ALL fossil-fuel powered vehicles by 2020
There is no substitute for fossil-fueled internal combustion engines for applications such as aircraft.
Do you know what it does to a car when you try to push for higher and higher gas mileage? Here's a simple list.
1) Sheet metal and structure have to be lightened. This means less durability. In cars made in the last decade, hitting a deer at a relatively low speed causes significant damage. Older cars are far more resistant to damage.
2) Electronics and emissions systems get more and more complex. This means that an average car owner is less and less likely to be able to work on their own vehicle. Granted, that's not a problem for most people, as they take their car to a mechanic anyway, but it is a problem for me, considering the significant money I save by doing everything but tire mounting and balancing at home.
We recently acquired a 2004 GMC Safari. We also have 2 Chevy Astros, one a '90, the other a '92, and an S-10 Blazer (91). The older vehicles each has a single O2 sensor, while the '04 has 3 O2 sensors in an effort to meet emissions and MPG standards. All the added electronics of the newer van does not improve the mileage over the older van. The newer van has problems with its electronics and emissions equipment, too, which drop the gas mileage when the sensors are out, the catalytic converter is having issues, or there are vacuum leaks.
3) Cars get smaller. Less steel= less survivability. I like a big, heavy, steel cage surrounding me in addition to my seat belt and airbags.
But, sayeth the treehuggers, get a hybrid!. Well, hybrids have problems. The battery is going to need replacement after a couple of years (and it ain't cheap!), and there are problems if you have a fire or have a wreck. My father tells me that if you need extracting via jaws-of-life, or some other advice, that the emergency crews will not cut before they are aware of where the high-voltage lines are running.
I don't want to have anything to do with "mileage increasing" or hybrids or (insert your miracle tech here) if the costs comes at having more and more electronics to the point at which I won't be able to even find the engine under all the *expletive deleted*it...
And I'm sure as hell not going to kowtow to a group that thinks that I should give up SUVs and trucks but they can have SUVs and private jets and redwood decks because they know how to have and use them without harming the environment.
