Dave, this is a good point, and crucial to the amount that I care about
what others think about electric, or gas, or whatever, or whether they
have reverted back to diesel. They have the right to make their own
choices.
The popularity of electric will increase naturally as the cost of not
having electric goes up.
Short term thinking is the way the world runs right now, from the egos
of politicians who plan to look good, to the bank balances of company
honchos who want quick profits, personal bonuses, then can quit.
I have no doubt that in the early 1900's, there were people who 'went
back' to horses or electric cars because they found ICE engines
unacceptable to them. But the reliability and range of ICE got developed
to be more reliable, despite those people.
Right now, the benchmark for all boat and vehicle propulsion is the ICE.
One way that electric will become more popular is by advancing the
technology to bring electric up towards that ICE performance.
Another way is to wait until the ICE performance changes downwards,
especially in terms of running cost.
Try a comparison if fossil fuel cost is 4 times what it is now.
Suddenly, human greed will look at that small electric unit
particularly, (with solar and wind charging sufficient to not ever need
plugging in), or, even a plug-in larger unit, both to start to look a
lot sweeter.
John
3. ICE versus Electric
Posted by: "Dave Kellogg S/E/V" inganear1@yahoo.com inganear1
Date: Mon Jun 6, 2011 9:29 am ((PDT))
I've had this question in my mind for a long time and I've going to post
it for comment from the group. The Question is what would our mod of
transportation be like if the ICE were more expensive at the beginning
of the transportation era. Would we have the storage for electricity
that we are missing now? What refinements would have been invented
using electric power instead of gas/diesel? We have almost always
leaned to cost as the controlling factor in our lives instead of
searching for the best alternatives for our needs. Could we now have
conquered many other aspects and needs in our lives if we had not gone
to the cheaper fuel? I don't know, but it's good food for thought in
the future, and we are the future, all of us..
Dave K
S/V Redeemed (electric) 30ft Mono sloop
S/v Eastern Star Clipper (going electric 37ft Island Trader Ketch
S/v Cheetah (going electric) 26 Catamarran
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