Hybrid cars (electric/fuel, solar/water)

[layman77]

Well, there are some things I don't understand about them. How do they get better mileage and cost you less? Take a gas/electric hybrid for example. What is the advantage of having both types of fuel in your car? To refuel it wouldn't you have to both charge the battery AND fill the gas tank? If both were used, you were using half and half wouldn't the be equivalent to a pure gas or pure electric car? There must be something I'm not getting here.

 

And, there this site http://www.runyourcaronwater.com, are these HHO/gasoline hybrids for real? I just spent about half an hour looking (through my firefox history) for this youtube video that I saw earlier tonight of someone refueling and only spending a dollar and some cents for gas. When do you have to put more water in it?

 

I'm wondering if they have solar/water hybrids. No need for gas if it works.

[insane_alien]

hybrid cars are more efficient because the petrol/diesel engine can be run at its most efficient RPM all the time while in a nonhybrid the RPM's are all over the place.

 

hybrids can also recover some of the kinetic energy of the car when you apply the breaks, nonhybrids don't do this.

 

to refuel a hybrid you just have to fill the tank. the engine produces power that charges the batteries.

 

HHO is complete bull. we've analysed it quite thuroughly on these forums. just search for it and you'll find it.

[layman77]

HHO is complete bull. we've analysed it quite thuroughly on these forums. just search for it and you'll find it.

 

Could you give me a link or two to a thread? I tried doing a few searches today on this forum, didn't find any.

[insane_alien]

http://www.scienceforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20763

 

here is one of them

[Norman Albers]

Hybrids use electric motor assist, or even start solely on electric power. Importantly, they recover energy in slowing. I rode in a Prius and at easy throttle you came off stop on electric until some moderate speed, unless you stepped harder on the pedal. I want to know about the Honda Insight which gets like 60 mpg highway, as I could consider buying one. I see a couple of years ago they stopped making it and now I see their Civic at 45 mpg. Are they coming out with a replacement? I want 60 mpg for lightweight shopping and rural life. I remachined the engine in my Subaru Loyale '92 wagon for 30+ mpg with room for and load of piano tuning parts and tools, but more often I just would like to move around lightly.

[iNow]

I want to know about the Honda Insight which gets like 60 mpg highway, as I could consider buying one.

 

They actually get 70 mpg in the city... Yep, better mileage around town than on the highway. A friend of mine at work has one, and loves it. His wife drives a Prius, and he just got his son a civic hybrid. He tells me that the Insight is the best on gas, the civic the most comfortable, and the prius the most "multi" functional.

 

I drive a motorcycle, and still don't even get as good as mileage as he gets in his insight. That really chaps my ass, let me tell you!

[Phi for All]

GM pioneered work on a large format NiMH battery that would allow an electric car to be run for over a hundred miles on an 8-hour battery charge, with no gasoline involved at all. But after California caved in on it's zero-emissions statute, GM sold the patent... to Chevron, who now only allows the technology to be used on hybrid vehicles.

[Norman Albers]

Ouch, developmental chaos as usual. Why are motorcycles not better? I loved my BMW R60 for four years. Then I needed all-weather real-life transport for myself and piano service tools. Back to the Insight, are they not coming out with a similar thing or are they caving in to the 45 mpg of the Civic? Design in the USA does not seem to be concerned about anything but the SUV and family needs. Last week a piano client called offering a nice piano for sale as he needed to downsize his living style. No kidding, there is a huge population wave needing somewhat the same thing! I am in the market for a small, efficient house, and a small, efficient autocar. . . . . I read in Wiki that battery replacement is becoming much easier, at maybe 150k total miles.

[iNow]

I recently saw this upgrade package which extends the mileage on a prius to 150 mpg! THIS is what people should be rioting in support of!!

 

 

http://www.a123systems.com/hymotion/products

[SkepticLance]

The next stage is rechargeable hybrids. These will have higher capacity batteries - probably Lithium. The new Lithium technology permits much longer periods before the batteries need replacing. These cars get charged at home, by plugging into the domestic power supply. The battery capacity is such that short journeys (commuting or shopping) requires no fuel burning at all. This is most of our driving! Thus, most of the time, it is a pure electric car.

[layman77]

The next stage is rechargeable hybrids. These will have higher capacity batteries - probably Lithium. The new Lithium technology permits much longer periods before the batteries need replacing. These cars get charged at home, by plugging into the domestic power supply. The battery capacity is such that short journeys (commuting or shopping) requires no fuel burning at all. This is most of our driving! Thus, most of the time, it is a pure electric car.

 

But how long does it take to recharge? That's one of the reasons people don't want an electric car. And, what if you were nowhere near home, staying at a motel/hotel/friend's house? Electric Cars are a good concept, but as far as reducing pollution is concerned, you'd be shifting it to the power plants, unless they are hydroelectric, nuclear or solar. I was watching a documentary today that said 40% of the US (or the world's, can't remember) power comes from coal.

[SkepticLance]

To layman

 

Recharge is overnight. This is quite OK for most driving, since most is commuting or shopping. If more range is needed, you have the internal combustion engine.

 

In relation to using power from coal burning electrical power generating plants, there is still a carbon saving. This is simply due to efficiencies, or so the article I read stated. However, the hope is that the world will move away from carbon emitting electrical generation.

 

From a personal viewpoint, for most parts of the world, running a car on batteries recharged from domestic electricity is very much cheaper than buying fuel.

[YT2095]

the Braking system is employed differently on some also.

instead of wasting energy heating up the brake pads and drum, the Motor is engaged to act as a generator, and so as the wheels turn the generator under load (battery charging load) it will slow the car down.

IIRC, modern electric trains also employ this principal.

[iNow]

It's also going to be easier to replace the energy grid with green and renewable sources than to replace all of the gas stations in every state, in every city, in every neighborhood, on every street corner...

 

Electric cars essentially move the need for infrastructure change FROM a very wide and spread out collection of filling stations TO a centralized plant or grid. Still a challenging task, but much more straight forward.

[Mirabelle]

Electric cars run so quietly I don't hear them coming. That is very concerning to me (for the visually impared that rely on that sound for safety.)

Maybe they could add little whistles like they used to have to prevent deer from running in front of you only slightly louder.

My favorite car is 25 years old. It runs beautifully but is not environmentally friendly (the cost to make it so is beyond my capasity at the moment).

I love it though and it's very special to me.

[SkepticLance]

As YT said, the brakes recharge the batteries. In addition, when running electrically, if the car stops - as at a red light - so do the motors. There is no energy wastage when still. And no nasty exhaust fumes. We can breath clean air.

[SH3RL0CK]

We can breath clean air.

 

 

Except for the guy smoking in the car upwind from you

[Obsidionalis]

One thing I have read recently is that hydrogen fuel cells require platinum, a resource that is extremely rare. If HFCs were widespread it would greatly increase the scarcety of platinum and thus make HFC cars much more expensive. (although I suppose this could be overexaggerated as all unleaded cars have platinum in the catalytic converter).

[insane_alien]

fuel cells require no more(less actually) platinum(or any platinide element) catalyst/electrodes than your standard catalytic converter, pretty much every car has one of those on its exhaust pipe.