Henry Payne for July 31, 2011

Henry also believes in theTooth Fairy.

Just goin along with the dream. Or maybe the nightmare.

Guess where the unicorn’s horn is going to end up (and the word “up” is the clue)!

15 yrs is a long time to wait for a 55mpg car that could be made today. When Shell and Exxon finally manage to push gas over $8 a gallon, you’ll wish you were driving one right now.

100 MPG isn’t a problem, if you limit yourself to rail roads. The limitations on automobile fuel efficiency are basically about efficient engines, efficient braking and drag/friction. Using regenerative braking and efficient engines, you can get quite tolerable performance in a car that accelerates well, brakes well and gets about 50 MPG. So if an auto company sells many of those vehicles and enough super-efficient small in-city get-abouts, it can bring its average up quite nicely, thank you. What it can’t sell under that plan is lots and lots of gas guzzlers. Just some.As to whether it is the proper role of government to make such requirements. Well, sometimes the greater good imposes restrictions on all of us, we can hope, equally. Any society needs transportation of goods, availability of services. The US has chosen to use small-capacity vehicles for much of that. If we want to avoid even further balance of payment issues, then we need to reduce our fuel use SOMEhow. Would you prefer that we legislate the use of railroads to get there?

Remember when Americans could do hard things, and believed in a brighter future? Then end of the space-shuttle program with no replacement is symptomatic.

My son was driving a Mercedes STATION WAGON around Germany four years ago, a “clean diesel” that was getting around 50-53 mpg on the highways.(p.s. they also don’t stay under 55 miles per hour!) There IS a limit on mileage from internal combustion engines, what with gravity, friction, aerodynamics etc, but the U.S. can do MUCH better, right now, not in 15 years. Electrics and hybrids are part of the solution. Remember, a hybrid uses the on board fuel system for better economy- like the (expensive) Porsche being designed as a HIGH performance “sports car” getting 63 mpg.

HAHAHA!! Caption: Unicorns – Obama’s Fantasy Energy

How often do you need to do this? Every few years I needed to move house. So I buy at least a 3,5 tonner to handle the move comfortably in a few trips…? Alternatively, do I hire a different car for those occasional trips and drive about in a more convenient car the rest of the time? Meanwhile, in your scenario, try a clean diesel engine vehicle, excellent pull power for caravans/campers. As Dtroutma mentioned above, we already have ’em in Europe.yawn

Unicorns and pixiedust – well pixiedust at least unless they do something about the drug cartels.

Henry, my take is the bottom 2 panels need to be reversed. That carpet looks like it could hold 3 but I can only picture a Unicorn carrying 2. In addition the Unicorn will need to be fed and cleaned up afterward. The carpet, as far as I know, is a 0 emissions vehicle. Lastly the magic carpets I’ve heard of are always Persian – which means that conservatives will call them Jihadist so it will take longer to convice them to use it.

The internal combustion engine still follows the same basic design from over 100 years ago. Much like the space shuttle, it’s time for a new design. Surely someone can come up with a much more efficient motor.

Does Payne really think that American Ingenuity is nothing more than a pipe dream?

“Engines” burn fuel, “motors” are electric. Both HAVE improved over the years, but truly efficient designs have been limited. Rotary proved inefficient, Sterling, not done in mass production, turbines-not terribly efficient, and now aircraft are looking at “non-ducted turbines”- basically a turpoprop for quieter and more efficient fuel use on short haul. Engineers are working on it, CEOs and their accountants are shooting them down, especially in the oil industry.

Very good Ahab. For some added perspective, I owned a diesel VW in the 80’s and ’90s that did 50mpg as well. That was pretty cool for a model year 1978. It had 75k on it when I bought it in ’87, and put 100k on it. VW has been doing that fuel efficient thing for a loooong time…