I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

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AJMD429
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I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by AJMD429 »

I've always felt the Prius was an expensive way to virtue-signal, that was of dubious environmental benefit, unless one fudged the calculations a little bit, but I would definitely be willing to drive THIS Prius....! 8)
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by wm »

They said they used a Prius because Raptors were too expensive but I just looked and Ford F-150 Raptors are like 65K.

Oh wait …… I bet they meant …… yeah …… never mind.

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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by AJMD429 »

I was watching a video on those guns, and the cost of the AMMO is incredible, but of course when you're shooting over 100 rounds per second, even a 30-30 would start getting pricey.
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by GunnyMack »

That certainly gives a Prius some COOL factor!!!
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by COSteve »

Done
Last edited by COSteve on Sun May 30, 2021 4:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by KWK »

COSteve wrote: Sat Feb 23, 2019 4:58 pm... you and I are all paying through tax relief, for every one of those polluting, overpriced POSes.
Calm down, Steve. The topic was the Prius. Your rant, to which there is some truth, is on electric cars, which the Prius is not.

The Prius and its ilk replace the mechanical transmission in part with an electric transmission. Add a modest size battery, and you get to recover energy lost in braking and idling. Now you have a car that uses 1/3 less fuel and is currently economical without subsidies. Their relatively small battery makes them feasible with out great quantities of rarer metals, and while many of them are currently using lithium-cobalt brews, this isn't essential. I believe the balance is in favor of them. I've driven briefly a number of different hybrids over the years and can say that if anything, they are superior to a conventional car to drive, being smoother and quieter.

The battery-electric car is a different beast. If you try make it a replacement for conventional cars, you must go to exotic battery chemistries, and it has not been established you can recycle from them all the metals in their pack, which as you point out is a serious problem. The current economics are a bit vague but some people claim their total cycle cost to operate will soon end up cheaper than a conventional car. I doubt this, but we'll see.

The equation changes if you limit the electric car to town use. A few years back, I picked up cheap a used first generation electric car. As a third car in the family, it never needs to leave town, and it would be utterly impractical to do so. Because of the short range, they depreciate incredibly fast. I've never had to take the car in for service, and given the relative price of gas and electricity, it's like driving at 100 mpg. Better, as a car to drive, it is simply superior to a comparable gasoline car, peppy yet nearly silent. I always drive it in preference to our conventional cars. Now, would I buy a new one? Probably not. It only made sense as long as I could get one that had rapidly depreciated from an already subsidized price.

Your claim of 7 year battery life appears to be wrong. My pack is already about 4 years old and the range is no where near a problem. I expect to drive it at least a dozen years before pack decay leads me to scrap it. Cars of such limited range as this don't require an exotic battery chemistry, but whether they can ever be "environmentally friendly" remains to be seen.

Your claim they emit more CO2 is false in some cases. While this town gets most of its juice from two old coal plants on the river, there are large wind farms in all directions from here. I go ahead and pay for juice from them. It costs a little more than coal, but I get to laugh and say my car is blown by the wind (which isn't quite accurate). Up near Chicago, most of the juice is nuclear, and again it's clean, cleaner even than wind energy. Were I running straight coal electricity, I estimate the CO2 level would be about on par with a car at 35 mpg, which is indeed a little worse than I might get with a very small conventional car. Actually, there were tiny town cars in Europe in the 1930s which emitted slightly less CO2 than my car would on coal.

As for fusion powered roads, that idea is, as you know, goofier than electric cars. My son is studying nuclear engineering, and neither he nor his profs expect to see fusion plants in their lifetimes. A more likely solution is using fission energy to synthesize liquid fuels and use these in a hybrid. Or we can go back to trains for intercity travel and trams and battery cars in town, both of which are feasible today, just as they were 120 years ago.

There. Now where do I claim my prize for the longest post of the month?

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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by piller »

I like the Vulcan.

As far as hybrid technology, I would like to try a Fisker. It uses batteries and a small generator to run the electric motors at each wheel. Top Gear tested one several years back and liked it. It was sort of a copy of the idea behind a diesel-electric locomotive.
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by COSteve »

Done
Last edited by COSteve on Sun May 30, 2021 4:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by KWK »

No such laws in IL, and in CO the laws do not apply to electric cars, for they have no (direct) emissions. The hybrids only have to pass the usual 7 year inspections (OBD test). At least that is what Colorado says on their site. (Search for the phrase Emissions Exempt near the top of the page.)

I did find a news report which says if the battery in a hybrid is weak enough to trigger the check engine light, the battery will have to be serviced even if the car otherwise passes CO emissions--typical bureaucratic foolishness. Packs in a hybrid are not outrageously expensive, and rebuilds are an option at some car makers.
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by AJMD429 »

Yeah, but none of them are any fun without a MINIGUN attached.... :twisted:
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by GunnyMack »

AJMD429 wrote: Sun Feb 24, 2019 6:14 pm Yeah, but none of them are any fun without a MINIGUN attached.... :twisted:
Amen Brother!!
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by KWK »

AJMD429 wrote: Sun Feb 24, 2019 6:14 pmYeah, but none of them are any fun without a MINIGUN attached.
The video claims $3000 per second to feed that minigun, which would take all the fun out of it for me.
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by GunnyMack »

Dillon developed the 1050 to feed their minigun addiction! :lol:
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by crs »

I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!
WHY?

So all other drivers can look down on you? Literally!

One of my business associates bought one and drove it a few months and then traded it on a beauty of a Lexus!
The lady was not as stupid as she appeared to be.

A pip squeak car on the freeways of DALLAS? NOT MUCH BETTER THAN A MOTORCYCLE, JUST CLEANER.
Hell, I feel under gunned in my son's Nissan 600 hp 370Z.

Now, his 400 HP Audi all wheel drive 4 door is another matter. But I still prefer my Tahoe.
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by AJMD429 »

Nothin like a full-size 4wd pickup.... 8)
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Re: I always wanted to drive a Prius....!!!

Post by piller »

Doc, CRS knows how the people in Dallas drive. 90% or thereabouts good and 10% actively trying to kill you. That Vulcan would help deter that 10%.
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