Pulaski

That is a great example. Another one is the use of tablets rather than books in schools in poor countries. Cheap tablets and PDFs are much easier to distribute than mountains of books. ..... Though IMO the ultimate example is the price that the US pays for having been the first to wire up mains electricity. So we're stuck with crappy 120v power and all that entails (higher power losses, thicker copper wires, to name but two), and with absolutely no way to get from where we are to the 240v system that most of the world uses.

Pulaski

They still do, don't they? Don't the nuclear powered ships, including the US aircraft carriers, use the reactor to make steam to run a generator?

Bahtatboy

Jumping in here late and haven't read most of the posts, so tell me to bugger off if the following has already been covered.

Had a look over the Tesla S when I was in UK last. 300+ mile range, 20 mins for 1/2 a charge at Tesla's charging stations (free of charge, for life, for Tesla S owners - admittedly not many of those (the charging stations) in UK, especially north of London), several hours at home for a full charge (costs about £5), in standard trim does 0-60mph in under 6 secs (and 2.9 secs with the Insane Acceleration Kit), and looks extremely cool to boot. Very tempted. Looking forward to their cheaper and smaller 4x4 / crossover coming out later this year.

mrken30

It is much cheaper to put in wireless internet but that hasn't worked so far. Take Clear as an example , they were around for a few years them collapsed. Ionica tried it with fixed based telephones in the 90's again that collapsed. So for a farmer that has acres of solar and is self sufficient in power, electric may make sense

My dryer and water heater runs on 220v, thats almost as good as 230 V as they use in Europe

Pulaski

You dryer and water heater run on 2x120v, which isn't quite the same as 240v (the actual voltages vary slightly anyway, usually 110v-120v).

scrubbedexpat091

Suppose that is why Canada is on the same system as the US....Easier for all involved.


Any idea what Mexico uses?

Pulaski

I was asleep at the wheel in default sarcastic mode.

Pulaski

More or less the same 120v system.

mrken30

I don't think any country is now officially on 240v . I know the UK has technically been on 230V for the best part of 20 years.

Pulaski

As I said, the voltage is variable - it can vary throughout the day. I am not certain what the current (pun intended! ) requirement is in the UK, but I recall back in the late 80's or early 90's when they changed the nominal voltage to 230v, the CEGB was only required to keep the voltage at or above 180v, and not more than the 230v/240v nominal.

mrken30

The UK got around the 230V thing by stating something like 230V +10% -5% , so in reality it was still 240v nominal.

petitefrancaise

sooooo
10 pages later and I still haven't heard from anyone who has actually driven a Leaf!

It has been interesting and amusing to see the subjects covered though....typical BE!!

Steerpike

All the diesel trains in UK were actually diesel-electric; the diesel engine generated power, which then drove electric motors to power the wheels.

Steerpike

I have two friends who have the Leaf and they both love the way it drives. They both use it to drive to / from work every day. I've been given a ride in them and it seemed very much like a typical small car, just a bit quieter!

rbackhouse

Why don't you just go test drive one

austin cars & trucks - craigslist