Defeatism can never win

That's almost a Yogi Berra'ism.  I've been spending a lot of time on this subject and I think that a solution is possible.  Why can't Ford do it with all the resources that they have?  They can't do it if they give up, which looks like what this is saying.

Napoleon Hill, in this book , tells how Henry Ford developed the new Ford V8 motor, which was state of the art at the time.  He told his people to stay on the problem until they got a solution.  He wanted it, and by golly, he got it.  Ford wouldn't have become the great automobile manufacturer that it became if he gave up as easily as they seem to be doing nowadays.

Leadership at all levels must do better.  This won't cut it.

Republicans are going to blow it

Yep.  I think its possible.  There was a report (sorry, I forgot the link) that said a few of the senators in Wisconsin are weakening.  It wouldn't surprise me if they caved.  The reason is that the Democrats are just more aggressive, that's all there is to it.  If it goes down this way, it will demonstrate that the Republicans just can't cope with the Democrats strategies and tactics.  It will be a failure and the failure will belong to the party for allowing this to happen.

It appears that the Republicans like to do a big show, but when it comes down to actually producing anything, they are worthless.  I'm going to label this as Politics Schmolitics.  The honor of conning the suckers this time belongs to the Republicans.  They are conning their followers into believing that they are serious about cutting the Big Government down to size.  It appears that they have no real stomach for doing what it takes to do just that.


Update:  As long as I am in a political mood, let's put up this new video with a political twist.

About this methanol electrolyzer

I found the patent, or what I believe to be the patent, on the web.  It looks to be a detailed document and so forth.  One of the co inventors does not seem to be anywhere to be found.  The phone number given on the JPL report does not work.  A search for one of these people did not result in any records.  There are several of these people listed.  So, what do I do?  Go through the process with each and every one of them?  This is costly and time consuming.

The people who produced this have to be somewhere.  This did not drop out of the sky, I presume.

Update:  Perhaps a twitter entry will provoke a response somewhere.  I just tweeted the question:  Is there such a thing as methanol hydrolysis, with a link to the pdf file that I've been discussing here.  Anybody interested in this question?  This would be a big deal if it worked.  Anybody care?

Update:
I found something here.  Maybe there's an opportunity here for somebody.

Update:

Here's somebody that makes these hydrolyzers.  Oops!  Scratch that.  Those are reformers, not hydrolyzers.

Update:

I'm adding this link to the sidebar.

Phoenix Motors, Part 3

It seems pretty intriguing that this company takes a shell vehicle and converts it in an electric vehicle.  What does that shell vehicle cost?  I'm a little curious.  What if you were to replace the batteries with fuel cells along the lines I mentioned before?  Perhaps you could still find a use for batteries, but they wouldn't have to be as large.  Consequently, the costs could be reduced.

How to Evaluate Ideas

By Paul Sloane

He seems to be a pretty good source, worth following on Twitter.  That's where this link came from.  With respect to this blog, it may be good advice for evaluating any new ideas I come up with here.

In reference to brainstorms, the idea did occur to me to sell timeshares to a range extending device on battery powered automobiles, like the Nissan Leaf.  You see, with timeshares, it wouldn't be necessary to buy the entire package.  Just plan the time in which you will need it, say for a vacation, then buy a timeshare to coincide with that time.  When you're done, turn it in, and you're back to all battery operation.  This makes the car more affordable than buying the whole package and more versatile for the times you will really need it.  Maybe you don't need all that range all the time.  Why let that big investment go to waste?  Share it with someone, or a lot of people.

What would be an attractive price point?  A thousand dollars for a week?  For two weeks?  Or a month?  What would work in this instance?   Let's say you add a few thousand dollars to the sticker price as an option to use one of these devices on a timeshare basis for x number of weeks per year.  Would this work?

HowStuffWorks calls it Fuel Processors

Anything having to do with electrolysis invariably seems to come back to water.  If one looks for the hydrolysis of methanol, good luck.  As mentioned in the title, it may be more fruitful to look it up as a fuel processor.  The interesting thing about this is that the thing being hydrolyzed or processed is none other than gasoline.  Funny how that seemed to get into the discussion.  Especially since the technology has existed since 2002 for hydrolyzing methanol.  Could it be that someone doesn't want the hydrolysis of methanol to work?  Somebody would have a lot to lose if a new way to power a vehicle becomes a viable option.  That may sound like conspiracy mongering, but one can't help but sense a pattern to certain developments like this.  If the powers that be are threatened, they are not about to let something disturb their dominance over the scene.

Update:

Here's a video of the HySeries Drive from Ford.  It is a fuel cell/ battery hybrid.  This is fine, but it would be even better if you get rid of the hydrogen storage.



Update:

More on fuel cell problems.  One of these is the cost of platinum.  If you mine the asteroids and the Moon for Platinum Group Metals, you just might get the price down toward a competitive level.  Also, the hydrogen storage problem goes away if you don't have to store it at all.  Which is what I am trying to figure out.

Update:

Here once again from the JPL pdf file; which is the pertinent information on how it can be used in an automotive application.

NASA Tech Brief Vol 26, No. 6 Chun, Valdex et. al, JPL Report number NPO19948

Either the authors are incorrect as to this potential, or this technology is being consistently overlooked.

Apologies to the Beatles

Lyrics to the song "Drive My Car" were taken to make this video. Well, my excuse was I was thinking about cars, and what have you, and this idea for this video popped into my head. You can't play it to music, you have to imagine it.

People may forgive dummies for acting like dummies. So these dummies can't sing nor dance. They can just repeat the words to the song. Anyway, I hope somebody finds this amusing. Here goes.