Actually, my claim to fame is I was Barbara Mandrells guitar player the last two years she played in Branson, but I'm confident this will be the thing we agree on, I'd hardly call it fame lol.
Actually, my claim to fame is I was Barbara Mandrells guitar player the last two years she played in Branson, but I'm confident this will be the thing we agree on, I'd hardly call it fame lol.
In the tradition of thread drift here on OSA...
I would imagine that you have some interesting stories about playing with Barbara Mandrell.
Please tell us more.
Beyond being incredibly good looking in her old age and having a superb live singing voice, Barbara was the most talented musician I've ever jammed with. There wasn't an instrument on that stage she couldn't pick up and humble you with. She was incredibly nice, always made time for fans, and loved sneaking off to waffle house in Springfield after a Saturday show.
I have been a drummer most of my life and in my younger days had dreams of making a living in the music business so I'm a little jealous.
To my way of thinking the electric vehicles need to have batteries that are easily swapped out by a machine at the service station or convenience store. Tesla had this technology many years ago and the battery could be easily swapped from underneath the car in under 60 seconds by a machine and you don't even get out of your car. It bills your account or credit card, and it takes much more time than that to fill up a gas tank. The cars have the speed and acceleration and the trucks have the torque, the Tesla pickup can pull 14,000 lbs so all they need is a couple of battery swappers at most convenience stores and electric vehicles could get very popular quickly.
Time itself does not always guarantee success by advancing technology. Look at the space program. We went to the Moon and back 9 times, and never lost anyone in space. Fast forward 50 years, and with advanced technology we lost 14 trying to get in and out of low Earth orbit.
With regards to Tesla and the times needed for charging, here is a link to diagrams and information on charging time for different electrical outlets.
Tesla Home Charging
When we were in Utah, working at an RV park, the park was listed in Tesla's documentation that we were a Tesla charging location. In truth, just about any RV park could be listed because most of the RV parks had some configuration of parts or all of the 2nd, 4th, and 7th configuration of outlets. The 2nd image is a normal park 50-amp socket. The 4th image is a normal park 30-amp socket, and the 7th image is a normal park 20-amp electrical socket.
We found that there is a phone app that Tesla owners can get that will give them an idea of how far they can drive on what charge they have in their battery. What I don't know is how their app can know what their battery charge status is. We had people coming in that wanted to get 20 minutes of charging so that they would have the power to get to the next charging station.
Sorry, but I'm not gonna be buying a Tesla car, and I'm NOT sold on whether their "semi-truck" is going to work out either. I can't imagine truck stops having lines of charging stations that will charge a truck's battery quick enough for them to continue on with their loads. And, I also can't see truck drivers wanting to waste time charging a truck when they can be driving one that is on regular diesel.
Tesla Home Charging
When we were in Utah, working at an RV park, the park was listed in Tesla's documentation that we were a Tesla charging location. In truth, just about any RV park could be listed because most of the RV parks had some configuration of parts or all of the 2nd, 4th, and 7th configuration of outlets. The 2nd image is a normal park 50-amp socket. The 4th image is a normal park 30-amp socket, and the 7th image is a normal park 20-amp electrical socket.
We found that there is a phone app that Tesla owners can get that will give them an idea of how far they can drive on what charge they have in their battery. What I don't know is how their app can know what their battery charge status is. We had people coming in that wanted to get 20 minutes of charging so that they would have the power to get to the next charging station.
Sorry, but I'm not gonna be buying a Tesla car, and I'm NOT sold on whether their "semi-truck" is going to work out either. I can't imagine truck stops having lines of charging stations that will charge a truck's battery quick enough for them to continue on with their loads. And, I also can't see truck drivers wanting to waste time charging a truck when they can be driving one that is on regular diesel.
While I agree that battery powered vehicles (especially cargo hauling) probably won't become mainstream anytime soon, the advance of technology (timewise) is completely unpredictable.
A single discovery or invention can change things drastically. One week during WWII we weren't a nuclear power, and the next week we were.
Never say never...
A single discovery or invention can change things drastically. One week during WWII we weren't a nuclear power, and the next week we were.
Never say never...
All true. And the thing is this, who wants to go through all of that every time they want to go somewhere? And for what purpose? What's to be gained? This whole idea that electric cars are somehow "greener" is nonsense. The bulk of the electricity produced in this country comes from the burning of fossil fuel of one form or another. So you plug your Telsa into your home garage, "Charging Station". Chances are that the electricity your home receives comes from either a coal or natural gas fired power plant. How is this any "greener"?
Then you have to consider how our power grid is already aging, and overtaxed to the max as it is. High Summertime temperatures already bring, "rolling brownouts" to several areas of the country already. Now your going to add millions of electric vehicles to an already overburdened system? What will all of this do to the cost per kilowatt for electricity? Assuming it can even provide it.
Yes, these problems can be solved, but their has to be a profit incentive to do it. Right now there isn't. Government incentives can't last forever. And EV's aren't selling well compared to gas and Diesel. An even better example of this is the residential solar market. You are seeing government incentives drying up. And it's quickly becoming a financial nightmare, as up to 90% of home solar companies are at risk of going under in the next 5 years because of it. People have no interest in paying full price for these systems, simply because they'll never get their money back. They cost more than they save. California's answer is to ram it down the peoples throats, who are building new homes. What will that achieve?
Fast forward to the EV market. What honest incentive is there for people to buy these things? They're not, "cleaner and greener". Certainly not indirectly when you look at where the electricity is coming from to charge them. Then you have the recharge time. Not to mention the poor network of recharging stations across fly over country. It's a PITA no matter how you look at it.
That's a lot on anyone's plate to solve. And until we have a completely revamped power grid, that obtains close to 100% of it's generated power from non fossil fuel production, this whole EV deal is nothing but a big circle jerk. Simply because it's not any "cleaner". While gas and diesel cars are, because that same technology is being used to make them run cleaner and more economically as well. Not to mention you can drive ANY of them across the nation at the legal limit in under 48 hours.
I'm not being, "loud and antagonistic". I'm merely pointing out facts. They may ring loudly because some people don't want to hear them. But that doesn't make any of them any less true.
This is usually what happens when the government pushes something that certain people or politicians with agendas want pushed. It ends up getting pushed up against a wall. And as I said, the government cannot legislate technology. And when it tries, what you are seeing with the current EV market is usually the result. Problems pile up faster than they can be solved. And there is no financial incentive to solve them.
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While that is true to a point, we had an enormous incentive..... We didn't want to learn to speak Japanese or German. We were at war. And it did not have to be profitable, because the government put up 100% of the funding to make it happen.
And it took a hell of a lot longer than a week. It actually started with the discovery of the Proton in 1919. That was a long way from 1945.
http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/chronology.shtml
