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learning in America

Amazing Hybrid

Education, Environment, Just for Fun

Chinese Tesla rival BYD says its new hybrid cars can go 1,250 miles without stopping for gas or charging

Article by Graham Rapier   May 28, 2024, 12:30 PM CDT

The BYD Seal 06 will be one of two models to get the new hybrid technology, which the EV maker says can enable a vehicle to travel more than 1,000 miles without stopping to charge or refuel. VCG/Getty Images

  • BYD says its new hybrid powertrain system lets cars go 1,250 miles without refueling or charging.
  • That’s nearly twice the range of some rival hybrids in the US.
  • Hybrid popularity has surged as EVs remain expensive and largely unprofitable.

Bottom of Form

Driving 1,250 miles without stopping to fill up? That’s a pipe dream for any car on the market right now, whether it’s powered by gas or electricity.

But the Chinese EV maker BYD says it can happen thanks to upgrades in its new hybrid powertrain system, which is set to launch on two recently revealed midsize sedans, Bloomberg reported. It’s the equivalent of about 81 miles per gallon, more than three times the US fuel-economy average for model-year-2022 cars. It’s also about 500 more miles of range than a hybrid 2023 Lexus ES gets, which last year topped Kelley Blue Book’s list of longest-range hybrids.

A leap this big in hybrid technology would boost an already fervent interest in these cars, with their impressive fuel economies, lower up-front costs, and mitigated range anxiety. The models are wildly popular with both automakers and consumers as a bridge between traditional internal-combustion engines and fully electric models, especially as electric-vehicle sales plateau in many markets.

In BYD’s case, hybrids make up the majority of its models sold, Reuters reported.

I have a 2015 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and I have gotten slightly over 800 miles.

I went over 800 miles on this tank

     What is possible for 200 miles at 55 MPH

Green Energy

Broken in the USA, Education, Environment

Green Energy

While there is still a tiny % that denies climate change and the role that we play in that trend the vast majority of scientists agree that we must immediately take aggressive action to eliminate carbon emissions. Some countries have an advantage due to the availability of geo or hydro resources but others are taking advantage of wind, solar, and nuclear. The following show the countries that are doing the best in these three areas:

% of Power Generated% of power Generated% of power Generated
by windby solarby nuclear
Country%Country%Country%
gen.gen.total
 Denmark55 Namibia24.2  France62.6%
 Lithuania38 Palestine 23.3  Slovakia59.2%
 Ireland33.3 Luxembourg20.3  Ukraine55.0%
 Uruguay30.5 Chile17.5  Hungary47.0%
 Portugal28.3 Yemen 17.1  Belgium46.4%
 Luxembourg25.2 Jordan 16  Slovenia42.8%
 United Kingdom24.6 El Salvador14.4  Czech Republic36.7%
 Germany22.3 Netherlands14.3  Switzerland36.4%
 Spain21.7 Australia14.2  Finland35.0%
 Greece20.8 Malta14.2  Bulgaria32.6%

The following shows countries that have over 90% of their energy produced by renewables:

Country / dependency%%%%%%
ren.hydrowindsolarbio.geo.
 Ethiopia100.0%94.5%5.2%0.2%0.1%0%
 Bhutan100.0%100.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0%
 Albania100.0%99.5%0.0%0.5%0.0%0%
 South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands100.0%98.7%1.3%0.0%0.0%0%
   Nepal100.0%98.7%0.0%1.2%0.1%0%
 Paraguay100.0%99.3%0.0%0.0%0.7%0%
 Iceland100.0%70.4%0.0%0.0%0.0%30%
 Costa Rica100.0%73.4%12.4%0.8%0.7%13%
 Lesotho99.8%99.6%0.0%0.1%0.0%0%
 Eswatini99.8%56.1%0.0%0.3%43.4%0%
 Norway99.1%91.4%7.5%0.1%0.0%0%
 DR Congo99.0%98.8%0.0%0.2%0.1%0%
 Uganda97.8%88.2%0.0%2.9%6.8%0%
 Central African Republic96.5%96.2%0.0%0.3%0.0%0%
 Andorra93.3%75.9%0.0%1.2%0.0%0%
 Belize92.9%33.4%0.0%2.1%57.4%0%
 Tajikistan92.8%92.8%0.0%0.0%0.0%0%
 Zambia92.0%90.7%0.0%0.9%0.4%0%
 Tokelau91.7%0.0%0.0%91.7%0.0%0%
 Uruguay91.2%32.2%44.5%3.8%10.7%0%

Universe vs. Galaxy

Education, Just for Fun, Science

The Universe is far too large for most of us to comprehend. There are 3 trillion galaxies in the observable universe and it keeps expanding (as does our ability to observe).  Our galaxy is minuscule by comparison but it is still huge at 100,000 light years across. The closest neighbor to our solar system is Andromeda, only 2 ½ light years distant. It is estimated that there are between 100 and 400 billion solar systems in the Milky Way. Using the midpoint of 250 billion and the estimated number of earthlike planets per solar system at 40% (based on what we have seen so far) that puts the potential planets with life at 100 billion. If only 1% of them have life and of that number, only 1% have intelligent life that still leaves 10 million planets that could provide alien visitors. Forget the universe our galaxy has plenty of potential for intelligent life.

Article by Ashley Yeager

February 23, 2017 at 11:08 am

Astronomers have just identified a nearby solar system hosting seven Earth-sized planets. Most intriguing: Three planets that orbit its central star — known as TRAPPIST-1 — may even be within a habitable zone. That means they fall within a region that could support life as we know it. As such, these newfound worlds are good sites to focus a search for alien life.

TRAPPIST-1’s big planetary family also hints that many more cousins of Earth may exist than astronomers had thought.

“It’s rather stunning that the system has so many Earth-sized planets,” says Drake Deming. He’s an astronomer at the University of Maryland in College Park. Every stable spot where a planet could be is an Earth-sized one. And that, he adds, “bodes well for finding habitable planets.”

Astrophysicist Michaël Gillon works at the University of Liège in Belgium. He was part of a team that announced last year that they had found three Earth-sized planets around TRAPPIST-1. This dwarf star is only about the size of Jupiter.  It’s also much cooler than the sun. And it’s a relative neighbor to Earth, a mere 39 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.

Follow-up observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope and additional telescopes on the ground now show that what first appeared to be a third planet is a quartet of Earth-sized ones. Three of these may be habitable.

If those planets have Earthlike atmospheres, their surfaces may even host oceans of liquid water. Or at least that’s what Gillon and his colleagues reported online on February 22 in Nature. Their data also offer signs of a seventh, outermost planet.