The future of Cars

[z1ggy]

I was just thinking today during work on some free time and I notice the rising gas prices again. I really think sooner than laetr we need to become dependent of oil for our vehicles. What do you guys think the next step would be? Batery? Hydrogen cells? More oil? Personally I think the best route might be solar energy. With batery, its a great idea, but wouldnt you always have to charge your car in a 120/240 socket everyday? Electric bills will be skyrocketing. What if a huge storm hits and the fuses all blow on the lines and power is out for a few days..a few weeks? I feel like maybe solar energy will be the best alternative with a possible battery/gasoline hybrid incase of no sunlight for extended periods of time. Thoughts?

 

[Rastus]

Hybrids. Then plug-in hybrids. Then multifuel hybrids. Then hydrogen fuel-cell hybrids.

 

[lxskllr]

Battery. Either that or coal fired steam :^D

 

[JS80]

Oyl 4lyfe

 

[XZeroII]

Stupidity. There is an unlimited supply of it. Unfortunately, it's so powerful that we have yet to figure out a way to harness it's awesome power without killing ourselves.

 

[Eli]

Solar energy will never be able to power a car by itself. Unless we move to a solar energy infrastructure and electric automobiles.. ie: plugging them in.

Even if you covered a car with the most efficient solar panels today, you wouldn't get enough energy to move the car. You might be able to charge a battery for a couple of days, then drive a couple of miles, but that's it.

Even if we could develop solar cells that are 100% efficient, the sun only delivers about 1000W per square meter. The 10HP electric motor in my Insight hybrid consumes 14,400W of power at full boost, and can maybe get me up to 20MPH by itself.

So you would need ~15 square meters of panel surface area during the sun's highest point to get that much power at 100% efficiency. Unfortunately, our best panels barely break 15% efficiency.


Anyway, electric cars are most certainly the future. What needs to happen in the mean time is a better energy storage medium. Batteries are getting better, but we need more capacity. It takes incredible amounts of energy to hurl 3,000lbs of steel around.

 

[randay]

foot power, like in flintstones.

 

[Cattlegod]

Gas, and it will continue to be gas. Only the gas will come from bacteria that secretes oil. It will have a zero carbon footprint because they will suck as much carbon out of the air as is put back in from burning it. Electricity will be nice for city dwellers, however electric cars are really not practical for the USA. We just don't have the battery technology that supports it yet.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Plug-ins + nuclear power = win

 

[Red Squirrel]

Whatever it is, it will probably be some patent opec decides to take off the shelf and use, but they'll have full control over it anyway.

 

[videogames101]

well, eventually,

fusion = end of energy problems


(battery)

 

[MovingTarget]

Electric is the future. Storage will be through advanced batteries/ultracapacitors, but the source will vary. Biofuel combustion engines in a hybrid (parallel or serial config), solar panels on top for trickle charging are one way to get this working. Fuel cells are great, but I don't see hydrogen as a storage medium taking off until we have commercial fusion reactors online. Speaking of which, I would love to get my hands on a fully functional (read: actually built) Ford Nucleon or Cadillac World Thorium Fuel vehicle.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
Stupidity. There is an unlimited supply of it. Unfortunately, it's so powerful that we have yet to figure out a way to harness it's awesome power without killing ourselves.

its power is surpassed only by its mystery.

 

[EGGO]

We'll do something to highway roads so that as an electric car drives, it'll keep recharging as we drive.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: EGGO
We'll do something to highway roads so that as an electric car drives, it'll keep recharging as we drive.

Nah. It would cost too much. Much easier to just develop better battery technology, or just live with shorter distance travels.

What would be nice is a like, 10 minute recharge device. So you would pull up to the fuel station, plug in with some wires that are thicker than your wrist, and wait while you charge.

That's much more feasible than rails, tracks or electromagnetic coupling along the highways.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Bicycles

 

[frostedflakes]

Yup definitely electric. Much more efficient than any ICE and it can be powered by many different sources, as alternative energy sources become viable the electric grid will transition to them and people won't need to buy new vehicles.

Biofuels and maybe hydrogen will likely still be used for heavy machinery/transportation, aviation, stuff like that, though.

 

[Twista]

=] Car enthusiast would hate this.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Twista
=] Engine enthusiast would hate this.

Fixed.

Car enthusiasts will in general love the transition to electric cars. They are far superior to the internal combustion engine in just about every way imaginable.

Imagine a 500HP car with 1,000ftlbs of torque... available from essentially 0RPM.

People like me will still cherish the engine, though. The mechanical character of the reciprocating mass. The sound. Those are things an electric motor will never be able to replicate.

 

[Twista]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Twista
=] Engine enthusiast would hate this.

Fixed.

Car enthusiasts will in general love the transition to electric cars. They are far superior to the internal combustion engine in just about every way imaginable.

Imagine a 500HP car with 1,000ftlbs of torque... available from essentially 0RPM.

People like me will still cherish the engine, though. The mechanical character of the reciprocating mass. The sound. Those are things an electric motor will never be able to replicate.

thxs.

 

[frostedflakes]

Exactly, electric motors actually have some pretty killer performance. You see few high performance electric cars because the battery technology just is not there to provide high performance and the range that most consumers demand at a reasonable price. If cost is no issue, though, you can stick some high power motors in a car along with half a ton of batteries and have one heck of a sports car.

 

[NiKeFiDO]

we could circle the sun with solar panels. if we need more energy, we just increase the radius of the circle of solar panels to fit in more panels.

/thread

 

[Strk]

Electric

A fuel cell powered car is just an electric car that produces its own electricity.

 

[EGGO]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: EGGO
We'll do something to highway roads so that as an electric car drives, it'll keep recharging as we drive.

Nah. It would cost too much. Much easier to just develop better battery technology, or just live with shorter distance travels.

What would be nice is a like, 10 minute recharge device. So you would pull up to the fuel station, plug in with some wires that are thicker than your wrist, and wait while you charge.

That's much more feasible than rails, tracks or electromagnetic coupling along the highways.

I can dream can't I?

 

[nageov3t]

I hope car sensors + GPS get enhanced to a point where my car could practically drive me to my destination while I chill out and read a book.