ELECTRIC CARS and GM deliberate vandalism and lies

Recently I was asked to record an upcoming "Dateline" program from the SBS ,yesterday Wednesday night.

My friend's J+M have a solar electric system on their property, low voltage from solar panels is stored in giant oversize (like, car) batteries, then an electronic gizmo called an inverter makes normal mains 240 volts when required to operate lights, a conventional fridge or tv etc

However the gizmo turns itself off most of the time to save power and as such, they cannot using the timer function on their old video deck

Last night as well as recording an EP copy for myself I recorded an SP tape for J+M to borrow. (as they are away and unable to record it for themselves)

This morning I took a dubb from that SP tape, and put it on the video that I intend to send to the UK in early October after I get a Bill Bryson segment for a longtime tape swapping contact

This afternoon at the end of lunch, I noticed that Dateline is due to repeat, so I have rewound that UK tape and am re-recording the segment, this time in pristine form from the digital tuner-box, including teletext subtitles.The segment on electric vehicles runs for some 22 mins

Just a few points and this won't make much sense unless you've already seenthis item (if not, SAVE this email and wait until then)

Several full electric vehicles were featured, including a Toyota RAV 4EV, several home-made jobs, including the fastest fully street legal electricdrag-car, and the GM EV 1 which was funded by GM under California laws, and zipped around California roads from 1996 to 2004. Here are several thoughts, in no particular order, as they come to mind.

That GM guy the official "PR" spokesman......mate almost every word that came from his mouth was a bald-faced lie ! Shit he's got a good job, paid 50 or 100 thousand dollars a year to tell lies !

It would seem that not one single example of the EV 1 from GM was available to be filmed, all their footage came from old recordings, made between 1996 and 2004. In an utterly cunning stunt (and yes, GM obviously are) they didn't actually "sell" a single EV 1 and ONLY made them available on short-term leases........then simply destroyed them all at the end of the lease periods.

What he said about spare parts, what a load of shizzunhausen, they could have cancelled the regoes, then sold them "as is where is" to enthusiasts with no guarantees. Look at how vintage cars are kept going byfolks who will individually hand make or modify parts as required. Manyparts like wheelbearings, steering, brakes etc were almost certainly standard from within the GM stable.

Honda and Toyota have made full electric versions of some of their models.Honda has been deliberately crushing brand new electric cars in the USA,claiming it was necessary for "insurance" reasons. I understand that Nissan have also been crushing electric cars.

Note that in my opinion "hybrid" vehicles, which were not mentioned in this article at all, are rubbish and a dead duck of an idea. The hybrid vehicles around at the moment do no more miles per gallon than a slightly smaller petrol or diesel engined car. So you might as well buy a slightly smaller car for tens of thousands of dollars less and you will still be better off financially and using no more fuel. A recent official study in Australia found that the higher price of a "hybrid" car IS NEVER recouped by the fuel savings.

Yes it is true that you can drive a large hybrid car and get medium car fuel economy, or a medium sized hybrid car and get small car economy, and for people that often need to carry 4 or 5 adults in a car at the same time, this would likely be an issue. The vast majority of car use is short trips carrying one or 2 adults and sometimes one or 2 children, so for most purposes a smaller car will suffice.

As the GM PR liar guy said, the EV-1 car would only do about "100 miles" ona charge then took 6 to 8 hours to recharge.
As the pro-electric car guy (Chris Payne ?) said, the average daily commuter drive is lessthan 30 miles total (and one could guess that with a work-day in between,time for a full recharge anyway) He also pointed out that govt tax incentives for businesses to buy large petroleum powered vehicles amounted to 25 times the tax incentives for electric cars

I was first introduced to the idea of electric vehicles some 30 years ago when I helped a friend on a project to add an electric motor to an old bicycle. That project never came to fruition, for a number of reasons, however similar bikes are available for purchase in Perth at some $598 nowadays

Having seen the home converted Datsun 120 Y sedan on this tv docu I am now determined to have a go at electrifying a car. WA laws are kinder than NZ in this respect, and I certainly have old cars around here which can act as mobile test-beds if need be, although I'd rather put effort and expense into a vehicle ready for normal use. (they say the price of petrol has dropped lately, yeah mate it was down to $1.43.9 cents a litre last time I bought some locally).

The best vehicle to use would be a little panel-van body, like the 550 ccSuzuki van my friend (L.W.) had many years ago (prior to that I'd had asimilar but even older, Honda model with just a 360 cc 2 cylinder engine)Vans of a similar size and shape were also made by Daihatsu until quiterecently, by which time engine size had increased to 1000 cc

A 2nd best choice for a backyard conversion to electric, would be a tiny Suzuki car, like the model known for years as the "Alto". Obviously the original petrol motor is not needed, but it would be easiest, for road-going purposes if the registration was still valid.

The van would allow a false floor to be made and the batteries spread outover the original floor area. I substantial area of load or passenger carrying ability would still be available, on top of the false floor

Using the like of an Alto would be not quite as good, as batteries wouldhave to be fitted into the boot and bonnet areas only. If extra room wasrequired then the back seat area would have to be given over for batteries.The Alto is front wheel drive AFAIK while all those little van things arerear drive.

All of the electric vehicles featured on the tv docu were very spritely, however I've long been a fan of the gutless wonder of economy vehicles. Now considering that an old English economy car of the early 1950's like the Standard or Morris 8's had 26 BHP then that equals about 20 kW electric motor power required. Those old English cars could cruise at 80 kmh/50 mph at least and weighed about 700 kgs, about the same as a more modern Suzuki Alto

Personally I'm a fan of using the existing 4 or 5 speed manual gearbox whicha vehicle might have, partly because this gives a convenient reverse, andyes I know the guy said that with real high horsepower electric cars, thetorque was sufficient without a gearbox.

I have done a bit of figuring just to get some "ball-park" figures and Ireckon that a 20 kW economy car/van would need about 1,700 Ampere-Hours of storage capacity which amounts to about 100 of those little golfcart batteries you might know (approx 3x6x8 inches), or 19 medium 4 cylinder carbatteries or 14 large "Landcruiser" 4wd/truck batteries

Note this is just a rough figuring to give me an idea of weights and sizerequired etc. I guesstimated range of 80 kms minimum, probably double thatif you drained the batteries power entirely

Now obviously you cannot use normal car/4WD batteries for an electric car,as they are not designed to be what is called "deep cycle" (normal carbatteries are only supposed to be discharged 10% at most then fullyrecharged)

Nor can you use normal solar cell house storage batteries, although theseare designed for deep cycle use, they are not made to be vibration resistantfor use in a vehicle. (sometimes referred to as "traction" batteries)

So I'd be needing a source of batteries which are both designed for deepcycle and traction purposes. That type of battery is less common but does exist, and is used in such items as electric wheelchairs, forklifts,milkfloats (in England, but not here unfortunately) and golfcarts.

With the massive increase in those "mobility scooter" type electric wheelchairs lately, there should be more of these sorts of batteries more easily and cheaply available

I know that even 20 plus years ago the University of Canterbury in Chch NZ was doing world leading research into electric cars.....their particularspecialty was in using an Alternating Current motor, which they said wasmore efficient and easily controllable, but did require sophisticated electronics to convert the battery power to AC from the storage batteries DC

Personally I favour I much simpler approach and think that this would workbetter, especially with a low powered home converted electric vehicle

Several converted cars featured in the recent tv item (including the White Zombie Drag-race car) had installed a "Ziller" brand speed control device which undoubtedly costs a fortune and is hard to get in Australia, a design without need of a Ziller would seem to have advantages, even if power management wasn't so scientifically superb.

Let me know if you hear of a still fully road-registered but perhaps dead motor, Suzuka Alto or tiny van for sale cheaply or free to tow-away in the Perth area !

Note that if you chase up the Australian SBS tv website and check for the Transcript for Wed 13 Sept 2006 Dateline, there are numerous web links there, although some don't seem to be working for me today.

cheerio
Cate

JANE AND THE DRAGON cgi animation from WETA studios NZ

OK I've been watching this cartoon series, from the "WETA" studios in NZ, who've previously worked on projects such as Lord Of The Rings movies. Conveniently during breakfast time on weekday mornings and it seems ok, it looks like they have tried to be more realistic to medievil times than most other cartoons and kids shows to date.

The characters don't wear obvious trousers, which as I understand it from my SwanCon education are a recent invention, so the guys wear 3/4 length type smocks (special name ?). Women and girls are depicted in near ankle length dress.The main character "jane" wears a mini skirt (perhaps in order to flash a bit more leg at the audience I guess ! ) ok I'll let them away with that one, as "poetic licence".

I don't like the characters stupidly thin arms though. They seem to be going for the anorexic look there.

When Dragon takes off he doesn't lift smoothly but in short bursts and I must say this is realistic. Although I can't claim to have seen a lot of dragons taking-off in my time, I used to have large Embden geese, which could fly....to a degree. Plus remembering what I've seen on wildlife docu's of the largest birds, eagles and condors etc

(Dragon's wings are of course impossibly small for such a large body-mass. However we can forgive that aspect on the basis that he is "a magical creature",)

So congrats go to the animators for researching flight characteristics of larger animals. My only amendment might have been to have the dragon springup some, initially using his leg muscles. Although perhaps I'm over-thinking this. . Chickens etc certainly spring up substantially, even unfledged few-day-old chicks can spring upto several times their own body height, the effect is possibly lesser, the greater the mass of the animal.

I remember seeing one of my geese doing a vertical take-off from a standing start, and it didn't 'spring' up, not that I noticed, but the way it gained altitude.........was EXACTLY like the Dragon as depicted in the cartoon.

However I'm going to have to knock off a few points for one minor error in historical facts.Their gardener (named "rake") grows the vegetables for the castle's residents. Recently he mentioned "Runner Beans".

The only bean native to Europe and the Mediterranean and neighbouring Asia.......as far as I know.......was the Broad Bean (Vicia faba). It certainly spread throughout the Roman Empire.

AFAIK, *ALL* other vegetable beans are native to Central and South America.The Runner Bean specifically, is native to southern South America somewherearound coastal Chile iirc. So unlikely to have been in Medievil Europe until well after 1492...... the Greenlander-Vikings might well have gotten to North-Eastern Canada, but I don't reckon they ever got as far as Chile !

cheerio
Cate

Major Prizes NOT Awarded (REVISED 19 OCT) to the Winners...research project

Hi there

I'm trying to do some research, just for my personal interest, on major competitions where the prizes WERE NOT awarded, as promised.

Now usually "Mr google" is my friend, but on this occasion he hasn't been much help.

One of these 2 items featured on prime time Australian telly at the time, so I thought it appropriate to post here.
Please post any info you may have under this same thread and/or send onto me personally at
catherinejemma@myway.comREMOVEthisBIT remove the obvious bit.

In the latter half of 1986 some fellow went through over several days and won the main prize on Channel Nein's "Sale Of The Century" (sic)

During the show the guy, a retired doctor had given the answer "aphasia".The answer they had intended to be correct was "Dyslexia". However medically there is some area of overlap in these terms.

After a telephone break.....one moment please......yes our judges have decided that we will accept that as the correct answer

Only right up towards the end of the episode, did the shows "producer" (in tv terms =accountant) OVER-RIDE the judges and cancel the points for that question. Therefore he did not have enough credits to win the full prize and would have had to risk it all, again, and come back the next day, and win again, in order to win the whole lot. Not surprisingly he decided to leave then and there, with everything except the cash jackpot 9the final and largest part of the prize)

Now because these eps are filmed in advance of airings, it was widely publicised when this ep was to air, which from memory was a Thursday night, in the latter half of 1986

Now I begged a friend of mine who had 2 videos if he would please record this ep for me, I couldn't do it myself because I was busy doing something for him, at that time.

He couldn't be bothered recording it for me, but did speak to his dad who spoke to some other bloke, who had watched the ep, and what he saidwas......(mmm, not really the same as me having it on videotape to this day....is it ?)

Anyway apparently in a cunning stunt, yes Channel Nein were Stunning Cunts, re-edited the footage to make it look like the competitor volunteerily gave up the cash jackpot, because, as a retired doctor, he was already amillionaire and didn't need the money

I'm guessing I'm the only private individual in Australia who intended to record this ep for my permanent archives, and as, because of circumstancesbeyond my control I ended up NOT getting, no-one else did either.....

There's another case, not televised as such

This second case happened in New Zealand before I left in the first half of1986 (how much before, I cannot remember). Now in NZ at the time there was NO Lotto. However there was a regular raffle ticket style lottery, sold at corner stores and newsagents etc, called the "Golden Kiwi" (although old people often referred to it as the Art Union)

Similar to local neighbourhood and community raffles, you could fill in your name and address details on the numbered stubb (optional but recommended), which later gets returned to headquarters, and you keep the tear-off part of the ticket (which also bears the same serial number as the stubb)

It was a clear condition of this raffle style lottery that you *HAD* to present the ticket in order to recieve the prize money (Not sure but I think that by then the prize was $200,000 which would buy you 4 family homes then.)

After one raffle draw someone claimed the prize but DID NOT have the ticket.The independant NZ lotteries commission or whatever they called themselves at that time, did of course pay out the total first prize to this claimant, even that it absolutely broke their own, absolute rules.

Soon thereafter a person bearing the actual ticket turned up wanting their first prize claim honoured.
The lotteries commission refuised to pay them saying "sorry the money is gone" (yeah mate like it's the same $1 notes and the like that buy thetickets that pay for that month's prize)

Further the lotteries commission hinted that the 2 women involved were in conspracy with each other, I remember they made these claims in such a carefully worded way that they'd never be legally actionable, but that was their clear meaning

The last I heard, the actual ticket bearer still had not recieved one penny of the prize money
Does anyone have anymore detailed or exact information on the above listed 2 events, Sale of the Century or Golden Kiwi lottery ?

Note that if you think "it couldn't happen to me" just read the rules for any major competition. Somewhere it'll say "the judges decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into" which unfortunately, legally means, that you can win the prize and yet have no legal claim on them in any civil court. Only if the Crown/State Prosecutor wants to, could a criminal charge for fraud be initiated. (Well that's how I'd understand it)

REVISED 19 OCT 2006
Oh hey I's just remembering an even more recent incident, this one in Australia (one of the Eastern States I think) Here in Australia, for just a few dollars a year, a Lotto player can REGISTER with the Lotteries commission. They then issue you with an electronic swipecard which you get swiped whenever you make a Lotto entry, if you win and forget to take your paper ticket back to the agency to claim your prize, a cheque is mailed out to your address automatically a few weeks later. Registrations can be in the names of individuals or a SYNDICATE (eg a workplace syndicate with colleagues)

Just a year or 2 back someone won a large Lotto prize and even though they had that ticket registered under their own personal swipecard some colleague from his workplace lodged a protest and claimed they should have a syndicate share of the prize (even though it was NOT the ticket registered under the workplace syndicate's swipecard)

So the Lotteries commission have refused to make any pay out in this case and have said that they'll only pay the winner if he runs a case through court and wins it. The legal costs will be huge and last I heard he was unable to fund a court case in advance of recieving any winnings....a catch 22 situation.

This was another case where the relavent lotteries commission simply refused to pay out a valid prize. Look the ticket was registered to this guy's own name using his own personal lottery swipecard. The Lotteries commission *SHOULD* pay him by default *UNLESS* some other party has gone to the required court and got a court order to stop payment in advance of it being made. There is a 14 day automatic hold on all major lottery payments in Australia. If there is NO interim court order within that 14 days PAY THE BLOKE, gggrrr it makes ME ANGRY thinkin' about it, I wonder what it makes HIM feel like.

The item was featured on either channel 7's Today Tonight show, or possibly and less likely, ch 9's A current Affair (I've only had access to that channel's show since March of 2005, so if it was before that date it would almost have had to be Today Tonight). Yes I know that neither of those programs could be called anything other than "low quality television journalism" but they aren't normally "outright lies" (with the exception of Channel 7's DAVE "SLUGGO" RICHARDSON (why they keep employing this bloke when time after time he keeps getting caught committing journalistic fraud, I dunno). This ends the later added revision.

cheerio
Cate