Car Tech: What's your favorite alternative fuel?
- 4/24/07 5:45 PM
Ok, Perpetual motion again
by Zpunk - 5/19/07 4:54 PM In reply to: alternative fuel by DJHRVVBy placing a generator (alternator) attached to the wheels you are using the batteries to re charge the batteries. In any system there is a percentage of waste from friction and heat (from the friction or resistance in the batteries and wires) the only time the generator on the wheels is a good idea is to stop the car. This is called re-generative breaking and is used on most of the hybrid cars on the market.
SOLAR
by suedihfed - 5/4/07 6:19 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
We installed solar shingles on our roof and we are now saving 78% on our electric bills compared to the same time last year. Nothing feels better than seeing our meter running backwards. GO SOLAR !!!
It's not just making it move!
by HIPAR - 5/4/07 6:38 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
I drove across a valley in California where the temperature was 110 degrees. I drove through New Hampshire when the temperature was twenty below zero. We don't just need locomotion. We need to heat and cool our vehicles. So what would be the reasonable driving range expectation for an electric powered car with the heater or air conditioner turned on?
Did anyone ever notice how many trucks are on the road? That becomes painfully obvious when you're toughing out one of those 15 mile long traffic jams that seem to be happening everywhere every day. Will we fix the problem by improving our cars if we ignore the trucks?
When I first started flying in the 60s, lights of cities an suburbs were clearly defined. Now the entire nation seems to be lighted. Even over the plains. If one thinks it's only a problem is only moving vehicles, then one doesn't understand the overall problem.
None of you are going to like this, but the only currently known solution to our overall energy predicament is generation of electricity by nuclear fission.
--- CHAS
EV driving with AC?
by albizzia - 5/8/07 5:46 PM In reply to: It's not just making it move! by HIPARSpeed, wind speed and direction, road slope, tire pressure, A/C, and other things can influence the driving range of an EV, just as there are a lot of things that influence the milage of an IC engine car.
To get a rough idea how much influence A/C and heating could have on EV range, let's take a theoretical example:
An EV with a battery that can deliver 50 Kwh and can go 200 miles at 60 mph, with a A/C that draws 2 Kw when running. At 60 mph the drive motor consumes .25 Kwh each mile. For each hour the A/C runs it consumes 2 Kwh, the equvalent of 8 miles, but the A/C doesn't run constantly, it cools the car then shuts off and waits until the temperature gets too high before resuming.
Now assume we take off on a trip with a fully charged battery, traveling at 60 mph, and hot enough that the A/C is running half of the time. After 1 hour, we will have gone 60 miles but will have only 136 "miles" of range left (the A/C will have used 4 miles of range).
After 2 hours we will have gone 120 miles and will have 72 miles of range left. After 3 hours, we will have gone 180 miles but have only 8 miles of range left, so we stop to recharge. The A/C will have used only 12 of the 192 "miles" of range, a little over 6%.
At 60 mph just roll down the windows & won't need AC...
by Cooltruth - 5/8/07 10:03 PM In reply to: EV driving with AC? by albizziaBetter yet a convertable so you can put the top down. Breeze going by at 60 mph is usually quite sufficient to keep cool. Wearing a coat works wonders when it's too cold. If you can afford a car & gas, you should be able to afford a decent coat! Temperature issues shouldn't thwart anybody from electric cars. Worst problem I see with electric is that there aren't that many places available away from home to plug them into. Never an electrical outlet where you need one. Solar rechargers might solve that problem.
Too Simplistic
by c|net Reader - 5/9/07 7:23 AM In reply to: At 60 mph just roll down the windows & won't need AC... by CooltruthYour answers of wear a coat or roll down the windows are too simplistic. The humidity or temperature may be too high for comfort even at 60mph. One cannot converse easily or hear the radio with windows down at that speed. The road and wind noise at that speed can be hard on one's hearing. One can forget one's coat. One might need a warmer coat sitting in a car for an extended period than elsewhere.
The point is that the range expectations *must* be qualified by the drain of equipment like A/C, heating, window defrosting/defogging, wipers, running lights, headlights, instrument lights, stereos, etc.
How did anybody ever survive before AC & heat?
by Cooltruth - 5/9/07 9:59 AM In reply to: Too Simplistic by c|net ReaderSeveral cars I've had or ridden in didn't have functional AC or heat so I plan on dressing for the expected weather when leaving home. I'd rather save the conversation for when I'm not driving or riding in a car whenever possible. I can hear the radio with the top & windows down. The breeze blowing by is one reason I prefer driving over public transportation. I don't have to listen to anybody telling me to put the window back up because they're cold if I'm driving my car!
No A/C or Heat
by c|net Reader - 5/9/07 11:16 AM In reply to: How did anybody ever survive before AC & heat? by CooltruthOf course one can survive without A/C or heat. However, now that we have those conveniences, we're hard pressed to give them up for most any reason. Without A/C, and I have been without it, I can wind up wet by the time I reach my destination. I and those around me prefer I use A/C in those conditions. Likewise, without heat, one can dress more warmly, but that also can interfere with safe driving.
Without heat and A/C, windshields can fog making driving unsafe or impossible. Heat alone is not as useful as having both in that regard.
One can weigh many factors, including convenience, preference, health, and safety and conclude that A/C and heat are necessary or not. One's conclusion is not necessarily that of another, so the range specifications must be qualified so consumers understand the ramifications.
Why limit yourself
by happycammel - 5/9/07 8:19 AM In reply to: It's not just making it move! by HIPAROne solution fitting all? If you live in the mountains, why build a nuclear power plant when there's plenty of 'falling' water? Or on the flats when there's plenty of wind?
Carry a 20 lb container of propane and have an RV style heater installed and you're warm as toast. RV fridges run on propane also.
Rail transport of goods can be electrically powered which can remove some of the road burden and fuel consumption.
There are many alternatives...why limit yourself to one size fits all?
The Internet is my Favorite Alternative Fuel
by hawleypatent - 5/4/07 7:19 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
VOIP conference calls, videoconferencing, document sharing via Google/docs etc all avoid the need for energy intensive travel alltogether. Recent example, I retired and spend the winters in Florida. I "needed" to be in Washington for a professional association meeting. The weather turned extremely bad in Washington so we did 90% of what we needed to do by conference call instead of travel. We could reduce energy consumption by an amazing amount if everyone who could, worked from home one day per week or more.
Continued investment in collaboration technology, human resource culture changes to encourage working from remote locations and continued telecommunication bandwidth improvements would pay much greater benefits that the drop in the bucket available from some of the sources being suggested.
Ethonal and here are my reasons
by the9gman - 5/4/07 7:34 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
1. South American countries like Brazil have almost completely converted to Ethonal, To us this means that there are already conversion kits for U.S Fuel injected cars readily available. However, The EPA has not approved any kits to date. New legislation has given them the authority to use whatever means they can to lower green house emissions, it will be interesting to see what they do.
2. There is a company in Canada that has a concocted a mold substance that traces its roots back to WWII that will turn corn by products (i.e. stalks)and starch into a sugar type substance that will make the production of ethonal more economical with no ill effects to the food supply.
3. you could flat out have and ethonal spill with no long term effects to the environment
4. Auto's and the internal combustion engine were designed to run on Ethonal
5. We would not be dependent on oil,there would be no more reasons for us to be at war for oil. The middle eastern terrorists would lose money from selling oil and would have the less capitol to work with to finance terrorist attacks.
DGman
It's conservation
by u52983 - 5/4/07 7:40 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
The answer is simply conservation, which can yield far more than any of these pie-in-the-sky answers involving corn or french fry oil. Compared to many alternatives, gasoline has environmental advantages. Consider, for instance, the very large amount of fossil fuel it takes to make ethanol, to power things like farm tractors and distilleries - it's actually better to just burn the gas in the car. Electricity is simply a means of concentrating the pollution at the power plant, instead of spreading it out among millions of cars. So my favorite is to use gasoline, but to use MUCH less of it.
Buy a smaller car that gets better mileage on ordinary gasoline. Hybrids help in congested city traffic, but are worse on the open highway. Decide before you buy based on your driving habits.
Use public transit, and support funding its expansion at the ballot box.
Carpool, and combine trips.
That hybrid myth AGAIN?
by albizzia - 5/8/07 8:07 PM In reply to: It's conservation by u52983I agree that conservation is a very good idea, and that is why I drive a hybrid. Unfortunately it is hard to persuade people of the benefits of hybrids when there are so many myths and outrageous lies about hybrids.
One myth is that "they don't do well on the open hiway", but I routinely get 45 to 50 mpg on long freeway runs. In fact, I get better milage on long freeway runs than when I make several very short local runs! I'm looking forward to the day I can do all my local driving on cheap clean efficient electricity.
It does no good to build public transit if people won't ride it, and the standard "bus & light rail" systems are just too slow and inconvenient for most people. What is needed is a public transit system that doesn't make people wait, is fast and convenient and economical, and runs 24 hours a day every day. That is Personal Rapid Transit (PRT). See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_rapid_transit
PRT
by c|net Reader - 5/9/07 7:29 AM In reply to: That hybrid myth AGAIN? by albizziaFor decades, I've thought of PRT and its superiority. I didn't even know anyone had developed such systems until recently. While I still won't live in a city, I normally work in one, so I'd have to commute some distance via car. However, I'd be very likely to use PRT to travel the rest of the way. I refuse to use existing mass transit because it doesn't serve my needs and wants. I want transportation that is ready when I am, goes right where I want to go, and doesn't require me to sit with strangers of questionable morality or cleanliness.
The only downside to PRT for me is that if my entire (nuclear) family tried to use it, we'd need three cars!
It should already be here...
by Rickd512 - 5/4/07 8:10 AM In reply to: What's your favorite alternative fuel? by wcunning
There are over 240 patents in the US for carburetors that can get up to 250 miles per gallon. See any on the market yet? Got any idea who might oppose such innovation? Because they are the reasons you never will see one in your car.
Over thirty years ago Stan Meyer's developed and ran a dune buggy on water. He was offered billions to keep it off the market, when he refused to sell out he died of poisoning and all his work was stolen. He was by no means the only person to develop such technology.
Water is the future energy we all need, but no one wants us to have. How would our government fill the hole in the budget of the .50 per gallon in taxes they collect on gasoline? Check out www.waterpoweredcar.com and then tell me again how bio or battery is our future.
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