RV Fuel Issues & Prices - Post 'Em Here!

It's heartening to see that the EVs are approaching maturity and even providing useful, economic transportation for people.

The electric power for charging those batteries is becoming available more widely. Perhaps the electricity will be produced by wind or PV, and the diesel fuel by algae (about half of algae is energy-bearing oil that is readily converted in a diesel).

Electric power is being created by Wind, Solar and Geothermal sources. Iowa and South Dakota are getting 20% of their power from wind.

Both Japan and Germany are moving rapidly from nuclear to wind, solar and Geothermal. A few weeks ago Germany produced half of their daily electric needs from wind power (I posted the citations but they were scrubbed by someone, so I won't post the URLs again).

We, by which I mean human societies, are quickly moving toward widespread, renewable power sources.

There are powerful forces opposed to cheap power, mainly fossil fuel industries.

jody h wrote:

camperdave wrote:
Well, you summed up one of my problems with CNG right there! It is viable, and has been around basically unchanged and fully mature since the mid 90's (did you know that Dodge sold a CNG powered minivan in 1994?) The fact that there is so little interest from the corporate/government world yet means there never will be. It is a passed over technology. Electrics are in their infancy, there is a LOT of room for improvement in the upcoming years, and at the moment there is interest and some momentum for them. Yes, electric cars have been around since the 70's too, but recent battery developments and the pace at which they are improving is unprecedented.

First they ignore you. Then they mock you. Then they fight you, then you win.

I believe we are somewhere between the mocking and fighting stage with electric, so we are getting closer to the win. :B

Electric cars have been around since the 1800,s. It seems they could have made them work in over a 100 years

If they had today's tech back then you would be driving electric today...LOL

CD you said it all, good thoughts and thinking!
Every day and I mean every day I am stopped and asked about my Volt. If I could only guess where to dump some cash, a man could see a nice return. Sorta like getting into oil in the late 1800s.

I'm wondering about this inrush of small diesels as to their effect on diesel prices. Ford's to intro a 4 cylinder and VW has one here several others are coming across with them also. We may be done with gas in a few years.

CamperD, fair 'nuf.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gms-volt-is-on-the-road-to-nowhere/2012/09/12/29cd8216-fd0d-11e1-a31e-804fccb658f9_story.html


The liberal newspaper has an interesting article about the Volt. No need to discuss, but I thought it was interesting.

camperdave wrote:
Well, you summed up one of my problems with CNG right there! It is viable, and has been around basically unchanged and fully mature since the mid 90's (did you know that Dodge sold a CNG powered minivan in 1994?) The fact that there is so little interest from the corporate/government world yet means there never will be. It is a passed over technology. Electrics are in their infancy, there is a LOT of room for improvement in the upcoming years, and at the moment there is interest and some momentum for them. Yes, electric cars have been around since the 70's too, but recent battery developments and the pace at which they are improving is unprecedented.

First they ignore you. Then they mock you. Then they fight you, then you win.

I believe we are somewhere between the mocking and fighting stage with electric, so we are getting closer to the win. :B

Electric cars have been around since the 1800,s. It seems they could have made them work in over a 100 years

That CNG vehicle is really neat. While in Salt Lake, we saw a station. I guess the tank has to be round (cylinder). The miles per pound of fuel is still pretty good. 8 gallons for 200 miles is 25 per gallon, but having to be a cylinder makes it take up more room, Probably this could be made better if the whole car was designed from the ground up. The electric has a very high weight to miles ratio. I have listened to several documentaries about the trucking industry and LPG. I think there is a real push to do this. They change out the engines a lots more frequently on them as they are driven so many miles a year and the diesels get changed out about 1.5 million miles. I think these are solvable problems. The supply of natural gas isn't a problem. We have several centuries worth with the new technology of horizontal drilling and fracking. Renewables only account for less than 2% of total US supplies and are extremely expensive. They are being dropped in Europe due to huge costs. I think LPG is the next thing. The infrastructure is already here,

cekkk wrote:
CamperD, don't misunderstand this question, nothing negative implied. But what would we be saving a natural resource for if not to improve our lives and our economy and reduce dependency on our enemies? Probably put more into the question than I should, but I think you'll handle it.

With appologies to Dick :B ... For me personally, Domestic fuel is better than foreign, and renewable energy is better than non-renewable.

CamperD, don't misunderstand this question, nothing negative implied. But what would we be saving a natural resource for if not to improve our lives and our economy and reduce dependency on our enemies? Probably put more into the question than I should, but I think you'll handle it.

cekkk wrote:
CamperD, I don't understand why we aren't pushing NG cars instead of electrics.

well, I wouldn't say I'm pushing anything, I've just personally drank the electric Kool Aid and think that's the way to go for me personally. CNG is still using a natural resource. Electric can be re-fueled by renewable sources if one chooses to.

The technology is not only there, but reasonably tested on buses and fleet cars for years. I would think the problems you mention could be quickly overcome, whereas with electric, two huge problems remain, i.e., poor batteries and lack of generating capacity should their numbers increase substantially.

Well, you summed up one of my problems with CNG right there! It is viable, and has been around basically unchanged and fully mature since the mid 90's (did you know that Dodge sold a CNG powered minivan in 1994?) The fact that there is so little interest from the corporate/government world yet means there never will be. It is a passed over technology. Electrics are in their infancy, there is a LOT of room for improvement in the upcoming years, and at the moment there is interest and some momentum for them. Yes, electric cars have been around since the 70's too, but recent battery developments and the pace at which they are improving is unprecedented.

First they ignore you. Then they mock you. Then they fight you, then you win.

I believe we are somewhere between the mocking and fighting stage with electric, so we are getting closer to the win. :B

What can you say as to current state of safeguards say in a rear-end collision?

I can say they crash test as well as any car. CNG is actually quite safe, even if a tank were to burst (highly unlikely) it will just dissipate into the air, unlike gasoline which sits on the ground and burns.

I have wondered why the home NG compressor needs to feed from the very low pressure supplied after the meter.

Seems like adding a high pressure meter would releave a lot of unneeded burden of the home compressor.

I think the gas is closer to 60 psi before the meter and maybe 1/4 psi after the meter.