History repeats itself....water power transfer. Kind of reminds one of the old sawmills and such of the past. Now that's alternative power! Of course, this is electrical power development, but will not work too well for cars. Most car batteries are now charged using the hybrid technology for generation of power and charging using the small gasoline engine combined with the batteriy pack and a gyro, aren't they. Didn't the technology move away from the all battery car because of excessive battery and weight requirements?

I think it when things get rough (war and food supply problems) and fuel
runs out or is too expensive, we will keep the technology
(soler/wind farms/hydro) but go back to a more natural state of transportation... horse and buggy.
There is no magic in a horses flesh and blood, it's just as mechanical as a car,
but in it's perfection it eats it's own fuel, needs no oil change or lubrication, it
needs no factory to assemble it and so on.
Of coarse much change would be needed to make the horse viable.

The problem with horses is all the manure - essentially air pollution and a possible bio hazard.
Now to get back to work designing my patent-pending massless, frictionless pulley system

I need help understanding the use of ethanol. Back in the 70's, "Gasahol" was introduced as an alternative to the 1st great gasoline shortage. After a couple of years it was pulled from the market because it was found to have a corrosive affect to all things rubber (gas lines, vacuum lines off the manifold, fuel and power brake diaphragms, etc.). Also,like alcohol, a by-product of burning ethanol was water in the oil. The car manufactures even voided warranties if you used the stuff. Of course this might have all been some kind of "conspiracy" between the car companies and big oil.
Fast forward to present day. Some of the information I am reading suggests that the energy potential of ethanol is about 80% (do NOT quote me) of gasoline, so we would have to use more of the ethanol. Also propane (oil product) is used to make ethanol. Now BELIEVE me when I tell y'all that the manufacture of ethanol would be a good thing IMHO. Instead of paying farmers NOT to grow crops,they could grow "ethanol crops". However, there are other factors involved that go right over the top of my head.
Anyway, have the the problems that ethanol caused to our cars and engines been "fixed"? Was all that information about ethanol in the 70's a lie?
Thanks in advance.

When I was researching ethanol a few years ago I read that the old hi-test (leaded) gas was full of ethanol to increase the octane rating. That would mean that there were no materials compatability issues with older cars, but there are issues with newer cars. A google search should yield an ethanol materials compatability list - basically there are certain plastics and non-anodized aluminum that are not ethanol friendly.
There is a mileage decrease associated with ethanol use but depending on the vehicle it ranges from 5-30 percent. typically a carbed application will be the hardest hit. Volvo claimed their direct-injection technology gives as good or better economy with ethanol vs. gasoline.
The biggest problem with ethanol is cold weather starting. It is relatively easy to overcome using fuel injection with a hot ignition but if you use a carb there will be increased difficulty.

Electric cars are the future.

Why are they NOT available today???

Why did GM crush the EV program cars???

When electric cars are not on the street they will be plugged into the utility GRID. During which time, the batteries contribute to the peaking requirements. Charging can take place during off-peak periods further reducing generating requirements.

The nit-wits in DC are not looking at the bid picture but hoping "the market" forces take care of everything.

We can't wait any longer.

Check out www.evworld. com for details.

Here is a good subject for crankshaft coalition.

vicrod



I

Intereting thought VicRod, but wouldn't the Doids from the charger prevent the electric from slipping back out to the grid? However if it was able to flow both ways, as it takes more energy to create energy than the energy it creates wouldn't that mean you would have to recharge your baterys every time the grid took power from them. It would be a great ideal to help the grid, but although I love to give, I can't honestly afford to.

The other problem with batteries is as already mentioned the polution problem, I don't know that I want that large of an ammount of acid and lead leaching into our soil. However I could see it as more fesable if we went to the long life batteries used in space craft. What are they using, 20 year bateries these days? Hard to get an engine to last that long.

The Electric Vehicle "program" will need to regulated so chargers have (2) way (metering) capability similar to the coo-generation business today. With exception of - if your batteries are not fully charged, the grid won't draw power. You would only pay for the (net) usage.
Remember we are talking about millions of cars connected to the grid when they are not in use. Picture the parking lot at the shopping mall with inductive couplings at every parking space.

This won't happen with Lead-Acid batteries. Battery technology is moving ahead at a nice pace.

This is NOT rocket science. We don't (yet) have the leadership to make this happen.

Maybe California will lead the charge.

The only probem is that EVs are quiet. No screaming sbc V8 sounds. But electric motors develop maximum torque at 0 speed so hotrodding will evolve regardless. Just add a super-capacitor and lay some rubber.

vicrod

could always make a cd with car noises to make you feel good..thats what i would do

some of you guys must be smokeing that good b.c. bud. where do you suppose all the electricity will come from there is a shortage now and a bunch of it is generated at coal fired plants, b.c. use to be a big exporter of hydro generated power but we import power at peak times now, i don't think electric cars will be the answer. ethenall is re newable and will be cheap plus farmers can make some money. methane from cow menuer is another source. just my take

it's my personal take that we should be trying to save the energy we are already making using a regenerative braking system either using hydraulics/air or gyroscopes.
I think Ford played with this in a concept vehicle {Tonka Truck}?

Air pressure is the easiest and most effective and has been done using off the shelf parts by college students. I wonder why this isn't used? Is it because if you combine the air pressure to reaccelerate with the engine, both at max power excellent acceleration can be achieved? Are they scared of 12 second Hondas?
I can't figure out why this hasn't already been applied to todays cars, granted Hwy milage wouldn't increase but city driving, ie, stop and go would and could really benifit.

It doesn't matter whether you are talking about bio - diesel, alky or hydro electric, you need lots of water and we don't have it.
Salinity from cropland irrigation is a major issue here. We have a couple of hydro/electric schemes here, but the land they stole water from has become unproductive.
How do you run a chainsaw or generator( ok, not a hotrod) from a fuel cell? Many outback farms here still use fossil fuel to generate household electricity, let alone charge a saw.
Propane is one of the greatest crimes of the petro/chemical industry, it's still burned as waste at some refineries, yet I pay 60c per litre at the pump ($2.30 US gal). In an old country like OZ the nitrogenous emissions are a blessing as we generally use legumes like peas or lupins as a rotational crop to raise nitrogen levels. Might even work in Michigan. It also produces water as an emission, a welcome thing here - 28 inches per annum is high rainfall in Australia.

the first step to reasonable fuel cost is to break the strangle hold the big oil cos have and eliminate the speculation on price, in Canada you have no more gas stations owned by any one other than big oil i assume the us is no different.small private Enterprise would lead the way with good options, i am told Brazil has been using ethanol for years, so we go back to steel fuel lines and tanks, raise the compression andacording to saub and volvo the efficiency is better and a increase in power is their. cliff ps verry clean as well