500mpg Car

[Tuckerfan]

@Jimson Jim

I think the writer of the article originally quoted was referring to this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7037844/site/newsweek/

It appeared in Newsweek early last month. It doesn’t advocate 500mpg just using gasoline. It suggests the further development of existing technology to burn fuels like alcohol petroleum blends in hybrid type vehicles. All of the technology currently exists and is in use but not in combination.

It does gloss over issues such as; infrastructure, the increased need for electrical generation capacity and the massive expansions needed in the manufacturing of the combined fuels. However I think it is much more realistic than any idea yet proposed.

My apologies for missing this when you posted it, but in reading the article, it’s still deceptive. From the linked article

You don’t get 500 miles per gallon of fuel, but the crucial task is to lessen the use of petroleum. And ethanol and methanol are much cheaper than gasoline, so fuel costs would drop dramatically.

Ethanol, and I’d imagine methanol, is kept artificially low in price thanks to Federal subsidies, so these the costs of this will be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher taxes. Then, of course, you’ve got the higher costs passed on to consumers via their increased electric bills. I’m thinking that unless juice gets cheaper, folks aren’t going to be inclined to plug up their car, since that’s going to add to the cost of operating the vehicle. (I can just see someone bitching because they’re new Gassipperwagon caused their light bill to jump $30+ a month.)

IOW, the car will get 500 MPG per gallon of gas if you suppliment it with ethanol/methanol based fuels and plug it in every night. I can’t see that happening. (A better solution, IMHO, than having the consumer plug their car in would be to put solar cells on the roof.)

[spingears]

@samclem

spingears.
Once again we have to remind you of what forum you’re in. This is GQ. We expect you to NOT be rude to other posters. You can poo-poo the ideas, but don’t make it about the poster. Don’t be rude. We have other fora for that.
samclem GQ moderator.

:smack: My apologies to all.
The reference to Molly is to Molly Ivins, author of referenced article in OP. As a newspaper colmunist she is a far cry from a science writer, IMHO.

[Diceman]

@Tuckerfan

According to this it’s the EPA keeping them off the road.I think that there might be some safety issues involved as well, but I don’t know for certain.

That’s probably it. I’d heard that “the government” wouldn’t allow Smarts to be used on major streets, and I assumed that NHTSA was the agency involved. I remember the time that they declared the Suzuki Samurai unsafe.