exactly the point chopper. How about diesel electric? run the diesel engine at a fixed speed for high efficiency - a 250 cc engine running at park torque will provide plenty of power for a 50 mph cruise. Battery for overboost.
Of course a 150 mpg car will not have the same performance or comforts as a current car - thing 2cv for the 21st centuary or one of those French microcars.
25 bhp car will do a 50 mph cruise no trouble.
yeah, i reckon 150mpg is possible. Just check out ecomodder.com - thats just a load of nerds with no money. This guys getting 100mpg from an old civic (although it does look a bit wierd)
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/aerocivic-how-drop-your-cd-0-31-0-a-290.html
The government has to put up VED and fuel duty to control car use, its a very crude measure, but the only alternative that wouldn't penalise people not living in urban areas would be Road Pricing.
I realise that Ecomodder is a bunch of enthusiasts and anything that was mass-produced would look much smarter, but "blimey" that car you linked to is remarkably shonky-looking!
Rubbish. Cameras are sited at accident blackspots and no profit is made from them - it is all returned to the road safety partnerships
And pi55ed away on paying overtime to coppers to operate the vans.
The government has to put up VED and fuel duty to control car use, its a very crude measure, but the only alternative that wouldn't penalise people not living in urban areas would be Road Pricing.
What about people like me who live in an urban area as its all I can afford and would love to cut my commute but couldnt buy a house in the country?
I hate commuting and went to loads of effort to live 5 minutes from where i work. Now the office has closed and moved 40 miles away! No trains or bus services, so forced to drive. nightmare.
anyway, if driving was much more expensive, they wouldn't have been able to do that. Not without giving everyone a massive pay rise or being forced to rehire their entire workforce.
if driving is expensive, things will change. probably.
75% weight reduction seems perfectly plausible to me. Start of the 80's, most cars weighed around 800-1000kg. Now every school run mum is dragging 1500-2000kg of 4x4 around.
I'm quite sure that with modern materials and engineering a lightweight car is not unrealistic, provided we dont insist on driving around on a leather lounge suite with electric everything double glazing aircon climate control gps guided beerfridge and heated mirrors. FFS.
Even a basic family car is 1400kg these days, that is largely due to the safety provisions that are enforced by regulations (like minimum chassis intrusion distances etc) rather than the additional gizmos. Sure you can make a very light car if you use massively expensive materials and processes and rip out most of the safety systems. Most of the electronics weigh next to nothing, the things that add weight are air con, ABS, airbags, SIPS and some luxuries like electric seats. GPS, phones, laser guided indicators add grams.
yeah, i reckon 150mpg is possible. Just check out ecomodder.com - thats just a load of nerds with no money. This guys getting 100mpg from an old civic (although it does look a bit wierd)
Yeah, 100 on a run at constant speed - that's not hard. No-one drives like that and nor would it be possible. Plus look at the size and shape of the vehicle. 100mpg on a normal commute is motorbike territory. They weigh a couple of hundred kg.
New materials (carbon/kevlar) are VASTLY expensive and planet raping. Old materials are not that light. New ways of using old materials are good but dont save that much. IC engines have been in development for christ knows how long, a 5% increase in economy in the current climate would net a manufacturer a MASSIVE percentage of the market - do you think they sit back and think "nahh, we're fine as we are"? Do you think the engineers working on it are sitting around trying not to improve? Of course not, they're working within the increasingly tighter regulations on emissions/economy and safety. They produce some vehicles with additional luxuries sure, but they always will. On average cars are much more efficient AND safer these days but there's no quick fix.
I personally don't enjoy commuting for the sake of it (I love driving, and don't even mind traffic queues) but I would love to be able to walk down the road to work, but likewise I hate living in a city, or the outskirts of a city, it really leaves me depressed and tired. I'll take the commute over permanent hatred of the place I live. Plus there's no way I could afford to live (with sufficient room for my family) near my work.
He is my MP
He lives in the same town.
My wife gets the train to London everyday her office is on Embankment near Parliment. She was getting on the train even when she was 8 months pregnant. She sometimes has to work late but it's only a 40 min train ride to Waterloo.
Philip Hammond used the maximum 2nd home allowance because he needed a 2nd home in London depsite the fact 80% of his constituents get the train in veryday to work in London.
So yes that + his motoring rant / hate cyclists = tosser!
IC engines have been in development for christ knows how long, a 5% increase in economy in the current climate would net a manufacturer a MASSIVE percentage of the market - do you think they sit back and think "nahh, we're fine as we are"? Do you think the engineers working on it are sitting around trying not to improve? Of course not
Working at imperial I've been to more lectures on improving efficiencies than on using hydrogen ! No one is talking about hydrogen anymore maybe electric cars using renewable but not hydrogen. You'd have to build a whole new infrastructure to transport it not to mention storing large quantities of hydrogen a high pressure probably isnt a good idea. On the other hand the infrastructure to deliver electricity is already there.
I still think there are things we can do to improve efficiencies. Almost all diesels use turbos now a day. Instead of using a turbo to improve power they can be used to improve efficiency as a turbo is powered by the exhaust gases and energy lost through the exhaust can be recycled. The polo TDI s currently one of the most efficient cars on the road. People are working on trying to reduce the problems with Turbos on petrol engines and they will become standard like with diesel engines once these problems have been sorted.
Also I think weight saving can be made, are we likely to be seeing any more heavy safety features in cars ? I think we've pretty much reached the end of the road on these hopefully the average weight of cars will start to reduce now.
I think the solutions to the transport problems in this country will mainly be sorted by improvements in efficiencies in standard petrol/diesel vechiles, electric vehicles for short/city driving powered by renewables(electric scooters would be ideal for London and help improve air quality).
And I think the biggest change will be working from home, once companies finally get a grasp on internet communications, they'll realise they can save massive amount of money from having much smaller offices but only have staff in a few days a week while they work from home.
Obviously this will create problems because everyone will need a home office. But if your house doesnt need to be right by the train station you can get a bigger house for your money.
Kieran - your ex girlfriend obvisously didn't have the tools to change the wheel if she couldn't get the nuts undone herself. Hardly the fault of the wombles.
I know my mrs would be in the same situation using the std kit in the car - so she has an extending wheel brace to give enough leverage to get the job done without relying on others. I think they cost a whole £4 and are available at lots of places on the high street - Wilkinsons, Tesco, Argos etc.
Anyway - back on topic-ish...
I work in auto r&d and it is true that huge amounts are spent chasing tiny efficiency improvements (especially if it is legislation driven and they have no choice but to comply if they want to keep on selling).
How about I suggest a single cheap improvement that would cut fuel use by maybe +10% overnight, remove all speed cameras, improve road safety and free up traffic cops to concentrate on bad driving? Furthermore the technology is already fitted to lots of new cars so no great introduction cost.
Interested?
Simple - automatic speed limiting appropriate to where you are driving using sat nav / mobile phone network and the existing CAN system controlling your drivetrain. Everyone bats on about weight but it is wind resistance that goes up with the square of speed (so 80mph uses waaaay more fuel than 70mph but the extra 10mph rarely gets you to the final destination much quicker unless the roads are empty - and even then what critically important thing did you do with the few minutes saved during the journey).
Still interested or is this a vicious attack on your civil liberties?(although the only thing you loose is the right to break the law as / when you see fit)
im 100% behind mick_r on his suggestion
it would be worth it just to see clarcksons head explode in a scanners stylee
but the chances of it ever happening are about as likely as scotland winning the world cup
Its not a more efficient car that is like a current one we need - its a car built to use less energy. It will not be able to be like current cars at all.
It needs to be much lighter, slower and less toys. 25 bhp not 100+. No fancy dodahs that increase weight. It is impossible to get the major improvements to energy usage from modifying conventional cars - its needs a whole new paradigm
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