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RE: [RC] [RC] gas & diesel prices again - David LeBlancHoward said: I've checked into the hybrid cars. 68 mpg! Gas doesn't even burn while in first gear. It's about time and the good news is even GM will, eventually, start to build them. If you want to purchase one you will most likely be put on a waiting list. Looks like some consumers have seen the light. Cars like these should be the majority, not, a hard to find, zero advertised product like they are now. Consumer Reports just did a review of the Toyota hybrid, and it went as fast and accelerated as well as the regular cars in the same class with twice as much horsepower. Kind of surprising. Some time ago when I was in school, my research was on emissions from cars. Turns out one of the biggest contributors is something called enrichment - enrichment happens when you put the pedal to the metal, and also when you change engine speeds abruptly - like when shifting gears. The hybrid cars avoid all that by having the battery system put out the abrupt changes. Anything that improves efficiency also improves air quality (and our wallets). Maybe one day I can buy a truck built that way - if the system is good enough for a locomotive, it ought to be possible to build something that will haul my trailer over passes. Maybe then I'd get 20-30 MPG instead of the current 9-10... ============================================================ Of course things aren't perfect, perfect doesn't exist on this earth. Doesn't mean we won't go on trying to get better at what we do. Besides, if everything was perfect today, what would you do tomorrow? Slamming each other doesn't get anything done. ~ Dot Wiggins ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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