Design News for Mechanical and Design Engineers

Managers, Legislators Don't Understand What Engineers Do

A perfect example of this are fuel efficiency standards. These regulations, while well-intentioned and having produced modest gains, have also added hundreds, even thousands, to the cost of producing and the price of a car. You're also correct that most people, automotive company management included, have virtually no idea what an engineer actually does and how we do it.

Trained by TV to expect instant results, it's thought that, by simply demanding something (legislation), it will be a reality with no negative consequences. Indeed, careers and companies have been destroyed by this management and legislative arrogance.

I wish I saw a possibility of management and legislative enlightenment. However, with scientific “advisors” who've forgotten where their true loyalty lies (the truth) and willing to spout what their employer wants to hear, the situation will only get worse. I hope I'm wrong and that voices of reason like yours will be heard and sanity will prevail.

Roger Imerman BOQUETE, PANAMA

For someone who is so adamantly certain, you have got it completely wrong. Tens of thousands of EV's have been sold — they are called GEMS. They are currently sold in volume. The Prius, too, runs in battery mode and there have been tens of thousands of them sold. There are also tens of thousands of electric bicycles which are all classified as vehicles.

Given that most people can afford giant SUV's, they most certainly could afford to get rid of it, buy an electric commuter and rent a pickup when they need to move a 2 x 4.

But they don't, they just want to go on like you in their cosy consumeristic daze of materialism.

You sound just like the guys over at Car and Driver. The net effect of their staff has been to encourage people to buy ever bigger vehicles with ever bigger engines that they never really use, in the meanwhile generating hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 — really just to impress the neighbors.

Lets make this planet sustainable.

Chris Pollard MONUMENT, CO

I just read the electric car editorial and readers' comments (DN 2.26.07).

I think a large point in the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car” is that we really need PLUG-IN hybrids to satisfy the needs or nearly all drivers and move toward decreasing emissions.

If the batteries are sized to drive the electric motor with enough range for the average day's commuting needs and the gas motor is sized to supply energy to the motors under appropriate loading conditions (using batteries only as a buffer), then can't we have our cake and eat it, too?

The point is that the electric power companies are much better (greener) at getting power to us than the oil companies.

The term “well to wheels” is what I believe was the crux of the EV green argument. You need a plug to charge the car on off-peak hours. This happens while we sleep and virtually everyone can live with that.

Joe Chovan SYRACUSE, NY

In 1961, just married, we were living in Monrovia, CA, when my wife and I bought an entertainment center, Danish modern style, with TV, radio, amplifier and record changer from Sears (DN 10.23.06). It worked just fine and even survived a nearby lighting strike which burnt off one side of the antenna connection.

We had this entertainment center up until 1975. It survived several moves when in Gresham, OR, we gave it to the Goodwill still working fine. We have bought other Kenmore products and found them OK and service under warranty has been good.

James Bain PORTLAND, OR