Nom de plume: Rivrdog

I want an electric car

...but none of the apple i-crapple I see offered today meets my specs.

Here are my specs.

• Range: 40-60 miles on battery, HONEST miles, not test-track miles. Hills and all. Heat or A/C on. Freeway miles at 65 mph.
• Fast recharge: with a 50-amp, 240-volt outlet, capable of 30 minute recharge from emergency low-battery warning to 80% (takes a VERY spendy recharge setup). With less current, longer recharge times, but no worse than 5-hour with 120-volt 30-amp service. Emergency recharge capability at far lesser currents, i.e.: a week of daylight with 300 watts of solar or wind power.
• If not fitted, at least wired for input from a high-efficiency diesel generator set of 12KW, and if fitted, that genset capable of reverse output to power a receptacle (i.e., the whole house). This fitted genset would power the car on the level as long as there was diesel juice to burn, at freeway speed. The genset might even be optional, in a light trailer to be towed.
• Seats 4 in comfort, luggage space for 4 two-suiter bags plus smaller duffel.
• AWD, full time. Traction control, re-gen ABS braking.
• 10KBTU air conditioning. 15KBTU heat plant, which could be diesel-fired (lots of those around in marine service), OR, the heat/AC could be a function of running the genset on low-speed/less cylinders if that was an engine option for it.
• Price comes in at $20-25K without genset, $30-35K with one installed.

What I DON'T need in an electric car.

• I don't need 0-100 times in the funny-car category. 12-second 0-60 time, and 75 mph top speed are fine with me.
• I don't need huge range. This car is not going to have to travel out of the City on it's battery. If I want to take a Road Trip, it will have the generator to do that on, or I won't use the car.
• I don't need high style. The car doesn't have to have the coefficient of drag of a stealth bomber, in fact, if it looked like a Checker Marathon, I would probably jump with joy.

Car people, are you listening? Romney, you have car blood in your veins. If you get to be POTUS, are you going to see to it we get these choices?

H/T to Peace or Freedom, fka 4RWWs. Neither one of us are engineers, Dave, but we both know what we want and what we don't want.

Buh-bye, Chevy Volt- Updated

Bring this sucker back at HALF it's $46,500 MSRP, and include a kit to power your house with it in case of power outages, and I'll buy one. Meanwhile, GM halted production and laid off the plant.

Not gonna happen, though, so your Rivrdog gives the Volt, it's parent, Government Motors, and it's chief braggart, President Obama, a hearty, "Sic Semper, Mo-Fo".

That is all...

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Update: 030612 0832 PST: Sent by the Coyote Kid: Bill Balsamico, owner of the famouse Casa D'Ice restaurant, noted for it's tell-it-like -it-is signs, blogged (can't find his blog, though), so have to paste it up...

Balsamico notes that in recent history, there have been two notable car model failures, one from GM and one from Ford. At least though, Ford blew his own money on the Edsel, whereas GM has wasted OUR money on the Volt.

Good point, Bill!

Glom that Red Bull, switch on that helmet cam...

...and YEE HAAAA!

This is truly the wonder of the modern age, both culturally, that people even DO this heart-stopping stuff, and second, that they RECORD it and publish the recordings.

I liked the BASE-jumper shot where the jumper paraglided down through a NARROW rock chimney canyon. That one was probably the most death-defying of all.

H/T to Mad Ern, out in the high desert.

Seafoam bleg - Updated! Hoooahhh, it worked!

Anyone out there have experience with Seafoam in de-carbonizing an engine? My vehicle is a 1999 Mazda B2500 (chassis identical to Ford Ranger 4-cyl). The last time the CEL lit and the OBD2 code reader said 1401, I took it in to the mech-a-neck, who told me I needed an "EGR cleaning", which they did, for about $100 plus charges for other stuff. The light stayed off for about 10K miles until now. I had just tanked up with good Chevron gas, and put in a bottle of Techron to boot, then the light came on about 100 miles into that tank. 'Nother Code 1401. Burned half the tank, topped off with 92 octane, no fix, light pops right back on after clearing it with the reader.

Now I hear of Seafoam, which the average Joe can put into the engine easily, and it's supposed to do this de-carbonizing job. In fact, I suspect that the meck-a-neck might have used it last time. His bill read "engine vacuumed"(WTF ????)

BTW, these Ford 2.5 liter engines, of which there are millions built and in service globally, have a reputation for throwing this OBD code, as the design of the EGR routing seems faulty, somehow.

I've done basic mechanics most of my life, but quit learning about it just as the whole emissions-control thing was getting complex.

In my early shade-tree mechanic days, we used to do "Georgia Tune-ups", which were nothing more than steam-cleaning the engine internals by slowly pouring water into the carburettor while revving the bejebus out of the engine.

This Seafoam seems to be a similar idea, but using a petroleum-base compound.

Does it work for you?

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UPDATE: 12/10/11 1600 PST:

Just did the Seafoam Spray, 1/2 can into the throttle body, exactly per the instructions, plugged in the code reader, it cleared the code, and I drove back 5.5 miles from my buddy's place out in the hills, CEL did not come back on. If it does, I'll do the other half can. $6 worth of Majik Whoosh beats $200+ worth of meck-a-neck bills any day...

Not your father's Corvette

No sir. I've never had my hands on one (did get some exposure to the hot Porsche of the day, back in the late 50's, a Super 90, at now-tame speeds of 120 or so on the unfinished freeway in DeeCee, up near Wheaton), but haven't really kept up with Corvette technology since the Duntov days. Duntov was mostly about a better engine that the old LT series, you still had to have the reflexes to put all that improved power down and stay safe on the track.

Now, the ZR-1 lets you learn in the car, with a variable handling geometry setup that integrates with traction management so you can dial the car in from rank amateur using just a bit of the 638 hp,  to experienced pro and getting all that you can handle.

Interesting few moments of your time. Towards the end, a gratuitous moment with straight concrete for miles, and just staying in the powerband until 200+ mph (in the 'Vette, the Porsche Bi-Turbo 911 had crapped out by then).

The video goes better with a mug of espresso....