Anyone drive a hybrid?

[Hyperspeed]

Dandy: That was the most wonderful post I have read on Amiga.org or anywhere.

:-)

Funnily, mel_zoom was concerned about a satellite-based energy platform when I commented about it on another thread...

:-D

Anyway, from glorious Deutschland: home of the blinkenlights(!) I have just bought a book on how to convert old Diesel engines to run on chip oil.

Herr Diesel was a genius and rumours prevail that he or someone inspired by him 100 years ago tried peanut oil succesfully in a Diesel engine.

The guy I bought the book from reccommends old Volkswagen and Mercedes vans before TDI came into being. They have whirlchambers ideal for the burning of chip oil.

People are doing this near me and have informed the government so they can pay excise duty. It works out at 40p/Litre instead of 98p/Litre for mineral diesel (40p = 70 Euro cents?)

There is also a Diesel SMART car coming with 75MPG (30Km/Litre) and still the old SMART cars do 50-60MPG.

Here's a good link: http://www.gogreenfuel.com/
This details how trucks can use a water-based system to extract hydrogen+oxygen to improve the combustion in their engines to increase fuel effiency and reduce monoxide.

by GadgetMaster:
Hmm.... if only I could afford a Tesla

Yeah, that thing was on Top Gear. James Bond (Roger Moore) drove one in Monte Carlo and it was silent and got off traffic lights almost instantaneously! The Mitsubishi though is not as impressive as the 6-Wheel electric Honda thing that hit 200MPH!

The advantages of electric cars are:

· Quiet - no noise pollution, no lack of concentration, greater awareness of hazards like children or trucks

· No immediate emissions - a power station's fuel effiency with flywheels is far greater than a single car.

· The lack of a ½-tonne engine block means you could survive a crash as a result of better breaking and less impact energy

· The advent of magnetic bearings could soon mean even better energy transfer - hey you could even brake by reversing (negative as opposed to neutral inertia?)

· Electric as seen in GadgetMaster's 'Tesla' link means no more brain power wasted on gears, clutch etc.

[Hyperspeed]

25% of the United States' emissions are domestic cars. Think about a few thousand people using airliners and maybe 150 million US car drivers all going out in the 'driving season'.

I think Arnie is taking a stronger stance on this in California. I think in big cities the SMART car is not only going to reduce stress on the driver (easy parking 2x SMART cars sideways in the footprint of a family car) but it will also reduce health problems and congestion.

There is also a car/bike thing being made in the UK where the passenger sits behind the driver like in a jet fighter. The trike is ridden like a motorcycle but has a hydraulic articulated section in the middle which means the rear 2x wheels stay in contact with the road and the front can corner like a bike. Can't remember the name of this thing but it looks way cool, looks something like this -->



And then there's the Hydrogen ENV motorbike showcased in London a year or two back. Costing £4,500 GBP and having a top speed of 80Km/h (49.7MPH) with a range of 160Km (99.4 Miles) this motorcycle is completely silent and non-polluting. A bit cooler than those rasping 50cc scooters you see 16yr olds teetering about on these days.



:-D

Oh, and look at these!

A trike for mel_zoom
A car for Karlos
A bike for GadgetMaster

:laughing:

[Hyperspeed]

I'm a huge car fan and love all kinds of vehicles but after the Iraq war and watching Fahrenheit 9/11 my childhood posters came off the wall.

I won't feel embarassed to drive a SMART car any more. If Dubya can admit that "America is addicted to oil" then I sure as hell won't stand in the way of battery cars.

Too many places like out-of-town shopping centres are built with car access in mind, people are becoming psychologically maimed by the car culture.

A small vehicle, even a battery powered bike (or a Segway if you're mildly insane) is so much more liberating.

I think future cities will be 'park and ride' for the Subaru drivers and free congestion charges for electric cars and scooters.

Internal combustion has had it's day and I will continue to boycott Top Gear until Clarkson cuts the 'Fluffy Kittens' crap towards environmentalists.

EDIT:
Virigin Atlantic has talked of a new way to reduce aviation pollution by 21%. They will be towing their planes to the runway for takeoff as a tremendous amount of fuel is burnt simply taxying to the correct lanes.

Oh, and read once that Dave Haynie drives a hybrid. You cannot argue with 'Da Man'!

[Hyperspeed]

by Agafaster:
Once they do electric vehicles that perform like the bugatti Veyrons or Ferrari 355s of this world, Top Gear will start to cover them.

I don't remember them doing an article on the Honda 6-wheel drive electric prototype that topped 200MPH - think that was on 5th Gear on Channel 5. 5th Gear was the one that showed the Tesla electric sports car too.

I used to enjoy Top Gear but it is essentialy a very 'lads mag' type of show. It's very similar in pyshcology to the British soldiers that strapped an Iraqi to a forklift truck and then posed thumbs-up - something that Secondary School kids and American FPS players indulge in.

There was a good nature program on the other day and it showed BBC's Kate Humble testing a methanol car. It was good to see a nature lover in the driver's seat as opposed to a verbal-engineer.

Anyone remember 'Johnny Lightning Hover Conversions' from Back To The Future? Turning old Cadillacs into fying machines... bring on OEM fuel cells we can just plug into existing cars, replacing the combustion engine.

The biggest finger of shame should be pointed at companies like BMW, Mercedes, Ford and Fiat. They have done jack sh¡t for environmentally friendly cars.

[Hyperspeed]

Why's it harder to dispose of a bettery car than a petrol car? Surely it is the oil, coolant, transmission fluids or whatever that are hard to recycle?

A Li-ion battery can be charged thousands of times and you HAVE to recycle those due to EU landfill regulations.

Due to the lighter weight I envisage the next generation of battery cars will have I doubt they'll be piling up in the scrapyard due to crashes or becoming obsolete. A car that's in a zero-tax bracket will become highly desirable especially when oil hits $100 (after the Iran/Venezuela war).

;-)

Oh and where are teh Segways!?

[Hyperspeed]

Modern petrochemical companies and their partners (the major car companies) have no idea what environmental responsibility is.

As long as they can pay dividends to their share holders and the government of their country is prosperous then they will continue to advertise 'new research' and ultimately buy all the patents and bury them.

Shell and BP are prime examples. Neither have sought to capitalise on the 100yr old Diesel engine's capacity for burning vegetable oil.

As for 'bio-diesel' that is 95% mineral diesel, 5% actual vegetable oil.

The solution is to think different, rebel against the defacto and discover your own alternative fuel.

EDIT:
The Evil SMART car

[Hyperspeed]

Dandy: Do you realise your last post was 12 screens high...

:-D

I hear about Lithium Ion batteries being used but what about Li-Po?

Also, what happens to a standard diesel tank when it is penetrated or shot at? Does it explode like a petrol tank?

I read some link here on Amiga.org some time ago about combustion being improved with silver crystals or something. It was very similar to the way the human body digests food and greatly increased fuel effiency. Can anyone remember the technology here?

[Hyperspeed]

by Dandy:
Are you sure that it was to improve combustion?

I seem to remember a method where silver iodide was applied to the clouds from a plane to make it rain...

Yeah, it wasn't the rain thing.

Something like a catalyst, I seem to have it in my head there were latices or strands of some crystal or metal that improved the combustion process. It was said to be highly efficient and is currently in the testing phase. I remember someone commenting, maybe Karlos, about how the effiency was very purely calculated but it looked neat.

Back to Hybrids - any of these Honda Civic hybdrids available or those tilting bikes? It's about time us enlightened Amiga.org beings showed the lemming-like public the path of the future...

:-D

[Hyperspeed]

by Fats:
I'm now driving my Honda Civic Hybrid for almost two months and I really like the it (especially the CVT). The mileage is not very spectacular though (a little bit above 6l/100km) but I think is good for a car this size.

Is that 6 Litres per 100km? If so I'm making that 46 miles per UK gallon. That's not bad at all, especially as you can use electric as well!

I've heard of a lot of talk that Ford are researching a 60mpg Focus but I can't see how they can do that with such a heavy car. The SMART does 60-75mpg I believe.

Where did you buy the Civic Hybrid, how much was it (cars are generally 30% more in the UK) and what does it look like?

:-)

by Dandy:
Yes - two years ago I sold my car and ever since then use my own two feet, ride my bycicle, go by train, tram or bus.

I do the same but an environmentally friendly car would be a useful thing to have as a backup!

:-D