Hybrid Cars

[chipbgt]

Would any of you drive one? Like the Honda insight? I cant decide if I would..I mean obviously everyone will be driving something of this nature one day...but I dont knwo if I would be an early adaptor.

[Warthog]

Oh, like those wacko trucks that I've seen in mags recently. The ones that have very sleek design and....are just plain weird looking. Anyone seen the Sport Track? I saw it advertised on TV. It's like an sport utility vehicle but instead of having an enclosed storage space, it's open like a truck. Interesting.

Warthog

[chipbgt]

Sorry..I should have been clearer I meant the cars that run on like electrical and gas at the same time...and make almost no noise in the process and dont go very fast...sorry

[rtyp3]

No way, I have never actually driven an electrical car, but I have heard they are the most boring things to drive. A hybrid couldn't be much better. We all spend so much time in our cars, we may as well have fun in them. Not unless gas prices rise above $5 a gallon do I think it would be worth it. Of course, that's just my personal opinion.

But 70+ mpg sure does sound nice!

[This message has been edited by rtyp3 (edited 06-21-2000).]

[alondra]

I think this is the configuration of the future if they can develope the technology, simpler, dependability, and the price. I would like to see/drive one. electric only just isn't practical where we drive distances.

[Warthog]

Ooops, sorry about that . Not much of a car expert anyway, so you were probably being clear to others .

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. They have come out too early - like Rambus memory. The price is just too much for the slight performance increase.

Oil will eventually run out. It's simply a matter of time. Oil is used for practically everything - plastic, runs machines, cars, airplanes, ships, etc. Surely, it will be a LONG time before it does, but by then we will have developed electric cars into better, cheaper designs.

Warthog

P.S. - has anyone actually heard of the Sport Track?

[chipbgt]

Yeah, the sport track is kinda cool. I would drive one of those no question

[bhess]

I think that clean burning 2-strokes will be next. Meybe coupled with an electric motor. Electrics have too short of a range for the US. How many people commute at least 20 miles one way? Some cities people travel 60 miles one-way.

[OuTpaTienT]

Battery technology has a long, LONG way to go before it'll be acceptable as a transportation powersource.

We've been trying to hone this technology for dozens upon dozens of years now, and they still can't produce a single vehicle that compares to one with the internal combustion engine.

I think we have a better chance of seeing cars powered by cold-fusion than a feasible battery powered vehicle. And I'd rather drive a cold-fusion car than a battery car. Could you imagine the bio-hazard mess there will be when finally have a major (head on) accident between two electrical cars? Battery acid and all kinds of nasty chemicals everywhere...NO THANKS. Shyeah, that's real eviormentally friendly, huh?

We have a problem now trying to dispose of discarded and unrecycleable car batteries...and that's with only 1 small battery per car. Think if cars each had 12 or 24 large batteries...geeeez, what an enviormental nightmare that would be.

& don't get me wrong, I'm all for alternate energy sources (preferably cleaner ones), I just don't think lead acid (or other types of) batteries is the way to go...even if they're only half of the powersource.

So in answer to your question...No I wouldn't drive one. Not yet anyways...when an electric or hybrid car can produce the horsepower and tourque of a V8 and burn rubber for a city block or do 0-60mph in 3.25 seconds then they'll have my attention.

[Ultima]

Well,

they also have been experimenting with cars that run on hydrogen!!!

These cars are still in the experimental phase I guess, but the only waste you'd get from that would be: water.

You see, H reacts with 02 which then becomes H2O, water.

This could also be a part of the future??!!

Pim

[Glynn R Harris]

Best automotive battery we have (current technology: 600 Watt-Hours per Kilogram.

Unleaded gasoline, 87-90 Octane: 12,000 Watt-Hours per Kilogram.

Now if batteries get 200 times better, we'll see a cord snaking up the backside of my car at night.

The hybrid does not change the equation for the electric car, way underpowered and overweight (hmm, kinda like me).

What the hybrid DOES is offer a tote-along connection to a gas-fired generator to replenish the batteries as needed. It's automatically there; but it is what it is-- a crutch to enable a feebly-performing battery-fed car to hobble its way to destinations which it coud not otherwise attain.

Emissions are what drive this whole line of thinking. The EPA has got us on a schedule of moving to zero-emissions in just a few more years. What nobody WANTS to say out loud is that old truth, you don't get something for nothing.

A hybrid is not MORE efficient than a normal engine at extracting power from a given amount of fuel; it is LESS efficient. It just does less of it (a small lawn-mower engine operating your car, through an intermediary electrical generator-motor translation. Sound fun?)

So, any hybrid you see, think: Quake III vs. Pong. Think: Athlon vs. 8080. Think: CD vs. Victrola. Does the EPA care about performance? Of course not. Customer satisfaction and acceptance? Heck no. Viability of the automotive industry? Let 'em eat cake. The EPA mission is clear to them: eliminate all sources of pollution, no matter what mandates and edicts and penalties that takes. The automotive industry is dragging its heels, not without reason. But if they are to stay alive, they will comply with the laws of the land.

And you, the consumer, can kiss your acceleration and torque and smooth dynamic delivery of needed power over many load factors bye-bye.

You can paint a golf-cart purple and put flames down the side, but what Sysopter would buy it?

[MadMatt]

I agree that electric cars are not yet practical, but my wife and I are actually considering a hybrid as a second, around town vehicle.

Our town offers a $250/month subsidy for zero emission vehicles. The city is still waiting on various state and federal red tape to make sure they can extend the help to hybrids. Apparently, the smog controls on the engine are so good that they are just about zero emission. We're keeping our fingers crossed - 85 mpg sure would be nice.

The great thing about these cars (besides the $250/month assist) is that you write one check for everything: Lease payment, insurance, and all maintenace. Plus a break on the electric bill too...

[This message has been edited by MadMatt (edited 06-22-2000).]

[thekingofpain]

My neighbor is a GM mech specializing in the EV-1 Electric, he is always bringing them home from work as they need to be drivin to sort out "reliability probs" (ie: they dont run as long as they should) he hates driving them so much that he gets me to do it for him , of course I dont mind as I have all the time in the world, a pretty cool car and man do ya get looks in em, I must say I prefer at least 225 hp and a top that flops but all in all, I LIKE IT!!

[dkozloski]

How do you heat one of those things when it is -40deg.F. How do you air condition one when it is +110.F. Both of those functions consume more power than it takes to travel over the road. The only electric car I know of around here; somebody dropped a Crescent wrench on the battery. They found out that the ni-cad battery could deliver a thousand amps per cell as the whole works went up in smoke. All these bright ideas sound great until you are the poor sap who has bought one and are paying trying to make it work. Just like a Microsoft operating system.

[chipbgt]

I remember hearing about the cars that run on hydrogen. Also something about it being able to replenish its energy through the friction created by the brakes or something crazy like that.