[Info-vax] Intel junk...Kernel-memory-leaking Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign

[Doomsdrzej]

On 6 Jan 2018 11:35:56 -0500, kludge at panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>Doomsdrzej  <dre at do.om> wrote:
>>
>>I want power in my vehicle as well as the ability to drive as far as I
>>want to and that is something electric cars will never allow for.
>
>You might want to try the Tesla.  Range isn't there yet, but it's got more
>low end torque than most V-8s, and it handles decently.  Range is actually
>better than some of those V-8s too, though of course it takes longer to fill
>which is a problem.
>
>It's getting there.  What is cool about the electric car from both a
>performance and conservation standard is that you're not paying a huge
>overhead running with low power most of the time.  With the gasoline engine,
>you have to size the engine for peak power that you're only using very
>occasionally, and you pay an efficiency penalty at low power.  With the
>electric motor you use only what you need; you get crazy high peak power
>and good efficiency in cruise at the same time.
>
>I'm not ready to buy an electric car yet, but I wouldn't discount them if
>I were you.   The Tesla is way too expensive for what it is, but that will
>change given time.
>
>And I might add, given that this is a computer architecture group, that 
>what made these cars possible was high density battery technology, and
>what made that possible was smart charging.  The lithium chemistry was
>known for many years but it takes a lot of charge control technology to
>keep them from destroying themselves.  It's not something you can do with
>an 8051 anymore.  CPU makes it possible.
>--scott

The biggest problem in even considering a Tesla is that I live in a
very cold climate which, since mid-December, has seen its temperature
go no lower than -25c. In such a climate, the already poor range of an
electric car is even worse and there are good reasons to believe that
it wouldn't even start. There's also the fact that the computers
within it, something which is essentially problematic for all cars,
tend to go crazy when the temperatures are too low so the car might
effectively become useless. 

If I lived in a place like California or Texas, I'd be a lot more
willing to consider an electric car but not here.