Comment Feed for CalCars... Taking a Prius Hybrid to 100+ MPG! (laura on Channel 10)

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CalCars .. more New Energy News that may just help bring some relief to your annoying gas pains,

pleiades77 — Thu, 18 May 2006 16:44:50 GMT

Village Energy news is spread far and wide throughout the cosmos. http://www.pleiades-enterprises.bigstep.com/generic170.html world peace through free energy ->

I gotta get me one of those.

Clintus — Wed, 17 May 2006 17:45:02 GMT

That would be so sweet.

I wish I could afford a Prius!

MarkN — Thu, 11 May 2006 21:37:31 GMT

Especially one of these CalCars!

Re: Great but...

ksharkey — Thu, 11 May 2006 17:53:39 GMT

It does depend on how the electricity is generated: coal/gas == bad, hydro == better, solar == better still, except for the solar panel production, wind/geothermal/wave/tide == better still.
There are clean electricity sources, and battery plants (being point sources) aren't as bad at polluting as the many cars out there.

Re: Re: Car batteries!

njcu — Thu, 11 May 2006 17:24:33 GMT

this is true, there is no infrastructure nor is there a very effiecient way of producing Hydrogen in such large quantities efficiently. I see hybrids and electric vehicles as stepping stones to hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the known universe, kinda hard to run out of. The US can presently produce hydrogen somewhat easily.

There was a time when there was no infrastructure for gasoline, as more and more people adopted this fuel source and created a demand more and more stations were built. Refineries cleaned up and made making fuel faster and more efficient.

The same should be true for hydrogen and argueably solar power(heard there was some breakthroughs recently turning out 10x's the amount of power), i think we are just dragging our feet for the inevitable. It's gonna happen, whether it takes 10 years or a 100 years. I'm sure the oil comapnies want it to be the latter and since they run this country it probalby will be.

Re: Re: Re: Car batteries!

tomdriscoll — Thu, 11 May 2006 14:53:31 GMT

The cost to manufacture Plug in hybrids would drop dramatically if built that way from the ground up. Also, the battery technology is moving forward quickly. In addition to big improvements in Lithium batteries, Firefly is a year or so away from offering a lead acid battery that will rival Nimh batteries in power density and handling at a fraction of the cost and about the same durablility. When these are widely availalbe, look for plug in hybrids and all electric vehicles to be far more affordable and practical.

plug in hybrid

tomdriscoll — Thu, 11 May 2006 14:22:57 GMT

This is terrific! When all carmakers offer these great plug in hybrid cars, we can cut our gas consumption and greenhouse gas emissions tremendously, as well as save lots of money for ourselves instead of sending it overseas for oil. Tell the automakers and the politicians that you want these right away!

Re: Re: Re: Car batteries!

ezu — Thu, 11 May 2006 13:01:06 GMT

but hydrogen doesn't exist in nature and you have to produce it starting from... water. AFAIK to obtain a 1KWh of enery produced by Hydrogen you have to spend 3 to produce it! I think that with todays problems to produce electrical energy, hydrogen isn't a good solution... IMHO.

Great but...

ezu — Thu, 11 May 2006 12:55:37 GMT

I think that this is a great solution to avoid be victim of oil. But, isn't electric energy even so difficult to produce? I think this kind of solution solves only part of the trouble, i think we even need new ways, economically ways, to produce and deploy electrical enery.

Btw, i love your shirt Tina :D (even if I'm not american).

CalCars covered on on10.net

system — Thu, 11 May 2006 08:13:35 GMT

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Re: Re: Car batteries!

Arztek — Thu, 11 May 2006 06:14:42 GMT

Thanks for the imput, Duncan. My interest in hydrogen powered cars stems from environmental concerns, mainly global warming and sulfuric rain. Even ethanol engines have to combust the fuel, and while this equals a quick solution to adapt to our current infastructure, it still contibutes to our gross carbon output into the atmosphere. The only biproduct of hydrogen fuel cells is water vapor, safe and clean. I would agree that this is an expensive and difficult solution to our problems and it requires alot more research, but I think it might be just the thing we need.

Re: Re: Re: Car batteries!

Angela — Thu, 11 May 2006 04:18:40 GMT

Demand is high (and rising), so even if the price is less, the quantity sold would make up for that. I would think. Plus, a lower tag price would tap into a whole other demographic. The non-environmentally conscience person would be tempted to make the switch. Maybe for economic reasons, but who cares it would get the same outcome for the environment which is what matters.

Re: Re: Car batteries!

Duncan — Thu, 11 May 2006 03:49:35 GMT

I think the folks at CalCars would agree with you that the cost has to be lower... but I think the key to that is to increase demand... bit of a chicken-egg issue. At the moment though, cost doesn't seem to be an issue, Toyota is selling every single Hybrid they make, so there seems to be little incentive for them to lower the price (if you sell out at the higher cost, why lower it?).

Despite that, I believe Toyota has said they would try to reduce the Hybrid-cost (the difference between a hybrid and a non-hybrid) by half in the next few years: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-09-12-toyota-hybrid_x.htm

Re: Car batteries!

Angela — Thu, 11 May 2006 03:13:04 GMT

I wouldn't hold my breathe for hydrogen cars. I also think they're not the answer, not for the next couple dozen years.

Hybrids and these PHEVs are still too expensive for the average person. It would be one thing to spend the money upfront to purchase the car, if you are going to make your money back in the long run. That doesn't seem likely from what I've read about average savings on gas. The technology has to keep progressing to lower upfront costs. Practicality is what's going to be the key to reaching the most people about changing their minds on using alternative means for travel.

Re: Car batteries!

Duncan — Thu, 11 May 2006 02:45:33 GMT

Interesting data on the amount of pollution produced by a normal car vs. a hybrid (normal Prius) vs. a PHEV (CalCar style vehicle) ... that includes the pollution generated by the power grid from which the plugged-in power comes....

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/calcars-news/message/65<</a>br />

Re: Car batteries!

Duncan — Thu, 11 May 2006 02:21:18 GMT

It is interesting that both you and njcu mentioned hydrogen powered cars... I spoke to the engineers working on the CalCar conversion and they were very convincing that Hydrogen is not the answer and that the Hybrid technology is a better direction for now. You have to consider the practical side; the infrastructure for hydrogen fueling stations doesn't exist, while everything we need for a car like the CalCar already does... and if you are unable to recharge the car, you can just use more gas and you are still able to get where you need to go. Of course, ethanol is an important option for the fuel for a hybrid vehicle... and it can be dispensed through the existing network of fueling stations.

I'll let the CalCar guys know that folks are discussing this here though and perhaps they can give some more knowledgable comments :)

Enjoying myself.

Arztek — Thu, 11 May 2006 01:49:31 GMT

I'm guessing Laura is away at E3 and this week will be almost all Tina all the time! Hell yeah.

Has anyone else noticed that Tina always leaves exclamation marks after her segments? Very enthusiastic.

Finally, nice shirt T-Dub. I wish Tommy T. would do a concert close to me sometime. I've heard alot of good things about Video Games Live!

Car batteries!

Arztek — Thu, 11 May 2006 01:42:26 GMT

I've been following hybrid technology closely these past two years, but I still think its the wrong direction. Electric engines are complex and use alot of power while the internal combustion block is still dependant on gasoline. Even if you rebuild the electric power block to handle all the load, the engine still draws too much power and can be maintenace intensive. Plugging your car in is convenient, but it draws alot of power that is still coming off the grid from some polluting power station somewhere, unless your home is solar powered or something...doubtful considering the low current of solar power. Anyway, I'd rather see us developing full ethanol or hydrogen powered cars that burn or vaporize cleanly. That's unlikely considering all the special interests in Washington. Too many politicians have become too rich on oil, and won't let us get off it anytime soon.

Re: Re: Re: hmm no video...

njcu — Wed, 10 May 2006 21:33:59 GMT

my tongue is not numb anymore but it's still kinda raw and sensitive. damn tictacs

Sweet...

njcu — Wed, 10 May 2006 21:32:12 GMT

Cool how they are hooking up hybrids. Relatively speaking, gas is way too expensive up in hea, and FL doesn't have a real mass transit system in effect. pita

Now only if we could have Hydrogen Powered Vehicles.... That would be cool.

Re: hmm no video...

njcu — Wed, 10 May 2006 21:28:52 GMT

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Re: Re: hmm no video...

njcu — Wed, 10 May 2006 17:18:12 GMT

On a seperate note: Eating 3 packs of orange tictacs have made my tongue numb....