Re: [Amc-list] ELECTRO-RAMBLER =revisited=

[adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Sandwich Maker)]

" From: Wrambler242@xxxxxxxxxxx
" 
" As a conclusion, I think he quite likely spent more building and keeping the thing going then he would have spent fixing the ICE,as he calls it [Internal Combustion engine]. Even factoring in gas costs I doubt he broke even. He only drives 5 miles one way to work. 
" []
" Honda advertises up to 50mpg from thier new Civics. Even if they screw the public and it "only" gets 40mpg, it's likely a better deal. Of course I just realized that is likely a Hybrid, I'm not interested on one of those. It's agood concept, but it takes too much control away from the owner for my tastes. They won't even release the proposed costs of replacement batteries yet! 

that's because people would start figuring out the -real- cost of
ownership!	;^>

" I'll just shoot for a straight gas or diesel subcompact when the time gets here for a new car. That will be a while unless something happens to one of our DD's. Son number two can get his permit in October. Then a year later he is elegible for his license. It costs us an additonal $800 every six months for son number one. I'm not in a hurry to buy anything new, now, or ever.

that's my conclusion.  in fact, recycling a good, used car is even
greener, even if you have to put what seems like unreasonable $$ into
it at first.

" We saved a ton of cash buying the XJ Cherokee. Paid $6500 cash for a 97 with 52K on it. Two and half years later  we we have spent maybe $750 in maintaing it. $225 was unnecessary as it was for a set of 15X8" canyon wheels. So we have maybe $7500 in it even fudging for cost factors. A new Jeep would have depreciated more then that after 2 1/2 years.... 

you could dieselize that puppy...  i've spotted a couple of toyota
mills [and if it's an auto, a volvo] that are bolt-ups for the
drivetrain - but it wouldn't pay unless you drive -a-lot-.

suppose you could do it for $3000 [possible but unlikely]
	'jdm' half-cut with good used engine, ecm [even for diesels!],
	harness, and tranny you can rob for conversion bits - $2k
	mounts, hoses, wiring etc - $1k
boost your mileage from 24 to 32 mpg [plausible]
$3000 could buy you ~1000 gallons of gas.  you'd have to drive almost
100000 miles before the diesel would save you that 1000 gallons.

" --
" Mark Price

=============

" From: Don Johnson <donjohnson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
" 
" The number 1 issue driving the conversion from gas seems to be the cost.
" We all remember $0.35-0.50 gal gas and at $3.00 a gal we're royally pi**ed.
" I'm convinced that we are not running out of oil, we're running out of CHEAP OIL.
" Witness Alberta's oil sands and Venezuela's new discoveries.
" When the oil companies have gouged us out of enough money to fund their move into alternate fuels, we will go there.

remember, their business is MONEY.  oil is just the way they make
money.

" The likeliest place to go, in my opinion, would be to hydrogen. No green house gases or polution.
" I read recently that $6.00 oil makes hydrogen economically feasible. Your existing engine can burn it so we can keep our AMC's on the road.

in the long term maybe, but the best ways i've seen so far for making
h2 on a large scale are natural-gas or coal powered - and that isn't
counting the distribution and storage issues.  in the immediate/short
term, diesel/biodiesel is a practical green strategy that pays at a
lot less than $6/gal; iirc well under $4/gal even using fresh veg oil.
and that's not counting diesel's higher mileage.  the biggest hurdle
to large scale is fuel crops that don't compete - or at least compete
less - with food crops.

" Electricity seems to be a long way from taking over from gas.

agreed.  i'm not sure if h2 isn't almost as far off though.
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
internet rambler                            is to see what all have seen
adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                       and think what none thought
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