OT The dream client

[Rich Grise]

I just started on a small job for a guy how has stars in his eyes, and
pays cash up front. His invention is a new electric car (I'm designing
some components for it), and his goal is to drive from LA, CA, to Eugene
or Portland, OR, on one charge.

So, the guy's a crackpot or either has some new battery technology up
his sleeve, but the customer is always right, especially when he pays
cash up front. >:->

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Christopher Ott]

I just started on a small job for a guy how has stars in his eyes, and
pays cash up front. His invention is a new electric car (I'm designing
some components for it), and his goal is to drive from LA, CA, to Eugene
or Portland, OR, on one charge.

So, the guy's a crackpot or either has some new battery technology up
his sleeve, but the customer is always right, especially when he pays
cash up front. >:->

Cheers!
Rich

I seriously hope it will do at least 70mph or he might get killed in the
attempt. The stretch from Eugene to Portland is generally accepted to be the
most dangerous part of I-5.

There's a little company in Eugene called Nevco (the website says they're
restructuring the company, but the office is still there) that made an
electric car called the Gizmo. A friend of mine interviewed there a few
years back. Seemed like a neat idea for closed campus's or meter reading,
but absolutely suicidal for regular use. The local electric utility bought
some of them, but I don't think they are still in use.

I have yet to hear an acceptable explanation of how rechargeable cars are to
be integrated to an already overloaded power grid.

I'm still waiting on that Searl Effect Generator...

Chris

 

[Don Bowey]

I seriously hope it will do at least 70mph or he might get killed in the
attempt. The stretch from Eugene to Portland is generally accepted to be the
most dangerous part of I-5.

That's almost humorous, or maybe ludicrous. The folks who made the
declaration about the Eugene - Portland stretch of I-5 have never driven it
south of San Francisco.

 

[Christopher Ott]

That's almost humorous, or maybe ludicrous. The folks who made the
declaration about the Eugene - Portland stretch of I-5 have never driven
it
south of San Francisco.

I was the one who made the "declaration" because both ODOT and the US DOT
have it listed as such. It's constantly on the news due to the absurd number
of fatalities on that stretch of road. It's been under construction for
almost two decades and is underpatrolled due to a lack of funding for the
Oregon State Police. Truly a psychotic place to try driving an experimental
electric car.

As far as my lack of I-5 experience, I travel between Eugene and Chandler on
a regular basis (have for nearly 20 years) and would consider the area
you're talking about to be the easiest driving of the whole trip! Once you
hit Stockton the hardest part is staying awake...

Chris

 

[Richard Henry]

I was the one who made the "declaration" because both ODOT and the US DOT
have it listed as such.

cite.

 

[Richard Henry]

I have yet to hear an acceptable explanation of how rechargeable cars are to
be integrated to an already overloaded power grid.

All US power grids have a large variation in load over a typical day.
For example, here is a link to today's load prediction for California.

http://www.caiso.com/outlook/SystemStatus.html

Scheduling a plug-in rechargeable system to fit into the periods of
low grid use would barely be difficult enough to qualify as a high-
school senior project. Adding wireless control might raise the
difficulty to the college-freshman level.

 

[JeffM]

I just started on a small job for a guy [who] has stars in his eyes[...]
His invention is a new electric car[...]

I seriously hope it will do at least 70mph
or he might get killed in the attempt.[...]
[...]Nevco[...]made an electric car called the Gizmo[...]
Seemed like a neat idea for closed campus's or meter reading,
but absolutely suicidal for regular use.

Mr. Pessimism? Living in 1999?
http://www.google.com/search?q=cach...of-*-*-*-*+top-speed-*-*-*+limited.for.safety

 

[Don Bowey]

I was the one who made the "declaration" because both ODOT and the US DOT
have it listed as such. It's constantly on the news due to the absurd number
of fatalities on that stretch of road. It's been under construction for
almost two decades and is underpatrolled due to a lack of funding for the
Oregon State Police. Truly a psychotic place to try driving an experimental
electric car.

As far as my lack of I-5 experience, I travel between Eugene and Chandler on
a regular basis (have for nearly 20 years) and would consider the area
you're talking about to be the easiest driving of the whole trip! Once you
hit Stockton the hardest part is staying awake...

The hardest part of hitting Stockton, is often the stockyards.

Chris

I looked through the ODOT and USDOT records and could find nothing
substantiating your comment; only a few accident notes scattered through
many years. Perhaps you can give a link or two.

From my recollection, there was a long span of time ending by 1980 I think
when, north of Albany, stupid drivers often drove full tilt into a fog bank
created by water vapor from a paper mill. Many killed themselves, which is
acceptable, but they killed innocent people while doing it. The mill's
reduced emissions have not created a problem since then.

I've driven the Eugene - Portland section about every three weeks for many
years. I began driving I-5, but less frequently, as sections of the highway
were opened, allowing the transition from US99.

The "two decades" of being under construction have been multi-lane additions
and similar improvements. They are sometimes bothersome, but not unsafe.

Don

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

I just started on a small job for a guy how has stars in his eyes, and
pays cash up front. His invention is a new electric car (I'm designing
some components for it), and his goal is to drive from LA, CA, to Eugene
or Portland, OR, on one charge.

So, the guy's a crackpot or either has some new battery technology up
his sleeve, but the customer is always right, especially when he pays
cash up front. >:->

Cheers!
Rich

Sounds like the same guy who is asking questions about regenerative
braking on rec.autos.tech. Someone told him that a diode will determine
the direction of power flow into/out of a motor. So he's all set to
solder a diode in somewhere (as long as someone shows him where) and hit
the road. No concept of basic EE fundamentals, electromagnetics &
motors. etc.

 

[Don Bowey]

Sounds like the same guy who is asking questions about regenerative
braking on rec.autos.tech. Someone told him that a diode will determine
the direction of power flow into/out of a motor. So he's all set to
solder a diode in somewhere (as long as someone shows him where) and hit
the road. No concept of basic EE fundamentals, electromagnetics &
motors. etc.

Is his name Radar?

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

Is his name Radar?

Nope. Its 'lethaldriver'.

 

[Joel Kolstad]

So he's all set to
solder a diode in somewhere (as long as someone shows him where) and hit
the road. No concept of basic EE fundamentals, electromagnetics &
motors. etc.

I have a friend who had a client like that once... it usually turns out badly:
When the guy runs out of money, he's very likely to turn around and accuse
people of not being upfront with him, advising him of the technical risks,
trying to "steal" his money, etc., even if all along you've been trying to
say, "look, this isn't going to work without a miracle or funding equivalent
to the Manhattan Project... are you SURE you want to continue?"

 

[Rich Grise]

I was the one who made the "declaration" because both ODOT and the US DOT
have it listed as such. It's constantly on the news due to the absurd
number of fatalities on that stretch of road. It's been under construction
for almost two decades and is underpatrolled due to a lack of funding for
the Oregon State Police. Truly a psychotic place to try driving an
experimental electric car.

As far as my lack of I-5 experience, I travel between Eugene and Chandler
on a regular basis (have for nearly 20 years) and would consider the area
you're talking about to be the easiest driving of the whole trip! Once you
hit Stockton the hardest part is staying awake...

For what it's worth, he's not planning on driving _between_ Eugene and
Portland; I just couldn't remember which one he said at our initial
meeting, either Eugene or Portland. Actually that's the only two city
names I know in Oregon anyway. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

My guy isn't _this_ dumb.

I have a friend who had a client like that once... it usually turns out
badly: When the guy runs out of money, he's very likely to turn around and
accuse people of not being upfront with him, advising him of the technical
risks, trying to "steal" his money, etc., even if all along you've been
trying to say, "look, this isn't going to work without a miracle or
funding equivalent to the Manhattan Project... are you SURE you want to
continue?"

Luckily, my part is a closed-ended project - I get the final payment when
I deliver the plans.

And like I said, as long as he's got cash, the customer is always right.

Cheers!
Rich