna have some big tanks, going far? bring a few more tanks, you might even be able to have a spare auxilary tank built in, going really really far? get a small petro compressor...just a little one, with about a 3 gallon tank, the figures varry, but 3gal of petro in an eficient compressor, will give you a usually impressive amount of distance

No wasted heat energy...in fact the only heat energy involved is what came out from getting the air in the tank, your friction on bearings, and the road, and your elec system might produce a bit from the bat, and bulbs etc, or a bit more for winter...after that your doing the opposite, as when air comes out of compression it is about 15F cooler than it is outside the tank, this means that cars will come with built in AC, not built in heat, and has been one of the major designing pitfalls, but has its obvious advantages in big, hot cities, like india, or brazil, ..it is not an emisions free engine, but all it emits is cold air, some mechanical motion, and prob a bit of electricity

and there a heck of alot safer than ICE's too, there is no risk of explosion. specialy The inferno shooting all over kind.  with simple basic advancements of tank technology all your gonna get is a poof, as the whole lenth of the tank rips open, as planned in case of a rupture....ever been in a car accident? remember how much that sucked....you got hit with a few tons of steel...not 500lbs of carbon fiber, aluminum, and copper

Obviously the air car isn't for everyone, but if your a person who likes to go 300+ miles per tank on virtually free fuel (maybe $1 for the 300 miles) with the easy ability to add another 300 miles, in a car that can still go 70mph, for 6-10K, with very little maininance costs, the aircar just might be for you