http://lowtechtimes.com/2009/06/21/do-plug-in-electric-cars-make-sense/ steam trains, bluegrass music, low-tech solutions, and hi-tech problems Tue, 22 May 2012 12:36:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://lowtechtimes.com/2009/06/21/do-plug-in-electric-cars-make-sense/comment-page-1/#comment-3116 Myrtonos Sun, 25 Sep 2011 00:55:11 +0000 http://lowtechtimes.com/2009/06/21/do-plug-in-electric-cars-make-sense/#comment-3116 The first ironic thing is that electric cars were more popular than steam or petrol cars at a time when most trains were still steam hauled. They were driven out of the market even though they had sufficident range for city driving, one might wonder whether the lifespan of batteries may have been yet another reason electric cars were driven out of the market. They also did not require a choke knob or clutch or gearchange, so I wonder whether the automatic transmisson was yet another thing that drove electric cars out of the market. The second ironic thing is that trolleybuses began to appear just as electric cars were driven out of the market, these and other straight electric vehicles have better range than even internal-combustion engined ones. There were also trolleytrucks, and it may be interresting to know about an underground salt mine in River Rouge in Michigan. They ran trolleytrucks from 1939 to 1964 and these also had batteries but these were only used for off-wire range. Modern trolleybuses also have batteries for straying from the wires. For all these years, multiple unit operation have been quite common with trains (both locomotives and railcars) some trams also have multiple unit controls and can thus be run in coupled pairs. There have even been a few multiple unit trolleybuses, so why in all these years hasn't there been any experiminting with car platoons until recently? The first ironic thing is that electric cars were more popular than steam or petrol cars at a time when most trains were still steam hauled. They were driven out of the market even though they had sufficident range for city driving, one might wonder whether the lifespan of batteries may have been yet another reason electric cars were driven out of the market. They also did not require a choke knob or clutch or gearchange, so I wonder whether the automatic transmisson was yet another thing that drove electric cars out of the market.
The second ironic thing is that trolleybuses began to appear just as electric cars were driven out of the market, these and other straight electric vehicles have better range than even internal-combustion engined ones. There were also trolleytrucks, and it may be interresting to know about an underground salt mine in River Rouge in Michigan. They ran trolleytrucks from 1939 to 1964 and these also had batteries but these were only used for off-wire range. Modern trolleybuses also have batteries for straying from the wires.
For all these years, multiple unit operation have been quite common with trains (both locomotives and railcars) some trams also have multiple unit controls and can thus be run in coupled pairs. There have even been a few multiple unit trolleybuses, so why in all these years hasn’t there been any experiminting with car platoons until recently?

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