krustytheclown

Wow, I laughed so hard at that one, My back is hurting.

scionofPCFL

And where do you propose they put the cow in an xB?

backseatchris

Ok...your gonna be waiting an extremely long time for something like that, if ever even. What your talking about is the holy grail of electricity....even greater than cold fusion. They even did a mythbusters episode on it.

What your proposing is a mechanical device that creates more power than it consumes, which in turn, allows the machine to hypothetically infinitely power itself. Thats a power source that if ever discovered, would change the world for ever...i mean, u could literally make 'batteries' that never run out of power. People have tried for several millenia to create a machine like this.....ranging from frickin simple to complicated. Several of these designs have come close to making just enough power to power themselves, but always fall short and fail. Its theorized that a machine cannot cross a threshold of infintely supplying more power than it makes.

Its a brilliant idea, but i hardly see anyone figuring this puzzle out in any of our lifetimes.

Lowellster

For everybody saying that plugging cars in also burns fossil fuel at the power plant needs to realize that power plants are a much more efficient use of fossil fuels than cars. I don't know the exact numbers but powering a car off the power plant would still would make a difference due to the higher efficiency than the internal combustion engine.

Backseatchriss is right... can't make a perpetual motion machine... cars need to conserve energy as much as possible (cant create energy, only conserve it)

mehow

The cost of electricity to fill up the batteries is under a $1. Electric cars run at about $0.02 per mile to fuel. . . umm electrify.

The electricity can be gained via hydro-power plants, solar, or wind. Therefore they can be 100% smog/emission free. Even if the electricity is gained through coal power, electric cars are still 98% cleaner than conventional cars. The main factor is the fact that combustion engines are incredibly inefficient . . . only about 20% of the fuels energy gets to the wheels.

I wish more people would look past the $ . . . and look at the environmental and social effects of their cars. I won't buy a car unless it is pure electric.


BTW . . . I was at the event, and I sat inside that "xBOX." The inside has plenty of extra displays and guages . . . it all looks very clean.

TheLastBrunnenG

>>>I wish more people would look past the $ . . . and look at the environmental and social effects of their cars. I won't buy a car unless it is pure electric. <<<

I have rent to pay and a family to feed. Sometimes I find a little extra here and there to buy a YDR intake or some other such nonsense, but in general a "pure electric" is either not practical for or beyond the means of most lower and middle-class Americans. Now, if Scion offered a Hybrid Synergy xB for $20K, I'd have scraped together enough to spring for it. But not a pure electric, not yet.

ggguy77

Lithium ion batteries last at the most a few years. I wonder what the environmental impact will be when recycling the batteries? Or how much pollution is caused when making the batteries. If you spent the extra $45000 it still would be more than gas in a car for several years.

hotweelz4me

Oh snap... now everyone is going to be hunting for eBox grills and emblems!

Lowellster

i love how the exhaust is covered up

VirginiaxB

If only the politicians who claim to be SO concerned about the environment would approve hydro, solar, or wind power. (think Kennedy not wanting wind turbines 40 miles off the coast because they will "Ruin his view of the water")

And even conservationalists don't support wind or hydro plants. They claim the wind turbines will kill too many birds and the hydro messes with the spawning of fish (even when people build locks so the fish can still get upriver).


On the not buying a car unless it's pure electric, more power to you. You must be in the top 2% of incomes. We peons can't spring for the extra 55G's. If someone were to finance a EBox with no money down, they would be paying 1500 a month for 5 years assuming 7% interest. That's more than my first and second mortgage and car payment combined. I think i'll stick with my GBox (Gas powered box) and keep my home instead of buying an Ebox and living in it.

VirginiaxB

I understand that. I was speaking in jest. I am looking into buying a second vehicle and my three choices are a 4cyl turbo(35mpg), a turbo diesel (55mpg), or a hybrid. I don't want to sound against conservation, i am for it, just not the politics of it and the costs associated.

krustytheclown

How about madating all car manufactures to make vehicles that get at least 20-25 mpg? Then only sell the gas guzzlers (HD Trucks, and Cargo Vans) to businesses that need them. Im sick and tired of seeing one person driving a H2 or Double Cab Truck or Gas guzzling Lincoln Land Yacht. Start giving more incentives to car companies that are building vehicles with better mileage.

You can't say a Federal Mandate of 25 mpg would be a bad idea. That would help right there.

scionofPCFL

You'd still see a bunch of people driving solo in these beasts. The only thing that has any effect on buying habits are gas prices. at $4/gallon, the couple that sprouts out a kid and runs to buy an H2 that day would be over. only problem would be trucking and the like, but there are ways to remedy that. For instance, what about $4/gal gas, but only $1.5/gal for diesel?

mehow

Hahaha . . . nope, I'm not in the top 2% . . . but I know that in the next few years there will be multiple products on the market that are pure electric or plug-in hybrid. Individually, Subaru and Nissan/ Renault are planning to bring electrics to market before 2010. Nissan has ditched using Toyota's hybrid technology and is making its own. Honda, Toyota, and GM are all planning on making affordable plug-in hybrids. Not to mention that there are many companies which have made small electric cars for years that are expanding to make regular electrics.

Some electric car companies are using new battery technology. Phoenix Motors uses a battery that still holds 80% charge after 250,000 miles. They have two cars a regular sized SUV and a Truck ( both 4RUNNER size) They have a range of over 100 miles, and the ability to charge in 10 minutes! Base price is $45,000.


You gotta remember that the prices of electrics will drop as production rises and these companies regain their cost of R&D.

superjeer

I'll take two!

VirginiaxB

I hope prices do come down soon, just like i'm waiting to buy an LCD or Plasma until the prices get to my range for a large format screen. But i can't wait for the car. I drive 80-120 miles a day so i'd love the technology to be here today.

scionofPCFL

This is the new reality. More and more people are having to drive like this on a daily basis. On the left coast, it's becomming more and more common for that figure to represent a one way trip to work.

Cars are not the solution for these new extreme commuters, an effective mass transit system is. If we don't start developing the infrastructer now, then in 50 years when Seattle, New York, and a few other places have the population desnisty of a Tokyo but without the trasit capability, we're going to be in serious trouble.

VirginiaxB

100% agreed. I am blessed to be in a smaller city with a decent highway system and the road i take to work was just finished and designed to handle 10X its capacity because of future planned growth so my trip is a breeze. But i'd go for a high speed rail in a heart beat. I'd pay a good amount to ride it daily also because i could sit there and do work on a laptop or read or surf the net if they offered wireless.

I am actually planning on moving closer to cut down my commute but it'll be a few years as house prices are 2 1/2 X higher where i work Vs. where i live.

scionofPCFL

That's a fact jack! You get less space and pay more for it. It's the same in every single location on the planet, I assure you. Keep in mind what you get for the money: Time. Irreplaceable. If you're on the road 1-3 hours a day, that's 1-3 hours a day you aren't spending with your kids. And you're not alone either.

I don't think that there's any small coincedence that as people have been moving further and further away from their place of income, families have been breaking up at an alarming rate. On the job 8-10 or more hours a day, 1-3 or more hours on the road every day, and pressures at the job to perform and compete making vacation time tough to come by. It's no wonder that couples are splitting up at the rate they are. 12-16 hours a day from the homestead? It's gotta be rough.

dskinner

Don't hold your breath