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

[Bob Gezelter]

On Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 11:35:58 AM UTC-5, 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
> -- 
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

A postscript. Range is nice, but the average use of the overwhelming majority of personal cars is well within the range limits of a single EV vehicle charge. Most commercial vehicles are similar.

Unless one is driving long distances routinely, an answer is to rent a longer range vehicle when needed, rather than drag it around all of the other times.

There is also technology to use interchangeable battery packs in vehicles, which moves the charging question offline. Pull into a station, swap battery packages, continue on your way (in effect, this is the same scheme often used for propane canisters).

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com