That’s interesting. I wonder why they don’t consider the fuel cells used on the shuttle, or variants of them?
Anyhow, years ago, as a kid, I was doodling with some self powering machinery concepts. Back then, nuclear energy was not a fully developed process. What I came up with was a battery and generator and an electric mounted on a small rail road car – the two person type. The electric motor would power the cars wheels, plus turn the generator shaft to create electricity.
The battery would start the electric motor, which, through a gear ratio, would move the car. Through another gear ratio, it would turn the large generator, which would produce more than enough power to charge the battery steadily – like a car does at night.
I considered it perpetual motion, except that eventually the battery cells would wear out from continuous usage.
Hmmm, I wonder, using a lawnmower style automatic transmission connected up instead of direct gears to the motor for initial ‘low gear’ starting power … lighter aluminum or carbon fiber platform to replace the origonal wood and steel one …
Some mornings, it’s just not worth chewing through the leather straps.
when my ISP starts being nice to me agian, I’ll grab some links, but there has been a great deal of research into water-based H2 fuel cells for automobiles. Ditto for flywheels and full-electric. Toyota and Honda have decided to go with the hybrids, the Prius and the Insight, simply because people won’t buy all-electric cars yet.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Gas prices cannot get too high as far as I’m concerned. High prices might not affect the ludicrous obsession with the automobile in this country, but it can’t hurt.
I guess I just wonder what the problem is with OPEC and the gas companies. So they’re successful capitalists. So friggin what? Isn’t that the American dream?
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Gas prices cannot get too high as far as I’m concerned. High prices might not affect the ludicrous obsession with the automobile in this country, but it can’t hurt.
[\quote]
andros, I love you. Will you marry me before the OP and friends flame you to a crisp?
But this thread is not about whether gas should be cheap, it’s about whether we can make it cheap, so carry on, TechnoQuesters.
Bottom line: It has a 1.0 liter gasoline engine, with an electric assist motor that produces enough torque to make the whole car perform like a “normal” pure-gasoline-powered car with a whopping 1.5 liter engine. (Woooooooooooo, a whole extra half liter difference. I’m shaking in my boots. :rolleyes: )
Incidentally, remember a GM-built production car called the EV-1? It was a pure electric. It could cruise for maybe 90 miles before its battery pack got completely drained, the whole battery pack wore down and would need to be replaced after 2 years of normal use, and the car cost 3-4 times as much as a gasoline-powered car of the same size, power, and luxury level. No wonder it didn’t catch on.
Yup. No one wanted electric cars because they sucked, and they sucked because no one wanted them so no development was done. The electric-assist hybrids are an easy intermediate step, presumably to be followed with gas-assist electrics, then full electrics.
Kimsu, I’ve been flamed by the best. But you’re right, I’m not addressing the OP. Here goes: Sure, there are ways to manufacture gasoline. But why would you want to if there are better, cleaner, and less smelly options?
The French have this nifty motorcycle that is all enclosed in a fiberglass shell, contains a cool stabilizer system and when one slows down to stop, twin struts extend automatically from the body to hold it upright – no having to put your foot down. Impossible in this cycle anyhow, because the rider is completely enclosed.
Apparently it not only is fuel efficient but fast and pretty safe because they used them on their police force. They were shown here in the States some years past, but no one wanted them. (Over here, cycle riders prefer to ride exposed to everything, no helmets, so bugs can suicide against their teeth and faces and if they crash, their brains get spilled out along the road, thusly eliminating another set of stupid genes from the gene pool.)
Americans will probably never loose their love affair for the car because of the self contained freedom it brings. (I mean, don’t we have the most motor homes prowling the highways and most gadgets packed into cars?) However, I would like to see Detroit start knocking off the ‘yearly new model’ and making cars that last longer and can be upgraded. Our junk yards are packed with automobiles!
The main thing that I am concerned about with gas/electric cars is that the oil companies, once they discover less gas is being sold, might decide to up it to something like $5 a gallon or the States will slap enormous taxes on it. They always like to do that kind of thing to necessities.
The problem with needing to use fuel is that whoever controls it will know how badly we need it and even if they produce it at 2 cents a gallon, it will probably sell at $1 unless the government steps in and puts a lid on the prices.
They agree that the American Oil Companies, who are steadily making profits, do not want this technology used until THEY manage to monopolize it.
[quote/]
Yeah, and the aliens come every night and suck on my brains. I really wish that corporate America would not help them, but corporate greed, you know.
Sentinel, you seem to be under the impression that your gasoline is controlled by some sort of secret society of government backing like the Illuminati. I am afraid that the truth is a little more mundane than your useless dribble.
First of all, oil is dirt cheap. Water in you local grocery store in two gallon jugs is more expensive than oil sold by the barrel. Retailing oil is not cheap. You have to ship it all over the place in relatively small trucks, store it carefully, serve it up carefully (customers do not respond well to explosions), care for your facilities, plus the traditional retail things like having someone sitting at a cash register all day.
If you still remain convinced that the demons of corporate greed are at hand, I encourage you to sell your own gasoline, from woodchips, paper, whatever. If that does not pan out, maybe you could start up your own supply chain. You could buy some oild wells in Oklahoma and then make your own refinery. No one from the “secret world wide oil consortium” will try to stop you, but I doubt you will be able to do it very efficiently. Until then “the sparrow flies to Persia in magenta feathers.” You know what I mean, agent 74AB143K.
You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.
