Design News for Mechanical and Design Engineers

We’re Guilty

If a man and wife with two kids had an electric car and an SUV, not an atypical scenario, they would be fully equipped for commuting, close and far, and not likely exposed to the situation where both the husband and wife need to go on separate, long trips at the same time. And even if they did, they would have many friends or relatives who would love to trade them their car for a few days in the “electric car.”

I believe we are guilty-as-charged.

Robert Bigler

SANTA CLARA, CA

Boy, you guys must have a lot of time on your hands because you have decided to write about such BS as “global warming.” Be assured, I don’t believe in GW; never have; never will. Where was global warming last winter when I was freezing my rear? As an engineer, I find it unbecoming of you to talk of GW.

I am old enough to remember when the same crowd was preaching “global cooling.” They kept “throwing that against the wall” trying to make it stick, but alas, no one with a brain believed them.

Thirty years ago, the same crowd said we would run out of petroleum by the year 2000. There are countless, self-appointed, experts who have NO educational background in areas like GW. Why would I want to listen to anyone who is a self-appointed expert in a field as complex as the weather? Since they cannot forecast the weather correctly a week from now, why would I think they can forecast it 30 years from now? Would you take your car to your plumber to be repaired? Then why listen to Gore?

GW is a political movement and a “religion.” It is nothing more than that. Hopefully, more people will realize that as time goes on.

You may be in “the same camp” as Sheryl Crow: we have to become frugal & use only one sheet (http://rbi.ims.ca/5393-515) — while she and her entourage uses 900 gallons of fuel to travel 500 miles! Einstein was right.

W. Armitage

EXPORT, PA

All this talk about global warming is using the art of misdirection to avoid a far more inconvenient truth. Whether you’re talking about global warming, the loss of rain forest, the likelihood of an epidemic of epic proportions, traffic jams, etc. — the most significant driving force is overpopulation.

We address all the problems of overpopulation like we addressed the need for food. We fertilize the ground and irrigate. Now, we have the problem of low nutrition food because the soil is depleted of many minerals and trace elements. And we have an ever-lowering water table. We keep the faith that we can get out of this hole by digging deeper. It’s just like the folks who transfer balances from one credit card to another and open new accounts, confident that they can stay ahead of disaster.

Besides the ever-increasing population, we seem to be hell bent on spreading technology around the world, thus enabling others to become more like us — super consumers.

If population continues to climb, then no matter what measures you take, we are in for a day of reckoning. So far, China is the only country to really face this problem. It’s a nasty one. Global warming? It’s more of a symptom or a metric.

David Taylor

PLANO, TX

As a mechanical designer, I do believe that GM and others could make vehicles that could meet or surpass those specs of the EV1 today and price them so that people would buy them (DN 1.8.07 http://rbi.ims.ca/5393-517). I look to pioneers like Burt Rutan in the aeronautical field, pushing the limits when others said things couldn’t be done. He just goes out and proves them wrong.

I believe that GM killed the idea by pricing them out of the market. You can’t expect people to pay more for less. I don’t believe something that does basic transport like the EV1 should have cost that much. I don’t believe it would cost that much today. I think it’s large corporate overheads that make simple ideas too costly and too complex.

Stewart Bowland

ONTARIO, CANADA

I would gladly trade my 427 powered (13 mpg) Cobra replica for a Tesla Roadster! The range is far better than I need, even as an everyday driver! I concede that the cost is high ($100K), but the technology won’t come down unless consumers give it life.

Tesla appears to have taken the approach of attempting to get the high rollers to look at an electric vehicle with upscale performance so the sales can help launch a sedan in the future. It takes that kind of client base to help bring these technologies to fruition.

William F. Henderson III

COLUMBIA, MO