A Gearhead Thread

[R_Head]

GM Chevy Volt is an Electric car with a generator. Is not bad and performs very well. Before the Japanese came with electric vehicles, they were built already in the USA. The latest one was the GM EV1 (Google that one), Honda seems to copy the looks with the Insight.

I have seen races with Electric Motors and NiCad. Each time they launch the electric car pulls away big time. I think YouTube has a video with a Datsun B210 racing a Vette and smokes it. Electric motors has 100% torque at 0 RPMs so you get it all at lower speeds. But I bet, if that Vette has a longer range than the Datsun did.

Another thing is the service turnaround of batteries. Think this way, imagine that you have a car with a 4 Liter Fuel Tank and you use an Intravenous Catheter to put the fuel in... Good Lord, my kids will graduate from the University by the time I fill up. That is one of the drawbacks of batteries too.

On the side of Euro Cars, Asians and USA designs. On Europe given the nature of small roads and not many straight away, cars seems to be smaller but handles better, fuel prices in Europe are much higher so fuel economy is paramount. Another are Taxation by engine sizes, so that is why you see a lot of Turbo engines, trying to get the most they can out of small engine. The USA is different when you drive cross country, is pretty straight and flat. You can go for hours and and only you see rolling hills, a bigger car is more comfy, you are going to spend a lot of hours in it. The Aussies are kind of in between, so they build like Euro Spirited cars with the power or USA V8 (that is what I have), they use their cars to tow things too. Japan is caught on been a copy cat of both worlds. Lets see, Infiniti, they trend to look like Audi, Acura like BMW, Lexus like MB, they have stilling cues from Euro cars. They do not have a decent sports car yet, so they fill their cars with gadgets.

One thing that people seems not to grasp, is that Diesel and Steam Engines are less polluting than Gasoline. Both burns the fuel completely. Because you can see black smoke that does not means they are harmful pollutants, Gasoline Engines due to the nature of their design they create more NOx and that is invisible to the naked eye and more harmful than Carbon Particulates (soot). With Direct Injection becoming the norm, that will change including the fuel consumption.

[viking60]

Almost all Europeans are driving Diesel these day's and the the black smoke is years ago. They all have mandatory filters.And I think you are right about the roads and the handling.

[R_Head]

Is funny, Rudolph Diesel had the idea of using BioFuels long time ago and now people are researching that.

One of my researches was about having a farm to grow algae to produce oil for Biodiesel.

I am on the impression that Algae has a better tolerance to freezing or gelling at lower temperatures.

That is a renewable source and biodegradable. The kicker is the yield.

Another is to harvest on the unused Ocean.
You can have some like ponds growing algae.
That will produce Oxygen and eats the CO2 during the day.

[dedanna1029]

Just dropping in a quick note to R_Head, to check the first post of this thread, if you haven't. Thanks.

[R_Head]

Oh hell, they are too big?

Ok, if that is a bother the whole thread can be deleted.

No hard feelings

[dedanna1029]

No need, just remember to put 'em in spoilers next time, so they can be seen but don't take up so much screen space.

Thanks.

[viking60]

Is funny, Rudolph Diesel had the idea of using BioFuels long time ago and now people are researching that.

One of my researches was about having a farm to grow algae to produce oil for Biodiesel.

I am on the impression that Algae has a better tolerance to freezing or gelling at lower temperatures.

That is a renewable source and biodegradable. The kicker is the yield.

Another is to harvest on the unused Ocean.
You can have some like ponds growing algae.
That will produce Oxygen and eats the CO2 during the day.

Yes the cars can be driven on pure biological diesel. The problem was that it lead to a food problem, so food prices went up. So it was very environmental but people were starving.
The algae idea is good, but if it is more expensive to produce than gasoline it will not prevail - that is the problem.

[R_Head]

At the present fuel prices you can do the algae.

In any project the initial cost is high.

Here is a Video from 100 years ago. Cars came a long way !
http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=S4KrIMZpwCY

Ford used to sell that car for 2 types of fuel, Gasoline ( A solvent sold at Pharmacies) and Ethanol (Booze where Gasoline was not available).

Ethanol driven cars are not new.

[viking60]

No they are not. The problem is that we will have nothing to drink then - and we cannot have that. Also booze has always been more expensive.
I theory my car could run on whiskey. But the fields are needed to feed the hungry (for food production) - that is the problem.
There are cars here that could run on fat from Burger King - but it was too expensive!

[R_Head]

Alcohol production can be done from any plant. The yield variates from plant to plant (Carbohydrates).

In the USA people that lived in remote location could not get Gasoline as easy, as I said before, Gasoline is a Solvent that was sold in Pharmacies and General Stores by the Gallon or Jugs. So if you are a hillbilly you need to drive a huge distance just to get Gasoline. Distilled Alcohol is easier to produce than Gasoline. Perhaps is not the most cost effective solution but was more accessible than Gasoline.

Petroleum is cost effective for one reason. Is stored energy the Sun did for us. We do not have to create it, is there for us to process. That is why we use it and is cost effective. Eventually will will run out and we need to phase out that energy source.

You could use the current of the Oceans to extract energy... great! Just one problem... When you tap on that energy you are slowing down the current velocity and force, therefore you could affect another ecosystem that depends on those currents. Just the fact to Design, Build, Deploy and Maintain is very costly that perhaps is not cost effective.

I would say the best for now is Geo Thermal that will not really impact dramatically on an ecosystem.

On a Electric Car, does not pollute and is efficient, but the power generation that is required to provide the electricity will have a larger Carbon Footprint. Now is smaller vehicles smaller Carbon Footprint or one gigantic Power Plant with an Enormous footprint.

A mix Power Generation Network I think is best. Tap on different resources just enough to produce some without impacting the environment.

Lets face it, there is no free ride when it comes to Energy, laws of Physics does not lie.

[dedanna1029]

No they are not. The problem is that we will have nothing to drink then - and we cannot have that. Also booze has always been more expensive.
I theory my car could run on whiskey. But the fields are needed to feed the hungry (for food production) - that is the problem.
There are cars here that could run on fat from Burger King - but it was too expensive!

Not only do I need my booze too, but cars actually run a lot hotter, just on 10% ethanol. My own car is proof of that - damn thing's burning up 'cause that's all I can get now, is gas with 10% ethanol here.

There are other environmental issues with it, too.

[dedanna1029]

You could use the current of the Oceans to extract energy... great! Just one problem... When you tap on that energy you are slowing down the current velocity and force, therefore you could affect another ecosystem that depends on those currents. Just the fact to Design, Build, Deploy and Maintain is very costly that perhaps is not cost effective.

Well, we've already done that, with the building of the pipes in the oceans, I mean, look at the BP/Halliburton fiasco. The ocean is dying, and every creature in it. It's estimated that it could be possibly within the next few months (if not sooner), that all wildlife will cease to exist in the ocean (however, the currents were already disturbed with manufacturing in the ocean).