Re: Tata's $2500 59mpg car on display in January

Alvin E. Toda wrote:
On Wed, 26 Dec 2007, Islander wrote:

John Galt wrote:
"Alvin E. Toda" <aet@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:Pine.BSI.4.64.0712261109300.4890@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 26 Dec 2007, John Galt wrote:

"Islander" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:mrCdnfvAXeLsP-_anZ2dnUVZ_hadnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The key to the electrics is, I think, the introduction of lithium ion batteries, light weight and long life. I've been watching their introduction into portable electronics and power tools where they are becoming standard. Scale them up a bit and electric cars become viable, IMV.
This is how the Prius tinkers got the Prius up to a couple hundred miles per gallon -- they added a few thousand dollars worth of LI's into the the trunk and a way to plug them in. This decreased the frequency of having to kick in the gasoline engine to recharge the batteries, and off they went.

An interesting concept. Not cost effective for the consumer (the LI's don't last forever), but certainly environmentally friendly
There's a lot of research going on for cars which can be plugged in for recharging. But from what I hear in the news, it seems that large capacity pasive devices called super-capacitors would be playing a large role in these electric cars. Having something like this in the system would allow the designer to control the rate of charging and extend the life of the battery.

One thing that I would like to see would be integrated motor/wheel/brakes, but I'm not holding my breath. It would make a great deal of sense to eliminate the overhead of energy transmission to the wheels. The single drive motor seems to me to be a false economy since electric motors scale differently than internal combustion motors. Secondly, using the motor as a generator for braking saves energy and is used already in a few cars. Finally, the redundancy inherent in two to four wheel drive systems would improve reliability. Why not integrate everything into the wheels?

Do you know anyone who wants to start an auto company? I bet that I could assemble one heck of an R&D team!
You know, with the boomer retirement, you might see a lot of this -- where a group of healthy and bored 60s and 70-something ex-engineers and businessmen join forces to solve a problem like this. Because they're not 30 and starting a family and have a house payment, they can afford to work for less and for fun and for equity, focused more on the prize than the present.

Wouldn't that be great, if the economic story of the next decade was "geezer startups" bringing all that experience to bear on real problems for reasons *other* than short-term profit?

JG
It may work out better if they could have positions within the management of the company that would allow us to work at a more leisurely pace. Startups are a young man's game.

Right, but that's because of the time committment involved. What I'm envisioning is being able to double up on the human capital for the same price as a single person.

In a startup, I might have to pay 100K for the 30 year old engineer PLUS equity, who will work 60 hour weeks. What if I could get two seasoned citizens instead, pay them 40K each for 25 hour weeks (knowing I'll make up the productivity difference through experience) plus that equity?

Plus, because of the internet, you no longer need to have everyone living in the same city or coming to the office.

Lots of people aren't interested in just playing golf, I'd figure.

JG


Back when I was consulting, I preferred to take out most of my compensation in stock options. Much better tax wise. Don't know if that is still possible. I believe that there were some changes in the tax code and I haven't had reason to keep up to date.

I don't know about the rest of you, but it is difficult for me to work part time. If I am interested in something I tend to focus on it to the exclusion of everything else. My wife is happier now that I am no longer playing in that game.

I agree with the difficulty. But it's also your location. It's not true that it's possible to telecomute. Most creative endeavors require a lot if close collaboration.

Yes, there are reasons that research centers are built with areas for people to interact informally. That is very difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate over the internet. My research group at Stanford was working on solutions before I retired, new forms of email, low cost video, remote operation of equipment, and forms of shared work spaces. Neat stuff, but all missing the unique communication that happens face-to-face.

Still, there are a number of people here who telecommute successfully. They do it because they want to live here. I have two friends who design chips and several others who manage their companies on the mainland remotely. One woman does technical writing and, of course, there are several who are authors, some with names that you would recognize.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Tatas $2500 59mpg car on display in January
    ... I've been watching their introduction into portable electronics and power tools where they are becoming standard. ... This decreased the frequency of having to kick in the gasoline engine to recharge the batteries, ... But from what I hear in the news, it seems that large capacity pasive devices called super-capacitors would be playing a large role in these electric cars. ... The single drive motor seems to me to be a false economy since electric motors scale differently than internal combustion motors. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Tatas $2500 59mpg car on display in January
    ... I've been watching their introduction into portable electronics and power tools where they are becoming standard. ... This decreased the frequency of having to kick in the gasoline engine to recharge the batteries, ... But from what I hear in the news, it seems that large capacity pasive devices called super-capacitors would be playing a large role in these electric cars. ... The single drive motor seems to me to be a false economy since electric motors scale differently than internal combustion motors. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Tatas $2500 59mpg car on display in January
    ... introduction into portable electronics and power ... up a bit and electric cars become viable, ... the batteries, and off they went. ... across the terminals of a 1/3 Farad capacitor, ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Tatas $2500 59mpg car on display in January
    ... I've been watching their introduction into portable electronics and power tools where they are becoming standard. ... This decreased the frequency of having to kick in the gasoline engine to recharge the batteries, ... But from what I hear in the news, it seems that large capacity pasive devices called super-capacitors would be playing a large role in these electric cars. ... The single drive motor seems to me to be a false economy since electric motors scale differently than internal combustion motors. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Tatas $2500 59mpg car on display in January
    ... I've been watching their introduction into portable electronics and power tools where they are becoming standard. ... This decreased the frequency of having to kick in the gasoline engine to recharge the batteries, ... But from what I hear in the news, it seems that large capacity pasive devices called super-capacitors would be playing a large role in these electric cars. ... The single drive motor seems to me to be a false economy since electric motors scale differently than internal combustion motors. ...
    (soc.retirement)
Loading