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      02-09-2012, 08:11 AM   #120
hlmiii
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Drives: '11 1M '10 M5 '05 M3 '12 CRT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ateam View Post
Could someone explain to me the point of this car? 3300 pounds is not exactly a lightweight if the point was economy.
Sure.
It's easy and simple: public demand - the marketplace - and regulatory requirement - the government. These are in direct opposition to "lightweight."
It is impossible to have a four-seat vehicle with the competitive features that people want and the safety and mileage performance that governments mandate AND have that in a lightweight product that can be afforded by anything other than a miniscule market.
Lamborghini has the only current offering that performs better, has more features, and is lighter than the previous generation. This was realized ONLY with years of engineering and a very expensive design + construction that cannot be mass produced and/or sold for less than $450,000.00.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ateam View Post
I am so sick of this disguised energy loss. 99 percent of peopel think hydrogen fueled cars and electric are so green and saves us all oil and gas. Nobody understands it takes energy, oil and fossil fuels that make up gas, to actually produce electricity and get it to flow out across the grid!
EVERYBODY in the energy industry understands this perfectly.
The statement misses the issues by 60%: Supply and environment are of at least equal importance as efficiency.

The supply of petroleum is becoming more and more limited by actual reserve volume, geopolitics, increasing population and cost. PERIOD. Other sources will be needed.
Supplement and/or replacement must start before it becomes immediately necessary - technology, production and distribution takes years. Starting the process once there is a shortage it is far too late to avoid disruption.

This county - as well as any other entity - cannot both control its destiny and defend itself unless it can be energy independent. We are not in that situation and cannot be as long as "oil" retains its current place in our energy usage.

The increasing demands for energy due to increased population and advancing technological development in the most populous countries make local and global environmental issues critical. China is still relatively early in that process and it already has severe air and water problems, some of which reach even our borders. India is next.
Petroleum has been historically usable in this country only because it has been cheap, plentiful, relatively clean, and fairly local for its first hundred years. All of those advantages have receded and changed dramatically during the past thirty years.

Physics, chemistry and biology are forcing the world to use less oil at some point. This is happening regardless of whether we currently perceive it or understand it or like it. It is time to get ahead of what will be here.*
Ok. Class dismissed.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Ateam View Post
I wish they would make a nuclear powered car. That would be sick! I can see htis would not sell well however!!
Ha! Def. But talk about your high weight and mediocre performance.

*I have been in the oil&gas industry or related for over twenty years. As partial owner of such a company that has put my boys through college and bought me cars, I fully understand that what I wrote ultimately works against my immediate self-interest. I'm not a hater or a greenie. It's just unavoidable reality.
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