Quote:
Originally Posted by ZGACK
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"Government Motors" is being deceptive.
Chevrolet Volt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
...The Volt's range-extending gasoline engine is expected to get approximately 50 mpg. (EPA estimate).
Here's the real problem - - -
List of countries by vehicles per capita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USA = 765 vehicles per 1000 people,
or
234,379,996 vehicles based on
the estimated population of the United States : 306,379,081.
STEO Table Browser : U.S. Crude Oil and Liquid Fuels Supply, Consumption, and Inventories U.S. oil consumption: down to 19.2 million barrels / day, due to the economic contraction in 2008.
Domestic production is 4.96 million barrels / day. (2008)
100 x (19.2 - 4.96/19.2 ) = 74% is imported
That's roughly 14.24 million barrels / day we import - and if it was cut off, for whatever reason, what happens?
Oil reserves in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaProven oil reserves in the United States are 21 billion barrels (3.3×10^9 m3), excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The U.S. Department of the Interior estimates the total volume of undiscovered, technically recoverable prospective resources in all areas of the United States, including the Federal Outer Continental Shelf, the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, and the Bakken Formation, total 134 billion barrels (21.3×10^9 m3) of crude oil. This excludes oil shale reserves, as there is no significant commercial production of oil from oil shale in the United States.
0.6 billion barrels of oil = one month U.S. consumption
How long will our domestic supply last (if we had the drilling and refinery capacity) with zero imports?
PROVEN RESERVES = 35 months
(3 years) 
And if we spent the next ten years exploiting every possible oil resource, we're still in trouble.
TOTAL OIL RESERVES (unproven) = 223 months (
18 years)
So will boosting fuel efficiency of individual vehicles help resolve the problem?
NO.
There are too many vehicles on the road, under utilized, and wasting fuel (energy).
Their solution?
"Cash for Clunkers"
THIS IS NO SOLUTION - it actually WASTES resources used to create the original vehicle destroyed.
Frankly, even a gas guzzler can be "green".
How to make a "Green" Hummer - pack 5 people in it, and it will almost be as "green" as a one occupant hybrid, in terms of fuel consumed per passenger / miles.
H2 Hummer: 8.6 MPG (worst case) x 5 persons = 43 passenger miles / gallon
Honda Insight: 48 MPG x 1 person = 48 passenger miles / gallon
Add the third row seat, and boost passenger load to 7 and you have a "greenie"!
H2 Hummer: 8.6 MPG (worst case) x 7 persons = 60.2 passenger miles / gallon
The moral is that single occupant commuting is a WASTE no matter what automobile you use. And that running any automobile / SUV / minivan at full load is MORE frugal.
And a fleet of Chevy Dolts won't resolve the problem, either.
We have to become MORE EFFICIENT.
Move more passengers per unit fuel.
Things we know or expect to happen:
[A] Fossil fuels will cease being cheap and / or plentiful.
[b] Energy derived from non-fossil fuel sources is still more expensive. But that may change as [A] gets worse. But at least sustainable sources of energy won't suddenly run out.
[C] The most viable sustainable form of energy is electricity - derived from solar, wind, water, and so on.
[D] The most energy efficient form of land transport is steel wheel on steel rail (low coefficient of rolling resistance).
Internal combustion engines, on average, only use 25% of the energy of their fuel to move. The remainder is lost as waste heat. (Yipes!). Even vaunted hybrid electric vehicles are still energy wasters. To compound matters, stop - and - go travel wastes energy via braking (heat) and acceleration.
Won't the 35.5 MPH goal save us?
NO
We know there are six principles for efficient surface transport:
a) reduce the frontal area per person;
b) reduce the vehicle’s weight per person;
c) when traveling, go at a steady speed and avoid using brakes;
d) travel more slowly;
e) travel less; and
f) make the energy chain more efficient.
An electric powered train / tram / streetcar meets a, b, c (*regenerative braking recovers energy), and f. And we'd rather be able to ignore d and e.
An electric traction motor efficiency is between 85 - 95% (depending on configuration, etc), in contrast with Internal combustion engines (roughly from 25% otto cycle to 50% diesel cycle). In addition, electric powered rail vehicles attached to the grid do not need to carry their fuel, saving on weight.
In short, we need to acknowledge that electric rail is our only viable alternative to deal with the demise of the Age of Oil.
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