LIfe in Waco

Dang I have been slacking off. I was looking at how many posts that I have done in the last 2 months and have decided that I am way behind. Basically, I have been spendin all my time working, Farking, school, and hanging around with my roommates. I have been looking at getting another vehicle, but have decided that I had better not waste the money (I can still look though). I am interested in diesel, electric, and hybrids right now. A while back I wanted hydrogen, but there has been alot of legeslation and red tape put up reciently to keep hydrogen out of the market. On the other hand, hybrids and evs are coming along pretty good because of the private industry (basically it is almost at a dead halt, but going pretty fast for the amount of money spent on it compaired to other technologies). The corperate industry has done its best in the last few years to bury evs and they have not been really trying (in my opinion) to improve the hybrids. I also looked at diesel vehicles, but they have been more centered towards acceleration than gas milage lately. I was looking at the VW rabbits and pickups of the early 80s and they were getting 50 miles to the gallon on the hwy. The newer diesel cars get between 38 and 40 on the hwy. There are some people that claim that they are able to get 60 miles to the gallon with their rabbits, but I have yet to acctually meet any of them. I thought about making my own hybrid, but have decided that I am going to need a larger income to accomplish this. Something about it being an expensive hobby. Evs and hybrids use several different voltages. 6, 24, 48, 240, 480, and so on. Basically they are in multiples of 6s. Unfortunatly, you can not just use a car battery. Car batteries are made to be used in short bursts when starting the car. Marine batteries are just as bad about not catering to the ev or hybrid industry. So, when purchasing batteries for your ev or hybrid, you are going to need something a bit more expensive. Somethign to the tune of $200 a battery (small reminder, you only get about a year out of one battery). They hybrid idea sounds a little more primising because the method I would want to go with would be using electric motors to drive with a small diesel generator running at a constant load. this has 2 advantages. 1. Regenative braking. 2. Diesel motors are more efficient if you have a constant load at a constant RPM. So, I would have to do some math based on the generator to pair it with the motor and what voltage the batteries are set at (simple compair to Graph's Circuits I class). So, the more details I am telling the more thousands of dollars this project is looking to cost so, I will keep my moth shut and move on. The other alternative to making one is to purchase one. I did see a Chevy 4x4 hybrid that was an 06 model, but it only got 19 on the hwy and 17 in the city. I am sure this is an upgrade for a 4x4 model, but still that is not by any chance of an upgrade milage wise. I also found a hybrid pickup that was 2 wheel drive that only got 21 on the hwy and 18 in the city. The city part is probably an upgrade, but still not enough of an upgrade for me to sell my current vehicle to purchase one. Anyway, it is getting late and I am sure ya'll are tired of hearing about my research so I am going to sleep. Later folks.