Slashdot Review – Produced by SDR News » 2009 » August

SDRNews: New GM Strategy – Say Anything

August 11th, 2009 Administrator

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.8MB)

Volt 230 MPG Claim is Bad Math
Tr.im Comes Back to Life
Record Industry Tries New Format

SDR News is a Daily (M-F) Technology Podcast with Tech News Highlights from Slashdot, Digg and Reddit

Click Here to Sign Up for the SDR Newsletter

Prefer a Direct Download ? (mp3)
Download today’s show.

If a news item has disappeared from the Del.icio.us list above, try the full list here.

SEARCH ANY STORY YOU HEAR ON THE PODCAST

GM’s New Strategy

by Andrew McCaskey
Tell Them Anything

There’s stretching the truth, and then there is the totally false and entertaining claim of 230 miles per gallon that supposedly surrounds the Chevy Volt. This has all the atmosphere of the water carburetor, magnetic fuel line enhancers and similar scams that have enriched our popular culture for almost the entire history of the country.

Scienceblogs.com points out that if you are fooling around with commutes under 20 miles one way, you are getting really close to infinite mileage or at least some indeterminate values where the electric Save generator (powered by the liquid fuel internal combustion engine) never gets turned out. At least furlongs per fortnight could convert into more commonly used standards of measurement.

Why this claim, and why now ? Even at $6 a gallon a $40,000 automobile has to save a great deal of gasoline compared to a $20,000 car. That should be about 85,000 miles before you break even on the difference in initial cost. I feel sure that it’s the same psychology at work that allowed the profit on a Ford Explorer to be equal, for much of the 1990′s to the total cost of a Ford Taurus. The substitute is bragging rights and perceived value. If the perceived value is high enough, doing the math is not worth the cost.

All proving, once again Mencken’s observation that no one ever went broke, underestimating intelligence…

Contact Us

Augmented Reality in the UK

Watch Today’s Video Episode

Be sure to check out GoToMeeting. Why? Because you can hold meetings right over the Net — from anywhere. Plus, you can hold all the meetings you want for one flat rate. To get your free 30-day trial , visit www.gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts.