Comments for Hidden Buzz Magazine

Comment on TRIAC: Freeway Ready EV With 100 Mile Range! (Order For $20k!) by George Lewis

George Lewis — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:13:29 +0000

Thanks for taking the time to post a comment…

I can see your point… especially now that gas prices have gone down below $2.00, But I wrote this when they were $4.50 a galon here in California! What I think the Triac offers is a solution for people who want to save money on gas and insurance (the Triac is insured as a motorcycle) It is great as a second vehicle that can be used on the freeway (a rare option for electrics). So, if you travel under 100 miles a day, and think that gas prices will get worse, and you want to be as green as possible, this is one option… I hope there are many more in the future.

P.S. Green vehicles does offer a city version of the car for just $12,000 - but it’s limited to 25mph due to federal low speed laws. The other option is the $12,000 Xebra from http://www.ZapWorld.com - they just announced a new hatchback version - and it can go up to 40 mph (due to the 3 wheels), but it uses older battery technology which limits its range to 25miles… which can still work well for a second car to get the kids to school and back, or to go shopping, etc.

George Lewis

Comment on TRIAC: Freeway Ready EV With 100 Mile Range! (Order For $20k!) by Charles Hall

Charles Hall — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:49:03 +0000

I just don’t see how a $22,000 car like this can compete with the Prius and other options. A 3-wheel electric vehicle with no airbags, etc. simply isn’t going to sell at this price. I hate to say it, but it really needs to sell for under the price of an Aveo, about $13,000.

Comment on Save Gas And Money With These 30 Rarely Used Tips by James

James — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:04:10 +0000

Hi,
Very good article. Nice tips. We have to save gas. Use pollution free cars.
thanks.

Comment on World Electric Car Era Begins! Bosch & Samsung - To Build Largest Lithium Battery Plant! by dsquibb

dsquibb — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:28:32 +0000

I’d like to buy this company’s stock

Comment on Dollar Dropping? Here’s A Uniquely Safe Way To Invest In Gold! by Stephen Flood

Stephen Flood — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:08:12 +0000

Thanks Earl for mentioning our company goldassets.co.uk
The Perth Mint Programme is a great way to buy precious metals. If anyone wants to call us with any question’s feel free to do so +44 207 0604653 or pop by our office in the center of London.

Comment on Dollar Dropping? Here’s A Uniquely Safe Way To Invest In Gold! by Shay

Shay — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:53:55 +0000

Bravo!
I have been telling people about the benefits of the perth mint programme for ages, so it is good to see an article about it here. For long term investment it has to have the best security vs. affordability of any precious metals investment.
I am in the UK and have used gold assets to buy gold and (mostly!) silver through the Perth Mint and have always been happy.

Regards
Earl Shay

Comment on Chevy Volt Electric Car: Redemption For “Killing” The EV1? by George Lewis

George Lewis — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:54:25 +0000

Thanks for taking the time to express your opinion. My goal is to bring positive information and have others, point out the negatives BUT, more importantly, give POSITIVE suggestions and alternatives. Instead of saying “how ignorant” why don’t you try to look at the problem from a global point of view… Where will gas prices be in 5 years?… What should we do today to make things better… I want this magazine to be about solutions… so if this is not a solution (for you) maybe it will be for someone else - who wants to make a statement like: “I don’t send money to countries that don’t like us”.

I care more about the big picture: WE NEED TO GET OFF FOREIGN OIL. In the 70’s we only imported 25% of our oil, now it’s over 75%. We need to find alternatives - if electric only vehicles isn’t the way, that’s O.K. I personally like the Pneumatic/Electric vehicle plugged into a wind and thermo-solar powered grid. But that information isn’t going to get out unless we tell people about it… which is what I’m trying to do with HiddenBuzz.com

So, If you have solutions - become more than a comment, and sign-up as an author (it’s free) and it looks like you know a lot about the subject.

Comment on Volvo’s 4 Wheel Drive Electric Car? 4 In-Wheel Motors That Is! by George Lewis

George Lewis — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:06:12 +0000

Thanks for taking the time to write your comments. You make some very good points about electric only vehicles, but the vehicle above is a plug-in hybrid. It’s just that it’s electric first (like todays trains) it drives 40 miles on electricity and then a very efficient flex-fuel generator kicks-in to recharge the batteries as you drive and extend the range.

It’s obvious that if you drive over 40 miles a day you shouldn’t buy an electric only vehicle. That type of vehicle only makes sense if someone (say in a family) lives close to work or just has to get kids to school, etc. If these people buy a low-cost vehicle like the ZAP Xebra at just $12,000, they could save money and be part of the solution.

The reason I like to write about alternative vehicles is because I like to see the big picture and think where we’ll be in 10 years. Where will gas prices be in 10 years? I realize that some products don’t help me personally right now, but they’re steps in the right direction. WE NEED TO GET OFF FOREIGN OIL.

If we had built wind and solar-thermal technology after the 70’s energy crisis (I realize you might not have been around then) - and if millions of electric cars were helping to store that energy at night… would we even be in Iraq now (protecting the flow of oil?) - Would we have so many smoggy days in LA? How many less tons of pollution particles would we have? How many less deaths from health related issues AND war!

I think the 20th century will be remembered as the petroleum era (when we almost asphyxiated the planet)… and left the bills and the clean-up to our grandkids! I want this century to be the one where we stop thinking about what’s best for the individual and start thinking about what’s best for our country first - and the planet second. Because we have much to fix here… we consume most of the oil so we need to get our act together first.

Did you know that the first plug-in hybrid was built in 1901? http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohner-Porsche_Mixte_Hybrid

Comment on Chevy Volt Electric Car: Redemption For “Killing” The EV1? by kerry bradshaw

kerry bradshaw — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:06:47 +0000

What an ignorant aerticle. Anyone who thinks the EV-1 and the Chevy Volt are equivalent technologies needs to have his head examined. GM cancelled the EV-1 because it was a total flop. Never were more than 800 of these cars on lease att the same time, the car made ZERO sense, either economically or environmentally. Perhaps the biggest govt fraud ever was when California claimed that these cars were zero emission vehicles. Let’s ask those illogical bozos howin the world it is possible for an electric car to be a zero emission car when no outlet in California can provide zero emission electricity. I’m astounded at the utter ignorance of this geenration. They really believed that a car like the EV-1, which cost more than 4 Honda Accords (and the EV-1 owner couldn’t just own one car) , had a battery pack that cost over $23,000 and lasted a mere 5 years (making battery costs 4 times more than gasoline costs) , required 8 hours (!!!) to recharge and couldn’t travel to destinations over 40 miles away, was a viable form of private transportation. Nobody can believe that. Nobody is that stupid They can’t be. They’d be dead by now.
Perhaps the smart fellow who wrote this article should actually learn something about electric cars, then and now. Right now Mitsubishi is ready to prodcue a car very much like the EV-1 except that its cheaper, goes further,
has a battery pack that costs less ($20,000) but will last about the same - five years. They are pricing this at $40,000, roughly the same as the Volt. You folks who think the EV-1 was a feasible technology will now have the opportunity to put your money where you mouth is by buying one of these Mitsubishi electrics. I hope you do. You deserve it. It would be perfect justice for the lies you have made concerning the EV-1.

Comment on Volvo’s 4 Wheel Drive Electric Car? 4 In-Wheel Motors That Is! by kerry bradshaw

kerry bradshaw — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:56:07 +0000

The idea that electric cars could have been sold in earlier years with modest gas prices is totally
idiotic - the EV-1, Toyota Rav4 electric and Honda EV were all produced beginning in 1996 and for 6 years
thereafter - they were ALL colossal flops, for a very simple reason - battery-only electric cars make no sense, either then or now. Fact : the EV-1 cost 4 times more than a far superior Honda Accord; the battery pack cost over $25,000 and lasted a mere 5 years, making battery costs five times higher than gasoline fuel bills; the cars couldn’t travel to destinations over 40 miles away, at least not if you expected to get back home; the cars required 8 hours to recharge their batteries; Only a simpleminded fool would ever have wasted their money on one of those
vehicles. Battery-only cars still don’t make any sense - you don’t have to use that technology when plug-in hybrids can accomplish everything they can and don’t require owning, maintaining , garaging, and insuring a second, gas powered car. Until battery prices and recharge rates come way down, battery-only cars are oxymorons. And the
biggest laugh is that they aren’t even needed : plug-ins can do it all. I hope all of you people who are conning the public into wasting their money oon this crappy technology go out and buy one of these battery-only electrics yourselves. That would be poetic justice.
The only reason Volvo and others are building this inferior technology is because it’s easy
to build a battery-only electric, and there seem to be a lot of ignorant souls out there who think they make either economic or environmental sense. They make neither - a plug-in with a 40 mile driving range can avoid over 95% of gasoline consumption, as much as a fleet of all electrics can, since those car owners will require gas powered vehicles for all trips over 40 to 50 miles away, while a plug-in hybrid can get double the gas mileage on those trips and use electricity for 40 miles to boot. And even if 100% of the private transportation fleet were to use electricity alone, that would leave over 40% of petroluem still required for trucks and fuel oil, plastics, etc.
I’m astounded at the ignorance out there about electric cars, of any kind. This country seems ot be composed of loudmouthed idiots who don’t seem to even comprehend what a car’s purpose is.