TKOPerformance wrote:

My Dad's last one was a Hughes 500.  Fast and nimble.  The controls weren't as smooth as a Jet Ranger, but it was faster.  We shared a hanger with the State Police at NCC Airport and my Dad and the State pilots used to go back and forth about that.  Dad liked the smooth controls, but the Staties liked the speed.  The Jet Ranger was a considerably more expensive piece of equipment though. 

There was always a rivalry there between the Jet Ranger (Junk Danger) pilots and the Hughes 500 pilots. The JR was a Cadillac sled and the 500 was a sports car. The 500 could fly circles around the JR. It was a very strongly built machine and yes, it was very nimble and fast.
 

TKOPerformance wrote:

Ron68 wrote:

TKOPerformance wrote:

My Dad's last one was a Hughes 500.  Fast and nimble.  The controls weren't as smooth as a Jet Ranger, but it was faster.  We shared a hanger with the State Police at NCC Airport and my Dad and the State pilots used to go back and forth about that.  Dad liked the smooth controls, but the Staties liked the speed.  The Jet Ranger was a considerably more expensive piece of equipment though. 

There was always a rivalry there between the Jet Ranger (Junk Danger) pilots and the Hughes 500 pilots. The JR was a Cadillac sled and the 500 was a sports car. The 500 could fly circles around the JR. It was a very strongly built machine and yes, it was very nimble and fast.
 

Even as a kid I was impressed with the rugged simplicity of the 500.  The power to weight ratio of the engine was particularly impressive.  One time we may have flown back from Atlantic City at or slightly above max load due to a bunch of car parts I bought at the car show,  Possibly Dad was messing with me, but you know when you're a kid you believe most anything that comes out your dad's mouth. 

The straight 500 had 317 shp (Allison 250 C-18) and the 500C had 400 shp ( Allison 250 C-20) not bad for a 158 lb engine!
 

I'm starting to see Tesla's at the car shows I go along to 😡

I wouldn't worry about it.  I see Stanley steamers and Model Ts as well.  In 50 years the Tesla will be regarded in the same light.  Of course, they'll probably have to be towed to and from because there will be no battery packs available for them...

TKOPerformance wrote:

I wouldn't worry about it.  I see Stanley steamers and Model Ts as well.  In 50 years the Tesla will be regarded in the same light.  Of course, they'll probably have to be towed to and from because there will be no battery packs available for them...

I REALLY hope so... Hopefully hydrogen or some biofuel options become available.

The cost of hydrogen will go down when the infrastructure is there.  To the best of my knowledge the only state with any real infrastructure is CA, and what they have was done under Schwarzenegger's administration and hasn't gone further since. 

As a way to move vehicles our options are basically hydrogen and maybe biodiesel if they can find a way to mass produce it.  Batteries aren't workable for replacing Diesel fuel.  The energy density of Diesel fuel is just far superior to that of batteries.  A battery powered tractor trailer would have 1/3 the range and would have to carry less weight due to the weight of the batteries.  A large part of the shipping delays we are currently experiencing is that due to the cost of fuel they no longer send tractors trailers out with short loads.  So there's simply no way that battery powered tractor trailers make any kind of sense.  Then, when you look at applications like cargo ships and trains and trying to replace Diesel with batteries is utterly unworkable. 

Even for cars most sources agree that there isn't enough lithium in the world to covert all our cars to battery power.  The big issue is that lithium is a rare earth element.  A ton of lithium bearing soil contains about enough lithium to make a single AAA battery.  Each car battery pack requires 20,000 tons of soil to produce.  When you consider the pollution from the mining and refining operations each on of those "clean" cars has created 5 years or 100k miles of typical gas car pollution in one day.  Now, whether that's leading to "climate change" or not I think anyone can clearly see that such concentrated pollution in such a short period of time is not benefiting our planet or us.  At some point the world is going to wake up to these facts.  Also, we haven't even considered the waste created by potentially millions of battery packs.  People keep claiming they can be recycled, but a lithium ion battery isn't like a lead acid battery.  There are a handful of companies that can physically do the work, but they aren't economically viable unless heavily subsidized by the government.  Then consider how much money is already being used to subsidize the cars themselves to make them more cost competitive, and you have to start asking how much money we want to throw at battery powered cars?  No, at some point this fad will end and people will wise up.
 

MS wrote:

Some reading I did on hydrogen says the technology is there for it to work. The problem holding it up from widespread use is a reliable connection when fueling the vehicle. They haven’t quite gotten that figured out.

There are plenty of reliable connections...... but they won't be as easy to use as sticking the nozzle in the tank or the quick connect for propane refueling. Seems a little bothersome carry 2 crescent wrenches to operate. 

Are there any locations that let you as a driver fill propane powered vehicles? Seems like full service stations would make a come back. 

You still have to contend with the safety factor of filling the vehicles with a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that will produce a flame that is almost invisible in the daylight. I guess anyone can learn how to "fill up" the car!! 


 

Bolted to Floor wrote:

MS wrote:

Some reading I did on hydrogen says the technology is there for it to work. The problem holding it up from widespread use is a reliable connection when fueling the vehicle. They haven’t quite gotten that figured out.

There are plenty of reliable connections...... but they won't be as easy to use as sticking the nozzle in the tank or the quick connect for propane refueling. Seems a little bothersome carry 2 crescent wrenches to operate. 

Are there any locations that let you as a driver fill propane powered vehicles? Seems like full service stations would make a come back. 

You still have to contend with the safety factor of filling the vehicles with a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that will produce a flame that is almost invisible in the daylight. I guess anyone can learn how to "fill up" the car!! 


 

In NJ you can't fill your own car.  All service station employees are trained by the state and certified.  Gas there is not too much more than it is in DE.  I think they just tax it a little less per gallon to cover the costs.