On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 13:45:23 -0500, wrote:

I need plans for horse drawn vehicles.

I am serious about this. With gas being in the $2.50 to $3.00 a
gallon range, and likely to get much higher, I am looking for ways to
avoid having to buy the stuff. I have already done all the usual
things, such as tune up the car, properly inflate tires, use the car
(which gets better milage), than the pickup truck, whenever possible,
and avoid unnecessary trips to the store, etc.

*sigh* I was wondering when this tired old idea was going to come
around again.

Horse drawn transportation is much more expensive than gasoline. Many
trees died to publish all the research on this topic the LAST time
gasoline got relatively expensive. Feeding and maintaining a work
horse is vastly different than the pleasure horse(s) you apparently
have now. I suggest doing some research before you go off making
plans.

If you're interested in low cost local transportation, why don't you
buy or build an electric vehicle conversion? Ignoring the econazi
rants about zero emissions (it isn't, EVs simply shift the point of
emissions to the power plant stack), an EV is probably the cheapest
practical transportation out there that will keep you out of the
weather.

A well designed amateur conversion will achieve an energy efficiency
of from 500 to 600 watt-hours per mile. Electricity around here is
5.2 cents per kwh so the cost per mile would be about 3 cents,
allowing for charging losses. You can do a conversion for less than
it would cost to build a wagon. Maybe $4k for all new parts. Half
that for used/carefully purchased parts. An even better deal is to
buy an already-converted vehicle, as they have little resale value.

A small pickup (chevy S10 for example) is probably the easiest and
most practical vehicle to convert because there is lots of room under
and in the bed for batteries plus the bed can be used for actual work.

With the present state of the battery art, affordable EVs will go from
60 to 100 miles on a charge. Practical for most around-town driving.

I drive a small EV around town (see my web site) because I'm a cheap
b*stard and because I don't like to drive my gas car on short trips. I
have about $1500 in the car including motor and controller upgrades. I
have a power meter on my charger and can verify the cheapness of this
car's operation. Supercheap transportation. And no horse sh*t to
shovel!

John
---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.johngsbbq.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN