Re: A little Packard History from 1945

Posted by Packard Newbie On 2019/10/22 18:57:26

Brian, I read your post with interest, as I have said for years that I didn't think electric cars were the 'be-all-and-end-all' that they are touted to be. Where do people think electricity comes from? I remember quite a few years ago (20+) reading a reliable-source article that stated that 70% of electricity in the US comes from coal. I looked it up on the internet very recently and the number I seemed to get the most frequently: 67%, so obviously not much has changed in a couple of decades. A Tesla 'S' model has an unholy amount of horsepower and my take is that it is probably leaving a bigger carbon footprint than my 4-cylinder Honda!! How is that 'good for the environment'??? They say the sun sends us a thousand times more energy than we need every day, all we have to do is figure out how to harness and utilize it. I had read about a kid in grade seven that had come up with a solar panel concept that was supposed to be many times more efficient than the standard solar voltaic cell we use today. It was going to revolutionize solar energy as we know it and yet I didn't hear anything after that. Big oil probably bought the patent and deep-sixed it! As far as self driving cars - there are so many MILLION possibilities that can cause fatal issues, I doubt we will ever see universal autonomous vehicles in our lifetime. Maybe bus transit routes in cities and certain interstate door-to-door circuits for semis. etc., but open road driving on byways and back roads will always need some help from us humans!!! Lets hope so, for our Packard's sake, anyway!! Chris.