[geeks] electric cars

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:19:35 -0400 (EDT)
der Mouse <mouse at Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA> wrote:

> > can't beat a steel wheel on a steel rail for low rolling friction...
> 
> Well, you could go maglev and have *no* _rolling_ friction (and very
> low train<->support friction, lower even than steel wheel on steel
> rail).  (Of course, maglev has other problems.  But reducing friction
> is one thing it does spectacularly well.)
> 
> > we could reduce fuel usage by using more trains and fewer trucks -
> > but the rail infrastructure has been wasting away while we build
> > more roads with taxpayer money.
> 
> Welcome to North America. :-~

One of the latest pork projects is the I81 route through the mountains
of Virginia.  We desperately need new rail lines there, but there is a
huge contract to build an 8-lane superhighway through there.  It would
be incredibly ugly, noisy, and ruin a lot of scenery because of the
generally stupid way we build highways.

Meanwhile, a couple of rail lines is well known to carry about ten
times as much freight, which is the stated purpose of the 8-lane
highway.

The public was actually awake and fighting that one last I checked, but
I can't remember now if there was any progress.  I lost track awhile
back.


-- 
shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- ["If you tell the truth, you don't have to
remember anything" -- Mark Twain]