Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/11/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks for the clarifications Henning Ed El 16/11/2007, a las 17:34, Henning Wulff escribi?: >> Ken, it is the first time I hear something like this: >>> Carbon footprint? Most cars consume more energy while being >>> manufactured than on the road. >> >> sounds very probable and interesting. Do you have any figures >> about this? >> >> thanksinadvance, >> >> Ed >> > > There are a whole lot of factors in energy efficiency/ecological > footprint concerns. > > Cars do take a lot of energy to produce, and the Prius > unfortunately needs more; batteries are a large part of the > problem. Also, regarding the ecological footprint, there is the > concern that batteries intrinsically need aggressive chemicals to > work and that is a manufacturing/re-manufacturing and accident and > disposal issue. > > The total life-cycle ecological footprint is generally lower for > turbo diesels of the latest types, and these are probably most > reasonable for European users. Now that finally low sulphur fuels > are also available in N. America we'll see more diesels here as > well, as they are even better suited to the N. American style of > driving. > > Regarding the wish for better brakes; Toyatas in general have > relatively poor systems. Some years back a test was done in Europe > on brakes. About 10 different cars from various manufacturers were > tested. The final test was loading them to the manufacturers > specified maximum (which is surprisingly low, and exceeded > regularly in the US and Canada), driven to the top of a high > mountain pass, driven down the pass with frequent use of the brakes > (necessary!), sped up to 120km/hr or so, and then had their bakes > slammed on right after at a specified point. At the point where the > best braking car (a Porsche) had stopped, the residual speed of the > others was measured as they tried to stop. The Toyota was still > going over 60km/hr. > > When the LS400 Lexus was first brought to Germany and marketed as > an alternative to BMW's and Mercedes, it was found that while it > could accelerate to 250km/hr on the Autobahn, it needed regular > brake system (pads, discs, the lot) replacement every 5000km or so > as the braking system was not up to the speeds it could achieve. > And it couldn't stop adequately even when the brakes were new. > > The Prius Hybrid system works well in a certain range of speeds and > usage. Gentle acceleration, speeds of 120km/hr or less and gentle > cornering. The idiot tv screen showing where your power is going > can thankfully be turned off. It seems to be very reliable and > problem free; a Toyota virtue. The problem is (if you like driving > the car) that it has no overall ecological advantage, and > monetarily you are not going to come out ahead unless you drive a > lot more than average. > > -- > * Henning J. Wulff > /|\ Wulff Photography & Design > /###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com > |[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >