Former Ford worker, Lee Iococca, says Plug in hybrids next big thing

Lee Iacocca, who used to work for Ford, talked about the American auto
makers.

Mr. Iacocca, who was asked to run Chrysler when Chrysler was acquired by
DimalerBenz (oopsie, it was a merger of equals), as well as ran Chrysler
during its recovery from near bankruptcy, talked about about the auto
industry on NPR's Morning Edition this morning. You can hear the audio at
about 10:00 am over the internet
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=9839029).

He talked about how the US automakers did not keep up with the needs of the
consumer, like making smaller cars, like the ones sold by Toyota and Honda.

He said that plug-in hybrids will be the next big thing. It makes sense. To
me, this makes sense. We already have the infrastructure, charging the
batteries in the middle of the night, when electrical use is lowest, would
help decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and could improve overall
efficiency. Most trips many people make are short trips. This means that you
can go around from home to the store, pick up the kids at school, and take
them to soccer practice. If you need to pick up your wife after her business
trip, you can pick her up, and if the batteries run low, the engine and
generator will step in. This will help reduce pollution, although coal and
oil power plants produce pollution, and coal, oil and natural gas plants all
produce CO2.

I think it will take more than five years to really get going, though.

Anyway, it was an interesting interview.

Jeff

Really? 52% of the electrical power in the US is generated by burning
bituminous coal, 21% in generated with nuclear power. Around 12%, by means
other than fuel oil. The vast majority of the carbon base products, produce
us in the US, comes from crude oil.

It would appear using less electricity would be a greater benefit to the
environment, but of course you are free to believe whatever you choose


mike

"Jeff" <news (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote

Lee Iacocca, who used to work for Ford, talked about the American auto
makers.

He said that plug-in hybrids will be the next big thing. It makes sense.
To me, this makes sense. We already have the infrastructure, charging the
batteries in the middle of the night, when electrical use is lowest, would
help decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and could improve overall
efficiency.


Jeff

"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2 (AT) mailcity (DOT) com> wrote

Really? 52% of the electrical power in the US is generated by burning
bituminous coal,

I believe that increasing our use of bituminous coal would decrease our use
of foreign oil. Using plug-in electrics would do this. As you kindly point
out, most of our electricity comes from coal. Using coal instead of oil
would decrease our dependence on foreign oil.

21% in generated with nuclear power. Around 12%, by means other than fuel
oil. The vast majority of the carbon base products, produce us in the US,
comes from crude oil.

Right, and using coal to produce electricity which would then power vehicles
would reduce the dependence on foreign oil.

It would appear using less electricity would be a greater benefit to the
environment, but of course you are free to believe whatever you choose

As you point out, nuclear power can also produce electricity. If more
nuclear power plants are built, they can help move cars and trucks, too. In
addition, if CO2 generating power plants sequestor the CO2 so it doesn't get
into the atmosphere, that would help too.

Plus, plug-in hybrids might use the energy more efficently, so that it takes
less energy overall to power the cars.

Have a lovely day!

Jeff

mike

"Jeff" <news (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:SL0Yh.2343$KB1.1801 (AT) trndny09 (DOT) ..
Lee Iacocca, who used to work for Ford, talked about the American auto
makers.

He said that plug-in hybrids will be the next big thing. It makes sense.
To me, this makes sense. We already have the infrastructure, charging the
batteries in the middle of the night, when electrical use is lowest,
would help decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and could improve
overall efficiency.


Jeff

"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2 (AT) mailcity (DOT) com> wrote

Really? 52% of the electrical power in the US is generated by burning
bituminous coal, 21% in generated with nuclear power. Around 12%, by
means other than fuel oil. The vast majority of the carbon base products,
produce us in the US, comes from crude oil.

It would appear using less electricity would be a greater benefit to the
environment, but of course you are free to believe whatever you choose

mike

Right out of the box, it's actually more efficient to power a car by coal
through its batteries than to use gasoline. Power plants are generally
about as close to best possible thermodynamic efficiency as you can get and
transmission, generation and conversion losses are very low.

And, as Jeff points out, separately, we can take further advantage of new
generation technologies (e.g, photovoltaics, wind, nukes, tidal) to further
cut dependence on foreign oil. And reduce GHGs.

"Jeff" <news (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:SL0Yh.2343$KB1.1801 (AT) trndny09 (DOT) ..
Lee Iacocca, who used to work for Ford, talked about the American auto
makers.

He said that plug-in hybrids will be the next big thing. It makes sense.
To me, this makes sense. We already have the infrastructure, charging the
batteries in the middle of the night, when electrical use is lowest,
would help decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and could improve
overall efficiency.


Jeff

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Ya' producing more electricity buy burning more bituminous coal, sound like
a great idea. If one even mentions nuclear power the environuts go
well......NUTS. You however are free to believe whatever you choose.

mike


"Jeff" <news (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote

"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2 (AT) mailcity (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:nt2dnSXMGvYnX63bnZ2dnUVZ_ruknZ2d (AT) ptd (DOT) net...
Really? 52% of the electrical power in the US is generated by burning
bituminous coal,

I believe that increasing our use of bituminous coal would decrease our
use of foreign oil. Using plug-in electrics would do this. As you kindly
point out, most of our electricity comes from coal. Using coal instead of
oil would decrease our dependence on foreign oil.

21% in generated with nuclear power. Around 12%, by means other than fuel
oil. The vast majority of the carbon base products, produce us in the US,
comes from crude oil.

Right, and using coal to produce electricity which would then power
vehicles would reduce the dependence on foreign oil.

It would appear using less electricity would be a greater benefit to the
environment, but of course you are free to believe whatever you choose

As you point out, nuclear power can also produce electricity. If more
nuclear power plants are built, they can help move cars and trucks, too.
In addition, if CO2 generating power plants sequestor the CO2 so it
doesn't get into the atmosphere, that would help too.

Plus, plug-in hybrids might use the energy more efficently, so that it
takes less energy overall to power the cars.

Have a lovely day!

Jeff



mike

"Jeff" <news (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:SL0Yh.2343$KB1.1801 (AT) trndny09 (DOT) ..
Lee Iacocca, who used to work for Ford, talked about the American auto
makers.

He said that plug-in hybrids will be the next big thing. It makes sense.
To me, this makes sense. We already have the infrastructure, charging
the batteries in the middle of the night, when electrical use is lowest,
would help decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and could improve
overall efficiency.


Jeff

We may even save the world from the evil deeds of man in the process.


mike


"DH" <dh (AT) stargate (DOT) com> wrote

"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2 (AT) mailcity (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:nt2dnSXMGvYnX63bnZ2dnUVZ_ruknZ2d (AT) ptd (DOT) net...
Really? 52% of the electrical power in the US is generated by burning
bituminous coal, 21% in generated with nuclear power. Around 12%, by
means other than fuel oil. The vast majority of the carbon base
products, produce us in the US, comes from crude oil.

It would appear using less electricity would be a greater benefit to the
environment, but of course you are free to believe whatever you choose

mike

Right out of the box, it's actually more efficient to power a car by coal
through its batteries than to use gasoline. Power plants are generally
about as close to best possible thermodynamic efficiency as you can get
and transmission, generation and conversion losses are very low.

And, as Jeff points out, separately, we can take further advantage of new
generation technologies (e.g, photovoltaics, wind, nukes, tidal) to
further cut dependence on foreign oil. And reduce GHGs.


"Jeff" <news (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:SL0Yh.2343$KB1.1801 (AT) trndny09 (DOT) ..
Lee Iacocca, who used to work for Ford, talked about the American auto
makers.

He said that plug-in hybrids will be the next big thing. It makes sense.
To me, this makes sense. We already have the infrastructure, charging
the batteries in the middle of the night, when electrical use is lowest,
would help decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and could improve
overall efficiency.


Jeff



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"DH" <dh (AT) stargate (DOT) com> wrote

Right out of the box, it's actually more efficient to power a car by
coal through its batteries than to use gasoline. Power plants are
generally about as close to best possible thermodynamic efficiency
as you can get and transmission, generation and conversion losses
are very low.

Can you cite any backup for this claim? I don't know if it is true or
not and I'd love to see the numbers either way. Here goes some rough
numbers pulled from the internet:

For an electric car:
Coal to electricity conversion efficiency - 36% to 38%
Transmission line losses - 5%-10% (Or 90% to 95% efficient)
Efficiency of battery charging / recovery - 66%
Efficiency of electric motor - 90%
Drivetrain Efficiency - 97%
Overall efficiency ~ 18% to 21%

For an IC car
Typical efficiency of low compression IC engine - 26%
Driveline efficiency -95%
Overall efficiency ~ 25%

Of course for the electric car, you can actually use braking energy to
recharge the batteries, so this improves the overall efficiency
compared to a traditional IC car where all the braking energy is
thrown away. I suspect this puts the electric car ahead of the
traditional IC powered car in terms of efficiency, but not in front of
a IC/electric hybrid, which can also recover braking energy.

Ed

"C. E. White" <cewhite3 (AT) removemindspring (DOT) com> wrote

"DH" <dh (AT) stargate (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:4630dcce$0$25549$88260bb3 (AT) free (DOT) teranews.com...

Right out of the box, it's actually more efficient to power a car by coal
through its batteries than to use gasoline. Power plants are generally
about as close to best possible thermodynamic efficiency as you can get
and transmission, generation and conversion losses are very low.

Can you cite any backup for this claim? I don't know if it is true or not
and I'd love to see the numbers either way. Here goes some rough numbers
pulled from the internet:

For an electric car:
Coal to electricity conversion efficiency - 36% to 38%
Transmission line losses - 5%-10% (Or 90% to 95% efficient)
Efficiency of battery charging / recovery - 66%
Efficiency of electric motor - 90%
Drivetrain Efficiency - 97%
Overall efficiency ~ 18% to 21%

For an IC car
Typical efficiency of low compression IC engine - 26%
Driveline efficiency -95%
Overall efficiency ~ 25%

Of course for the electric car, you can actually use braking energy to
recharge the batteries, so this improves the overall efficiency compared
to a traditional IC car where all the braking energy is thrown away. I
suspect this puts the electric car ahead of the traditional IC powered car
in terms of efficiency, but not in front of a IC/electric hybrid, which
can also recover braking energy.

There is another advantage to using an all electric car (with backup
generator, which is what a plug-in hybrid is): The electric motors don't
work when the car is stopped, like at a stop light.

I, too, would be curious to see the numbers.

Jeff

Ed