Segway's P.U.M.A.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Dylflon

I think hybrids are a shitty compromise and we could do better. BRING ON THE ELECTRICS!

Electrics aren't the best compromise either, since you have a 50% chance that your electric car is really powered by coal (at least in the US where 50% of all electricity is from coal fired plants).

That, and the battery is a huge issue. 100% electrics have horrible ranges, and while they might get better with time, it will likely take 50 years or more to make a battery powerful enough to power industrial vehicles, trucks and SUV's. The only other way for it to work would be to build a network of electrical " gas stations" across the US, and that would require a massive change in infrastructure, as well as considerations of how long it takes to charge a battery of that size. It takes me 4 hours to charge my lithium ion battery cell phone. I doubt people would be willing to wait that long to recharge.

Thats why I think hybrids (electric/hyrdrogen/carbon combos) are the real future of US travel once costs are reduced and it becomes mass market driven instead of niche market driven. The advantage for your belief, is that hybrids realistically allow for the future development of improved electric technology that could make your ideal fuel more pragmatic over time. Perhaps, if we expanded on this research?

http://www.tfcbooks.com/articles/tws12.htm

We simply can't ignore that our nation (the US) was built around the car, and that puts us at a significant disadvantage when trying to create cars that run on alternative fuels that are marketable in the US.