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103 Comments
- lhbaker, on 11/13/2007, -0/+38I also understand that hybrids cannot sexually reproduce.
- inactive, on 11/14/2007, -6/+40Problem with Trucks: A lot of guys buy them because they think it makes them cool
When in reality, buying a truck is ***** pointless if you aren't even going to use the goddamn thing to transport ***** - MadOgre, on 11/13/2007, -0/+18Let me explain this to all the city dwelling folk. I live in truck country. We use trucks out here day in day out. Big trucks. Real trucks. Not cutsey little truck-utes. Four by four trucks. Let me tell you straight up - Hybrids don't work in real trucks. Real trucks have to be able to run all the time, even when parked. The engines have to be able to pull massive payloads and carry tons of tools and equipment, power arc welders, and keep the heaters going full blast in the winters... because a lot of trucks out here in our winters will freeze up if the engines are shut off during a hard cold. And when I say hard cold, I'm talking 35 below like it was last year.
Hybrids have to recapture electrical power by breaking. That's great for in the city. But out here in my desert, this method is just about useless.
Now BMW has an interesting form of a hybrid engine that does have potential... BMW calls it a "Turbo Steamer" and reclaims energy by capturing heat loss. Most of the energy lost in an engine is from heat going to waste. Now in the real world of a working truck, capturing heat makes sense, and it could even work in the dead of winter. This is going to be the only way a hybrid is going to even make a lick of sense. - DeathJux, on 11/14/2007, -0/+15If you ask me, for most utility purposes, a hybrid truck would be awesome. It's a generator on wheels, you could use electricity wherever you went, provided they give you access, which, for a truck, would make perfect sense.
(too many commas?) - pimpinainteasy, on 11/14/2007, -4/+19I'm confused by hybrid trucks. If I see a man driving a hybrid truck does he still have a small penis?
- VIrus9, on 11/13/2007, -0/+10What they don't realize is that as soon as you get a truck, everyone you know decides to move and expects you to help.
- inactive, on 11/13/2007, -2/+11He actually has a big vagina instead.
- MindTrigger, on 11/14/2007, -0/+8But aren't we talking about an improvement still? As long as trucks are going to be sold in this country, people are going to drive them, any tech that can make those trucks better is a good thing.
- schnikies79, on 11/13/2007, -0/+8Believe it or not, some people actually use trucks. Not so much in the city perhaps (outside of commercial settings) but they are still used.
I have a truck as a second vehicle and I haul stuff all the time, at least 3 times a week. Plywood, drywall, mowers, pulling a tailor, going camping, whatever. I would be all over a hybrid truck if could get one that had a decent weight and towing capacity. I rarely have more than one person in the vehicle with me, so I don't need the capacity for people. My truck gets 19-20mpg. - BlackAle, on 11/14/2007, -1/+8lose some weight.
- thecosmicpope, on 11/14/2007, -3/+10The problem with a hybrid truck is the numbers. You'll save 20-35% in fuel. Well that sounds great doesn't it? Except that when I see TV adverts for trucks they brag about the 10-20mpg that they get. Thats a pretty pathetic number, and the makers always overestimate there mpg, to make it sound a little better than it is. But let's say it is doing 20mpg, and saving 30%, that's still only 6mpg that you are saving, bringing it to a terrible 26mpg. That's if it's unloaded and not carrying weight, which is kinda against the point of a truck.
Toyota, with the Prius, has single handedly fooled the public into thinking that 40mpg is a good number to getting. It's not. It's crap. There is no other way of saying it, it's just crap. It might be good compared to an average American V8 Chevy block which originated in the 1960s, but it's still crap. A well made European or Japanese car will easily get 40mpg without the need of a silly little hybrid engine. The small city cars like the Lupo manage 60-70mpg, and with a diesel engine manage 80mpg.
Seriously, people who buy these stupid hybrids need to wake up and do some basic research. The idea of a hybrid is good, but as long as they keep shoving hybrid technology into cars like the Prius, it is having no positive effect on the environment at all. All it is doing is fueling peoples egos and allowing them to think they are better than everyone else, when in reality they are just that little bit more gullible and that little bit more stupid. - BLish, on 11/13/2007, -2/+7it depends on if they are tucking or not
- inactive, on 11/13/2007, -1/+5the problem is that it normally gets like 12 mpg. so even though a hybrid drivetrain can increase mileage by 25%, its still getting 15 miles per gallon. which is a ***** joke.
- MindTrigger, on 11/13/2007, -1/+5yeah, no one should think of ways to make trucks better, because there is no use for them anywhere on the planet. You think this because YOU don't need one, and can't for the life of you, figure out why someone else would.
- tmbrwolf19, on 11/14/2007, -0/+4He is also using out of date info. Like the part on Sudbury where he says quotes greenpeace... from the 70s. Sudbury mining is dramatically cleaner then it once was and currently Sudbury is one of the more evironmental municipalities in Ontario.
- DeathJux, on 11/13/2007, -0/+4Great, now give me a big-ass battery, too, and use it to improve the efficiency of other systems.
- slayerab, on 11/14/2007, -0/+3So, what if you drove 50,000 miles in station wagon or mini van that gets 20 mpg while being just as spacious and safer than a huge suv? SUV's are, for the mos part, a joke
- MadOgre, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3Amen to that.
- hammerattack, on 11/14/2007, -0/+3No, SUV's are, for the most part, a vehicle. The drivers that buy them when they don't need them are the joke.
- REsplin, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3He has a green penis
- MindTrigger, on 11/13/2007, -1/+4So should we discuss useless 2 seater sports cars too? Singling out one type of vehicle is ludicrous.
- inactive, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3Also, even if you only actually need a truck occasionally, it's cheaper to drive one every day, rather than buy, insure, and store a second more economical vehicle.
- plr4ever, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3Read that.Please. That article is a joke. Besides the part about pollution, that guy doesn't know what he is talking about.
Does anyone else think that guy's math is flawed, because somehow he figures that a hummer cost less to use than a prius. - inactive, on 11/13/2007, -1/+4Which they drive 75 miles each way to work everyday because the only way they can afford their 4500 sqft house with the heated pool and spa is to live that far from the city. Meanwhile they complain about people who drive their SUVs 5 miles to work.
- jonohull, on 11/13/2007, -1/+3Trucks can do that already.
- aegis9975, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2Toyota already has a Hybrid-Diesel truck currently on sale in Japan, its a 1.0-1.5t heavy-duty truck called the Dyna & Toyoace.
http://toyota.jp/toyoace/dynamism/hybrid/index.htm ... - Porch, on 11/13/2007, -1/+3I put 3,000 miles a month using my small Toyota truck for work. Yes a hull stuff. If Toyota makes a hybrid one, I would buy it today. Gas is only going up in price.
- schnikies79, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2Very true. I only have my car because I used it in college. It's cheap to insure and stays in the garage most of the time so I keep it around but if I was pressed for cash, I would sell it. No way would I keep it over the truck.
- BlackAle, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2depends what you mean by truck, to me truck is a HGV. Though when I replied to this thread, I was thinking of what it means to US users, which is a car with a useless back area for goods, which the majority never use.
- MadOgre, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2What powers those electrics? Those are oil burning engines my friend. And regardless... and electric vehicle would get extremely cold in the winter out here. It would freeze up. And in the summer? It's scorching here in the summer. We need the AC's running on high. Not just for comfort, but because it gets extremely hot and working guys need to avoid heat stroke. An electric just isn't going to get the job done.
- MindTrigger, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2Nope. Try again.
- MindTrigger, on 11/13/2007, -4/+6Here come all the comments from douche bags who think everyone on the planet can conveniently fit their lives into some cute little sub-compact green machine.
- firetwuck, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2My new Jetta Diesel gets 51mpg. I'm happy to fill it once a month. Gonna try biodiesel in the spring using french fry oil from all the fatties in pick-ups who eat at McDonalds.
- moulinneuf, on 11/14/2007, -0/+2The real problem is that financially there is no incentives for the automobile company to make truck and cars that don't work with gas and the Government as no monetary or political incentive either. Even today the Government is subsidizing and subventionning the creation of gas cars by the help of tax breaks and other packages it give to cars makers. If one government taxed by 80% the company for every gas car they make and if they highly taxed gas fuel too and taxes personnal and enterprise ownership of a gas car by 80%. Then and only then , you would see Hybrid being made in numbers.
All that money collected could be used to do massive public research into alternatives and the company would also increase ther R&D in that area in order to not be taxed in anyway.
Company and individual and government will not move if they're is no financial burden put on them or some kind of real pressures.
Also if they would be really interested in a solution they would grant a definitive patent free use of all motor related patents of the patented technology nobody can use but are working because they are owned by petroleum and there conglomerate company. This under and for the sake of national security everywhere
Ask yourself this question : Is it not strange that the the tesla car from Tesla Motors is being built using a lotus design ( instead of a honda or hyundai or low key gm ) that cost a fortune from a company that as never shipped or made mass production of it's models of cars when they currently hold the technology that can work and could be improved upon if the patent where free to use by everyone ?
http://www.teslamotors.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOl_1S10jTk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v/RGpqxZmRA9w&l=372&t ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v/S44Lq4WNE3Q&l=371&t ... - hammerattack, on 11/14/2007, -0/+2It's a nice conspiracy theory you have there. Except that it's all wrong.
1) Ford, Daimler Chrysler, Honda, GM, Hyundai et al are gas car companies and always have been. Making an electric car is not as simple as slapping an electric motor under the hood where the gas engine used to be. There is an extraordinary amount of research, development and capital that goes into making a vehicle. Even highly experienced automotive companies take a huge risk just making a next generation vehicle based on the same old gas engine technology with a few bells and whistles tacked on. Think of all the "duds" or "lemons" in the history of the automobile.
2) Lotus chasiss were used because Lotus is the leader in carbon fiber and composite construction of automobile chassis. Again, it's a question of who has the technology: the big automakers still don't know how to incorporate these materials into large scale production cars. BTW, Lotus has been using Toyota engines since day one.
3) Patents have nothing to do with anything. Nobody has a patent on the electric motor. Nobody has a patent on carbon fiber composites. Patents don't prevent anyone from developing new and improved processes, and they're rarely used in anti-competitive fashion. (And usually when they are, they're nullified by the courts.) Consider that the airbag was originally invented and patented in 1951 by a private individual. 20 years later, the automotive companies patented their version of the airbag. It would be 1985 before Mercedez Benz introduced a practical, reliable and economical airbag system in their cars. They released their patent so that anyone could use their airbag system and even offered to sell the systems to other automakers. It would still be be almost 10 years before airbags were widely available, and that took mandating their installation in cars for sale in the US. Consumers simple didn't want the extra expense and didn't see the value. Patent or no patent, there was no incentive. What a patent does do is give an individual or company some assurance that when they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D, they'll have the right to profit from their discoveries. If there's no chance of profiting on something, a company won't bother getting a patent. - FortyCaliber, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2Horsepower isn't key in a truck, low-end Torque is. HP is a product of Torque.
The Evo VIII with a FQ400 gets 355 ft/lb @ 5000. A Ford F-150 with a 5.4 L Triton V-8 gets 350 @ 2500.
Not to mention that that particular Evo got under 10 mpg and the Ford above gets over that.
Also, these things are designed to do two completely different things. - hoovcluck, on 11/13/2007, -4/+6A large truck is no substitute for proper genitalia.
-off a bumpersticker - MadOgre, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2Making a working truck a hybrid just for the sake of being a hybrid isnt really an improvement. You also have to consider the power and reliability.
- thecosmicpope, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2Burn out easy? No, not at all. The extreme example I used (the Mitsubishi FQ400 power planet) may have a short life span, however the suggestion that a well built German motor from VW or a Japanese one from Honda will "burn out quickly" is absurd. European cars (excluding the Italians and French, who build there cars out of tracing paper and saliva) have exceptionally good life spans, and Japanese cars...well if you buy a Japanese car, the chances are you'll die long before it does. Honda have made over 1 million V-Tec systems, and not one of them has *ever* broken, and that's something to be proud of.
There is nothing I like more than a big brutal V8. I've a huge Corvette fan and my god I love the sound of the Corvette C6R thundering down the Mulsanne stright at Le Mans. I love the sound of 43 Stock Cars at an unrestricted high banker, and my god I want a Holden Monaro, just for the noise. But from a technical stand point, the V8 is massively unimpressive and seriously outdated. The only good thing about them is they are reliable, however they aren't any more reliable than any other well built modern engine by a respectable company.
There is a reason the rest of the world has moved on from this sort of technology. It is just too old. - MadOgre, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2Because we love Sports Cars?
- MindTrigger, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2Exactly. Where I live that is ridiculously common.
- firetwuck, on 11/13/2007, -0/+1Interesting. I still think that making diesel pick-ups more efficient would help. Eliminate gas trucks. The new common rail diesel systems are great.
- FortyCaliber, on 11/13/2007, -0/+1Well, without citations or publications, everything is flawed. Not to mention that I believe NASA cent astronauts there to study "shatter cone" impacts from meteors... not because it was a barren wasteland. (the local nickel mine is believed to be a ~2 billion year old meteor impact.)
Granted, though, the Prius' nickel for batteries DO have to circumnavigate the world, and there would be an energy cost there.
He didn't mention the "offset" cost of use comparison vehicle.
This just seems like one of those "I heard this and that" story, published through a credible site. - razrielle, on 11/13/2007, -0/+1Yea theres no use for my truck which i use to transport a bobcat s250 to job sites every day
- FortyCaliber, on 11/13/2007, -1/+2"100% torque"
WTF does that mean? A percentage is an amount of something arbitrary. Torque is an actual measure of angular force. An nothing delivers any torque when it's not spinning. - MadOgre, on 11/13/2007, -0/+1What magical batteries do you guys use? I've never met a battery yet that wont wear out eventually. You guys should make laptop batteries.
I've got two friends in california that own Priuses. They both had to replace all the batteries to the tune of 5,000 bucks each time for all of them at once. One of them had to replace all batteries twice. She has an early example. This is a total expense of $15,000 just in two vehicles. My Contour is a 97. I've had to replace the battery twice. My full sized (F-150 based) Ford Bronco is on it's third. My Jeep Cherokee needs a new one. My Sportage just had a new one. My wife's Montana has a new one, hers is a 99... not bad so far. - ChromaVita, on 11/13/2007, -0/+15? Tell us if we're warmer or colder.
- REsplin, on 11/13/2007, -0/+1oops... bury
- CaviMike, on 11/13/2007, -0/+1Hybrid trucks is an oxymoron.
- MadOgre, on 11/13/2007, -0/+1And what % of any given material gets recycled and what ends up in a landfill?
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