News is emerging that the big three car manufacturers, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are in financial difficulty. It serves the greedy cigar chompers right. They’ve been ignoring the public for years, building the same old heavy fuel consumption cars. Partly because they don’t want to spend money on research and development, their attitude is simply to go with what worked for them in the past, also because of pressure from the oil companies to produce vehicles that use plenty of fuel. Investing money in new technology is not on their agenda, unlike the Japanese manufacturers who are miles ahead in hybrid production and are actively researching other technologies. That’s why I think that Toyota, Nissan and Honda will soon become the new ‘big three’, Toyota is already a major player in the USA and Canada, with the Camry being the best selling car there for five years running. Here’s a christmas tip from me to them. Tip: Rule number one in any business: Don’t make products that nobody wants! I will also tell you what we would like to see mass produced. 1) Pure Electric Cars, 2) Diesel Hybrids, 3) Hydrogen fuel cell cars that run on tap water. Any chance?, I doubt we’ll see them anytime soon, so we’ll continue to buy the same old rubbish and suffer the poor fuel consumption that appears to be purposely built in. – Well that’s the end of my December Rant and a Very Merry Christmas from me. – Alan.
Posts tagged Hybrids
MpgTips News: October 2008
2009
Written by admin
Big Myth about Environmentally Friendly Cars: ‘All the major car manufacturers are committed to making more enviromentally friendly cars’. Yeah Right!, and oil companies don’t go around buying out new technology companies just to bury anything new that threatens their monopoly. If car manufacturers are so interested in developing more economical cars and helping the enviroment, how come the first generation of hybrid cars are all based on PETROL engines?, where are the diesel versions?. The current range of hybrids available in the UK are a sick joke by the big boys, when compared to the large number of new super frugal 65+ MPG diesel cars available today, and the more frugal diesel cars are a hell of a lot cheaper to buy new. The answer to this particular question is very simple. Car manufacturers are just like politicians, they all want to create the illusion of doing something, while not actually making any real progress.
If Hybrids are the cars of the future, then Disneyland is full of skinny people.
Hybrids still burn petrol or diesel, they still pollute, they’re expensive to buy and they still cost £70 to fill up. They also deliver poor MPG in relation to the latest diesel cars and everyone knows this is old technology. What I would like to be able to buy at my local dealer is a purely electric car capable of achieving a sensible range on one charge, but nobody is interested in building one. Second choice would be a hydrogen fuelled car because I know that you can make hydrogen out of water, indeed I have already done just that with a diy hydrogen booster I previously built, so I already know its releatively easy to make your own hydrogen fuel. Nope we can’t tax water so you can’t have one, and if we did decide to allow someone to build one, we will scare you shitless by making it so complicated that you will have to use a hydrogen re-fuelling station, which is convenient for us because we are quietly confident that we would be able to continue taxing the shit out of you until you have no money left. The truth is that we live in an oil based economy, so the last thing our leaders want is a cheap mode of transport for the masses that utilises anything other than a heavily taxed oil based fuel. Especially if one of your oil company owning buddies is the president of an even larger country, and you’re currently helping him plunder the middle east (I hope he doesn’t read this).
Build Your Own Hybrid?
Any fool could easily build a better hybrid than Toyota or Honda have produced thus far. Boat owners in the far east realised a long time ago, that if you replace the factory fitted diesel engine with a 240vAC Electric Motor, and power that electric motor with a smaller diesel generator, fuel efficiency increases anywhere from 40 – 200% depending on the boat, so let’s take that same theory and apply it to your average hybrid. It appears to me that any hybrid would be a damn site more efficient if it simply had a small diesel generator powering its electric motor. If you add in a very small battery pack to capture regenerative braking energy, which in turn would occasionally reduce the load on the small & efficient generator. Any battery expert will gladly tell you that there are sometimes up to a 40% energy loss when charging a batteries, so it’s obviously much smarter to send any electricity you produce directly to the motor, eliminating the loss incurred through charging a battery pack first.
Update: General Motors are currently developing a car using similar technology in the Chevrolet Volt Project, to what I described here, except that instead of using a small efficient diesel engine to charge the battery pack, they are opting for a 1.4 litre turbocharged petrol engine, you know just like the one that propels the Volkswagen Golf 1.4TSI to 130mph and pumps out 140bhp! The American public probably think that’s a small engine compared to the V8′s they’re used to, the rest of us in europe can clearly see them getting the shaft!
The People’s Car
Does all this make sense to you? I should think so, I think it’s high time the car industry woke up and smelled the fumes, instead of spoon feeding us old technology, just give the people what they actually need, a cheap fuel efficient car for the masses. I have often thought that if just one car manufacturer were to build a modern super cheap ‘peoples car’, bung in a super frugal engine, offer a ‘no frills package’ ie fit wind-up windows and a radio, they would sell millions of them. While there are a few cars that already come close, they all seem to be fundamentally flawed in some way, like the Ford Ka, the initial idea was a good one, but they fitted an old crappy 1300cc petrol engine that struggles to return 45mpg, where is the diesel version? The latest BMW 320i petrol returns 46.3 mpg, so the puny Ford Ladybird is harder on fuel, WTF is going on? Another example of the extent of this problem is the latest small car offering from Volkswagen UK, the Volkswagon Fox, another reasonably priced small car but no Diesel version available in the UK, WHY NOT? the petrol VW Fox only returns a pathetic 46 mpg. I get the distinct impression that certain influencial people don’t want us to have access to truly economical cars at an affordable price.
Petrol Diesel Hybrid War
2008
Written by admin
These days, petrol prices may be crimping your
your household budget. You may like to reduce
the U.S. dollars that flow to the Middle East for
oil, or perhaps you are motivated by your concern
for the environment, or even the nagging reality
that oil is a depleting resource that shouldn’t
be wasted.
Fuel economy
To put it into prospective, the fuel economy are
the numbers posted on the window sticker of a new
vehicle. Studies have shown that the average
driver only receives 75 percent or so of the
mileage figures that are on the sticker.
You can use these numbers to determine the best
type of vehicle for your purchase. The numbers
will let you know how many MPG your vehicle will
get, so you can compare vehicles and then go
from there.
Hybrid pricing
The petrol electric hybrid vehicles are normally
priced higher than non hybrid counterparts,
anywhere from a couple of thousand dollars to
several thousand dollars.
Hybrids can get a lot of miles per gallon,
some averaging around 45 – 55. This is great
for those who want to save money on petrol, as
hybrids can go many miles on a full tank of
fuel and they come with extended warranties
as well.
Diesel efficiency
Diesel powered vehicles are yet another fuel
efficient option. Diesels are known for getting
extra mileage from every gallon of fuel. They
offer much better torque than many petrololine
engines. The price differential they have
over petrol engines are usually much smaller
than that of the hybrid.
With plenty of options available, you’re sure
to find what you need to help conserve fuel.
Before you make a purchase, always remember
to shop around and find what’s best for you.
Use Water to Fuel Your Car
2008
Written by admin
If you’ve filled up your tank with gas lately, you know the current problem: gas prices are higher every day with no end in sight. Pollution from burning fossil fuels and releasing gases such as carbon may even be permanently changing the world’s climate. Brown clouds of fumes and filth hang over every major city in the United States.
And that’s just the start. As more and more of the world’s nations can afford their own personal transportation, gas will be in shorter and shorter supply, with more pollution yet to come.
However, there may be better ways to fuel your car and cut down on the cost of gas, as well as the pollution.
Sometime’s called “Brown’s Gas” or HHO fuel, more and more people are turning to simple tap water to improve their fuel economy and save money on gas. Different from water hybrids or hydrogen fuel cell technology, water-enhanced vehicles are not currently available from major automobile dealerships.
Still experimental, there are at least 10 different ways that water can be used to fuel your vehicle. To confuse the issue even further, designs and step by step procedures have been scattered across the internet and book stores with no clear path in sight.
Now, for some good news.
Coming soon: groups of at-home engineers motivated to find a solution to higher fuel prices and cut down on harmful emissions have found feasible, low-cost ways to modify your car to run on HHO Brown’s Gas. They have been working on ways to make the modifications simply and painlessly such that anyone with basic tool skills could implement a change in their car or truck. Some of the recent work that I have seen claims 35% to 70% improved fuel economy. The possibility of cutting down emissions and reducing rising the effects on the environment are impressive. Not only that, but adapting your car to this new form of “Water Hybrid” can mean less carbon build-up in your engine, reducing wear and tear on your vehicle.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t really have a special garage, special tools, or the know-how to do a lot of work on my car. However, one of the plans I saw claimed even *I* could do this, with easy step-by-step instructions that wouldn’t void my car’s warranty.
I’m trying to get my hands now on these plans. Stay tuned – before I make a recommendation I want to check this out myself – and I’ll keep you filled in on my progress along the way.
Hybrid Vehicles – Answering The Two Most Popular Questions
2008
Written by admin
If you demand it, companies will come up with it. This has never been more apparent than with hybrid autos, the companies answer to a consumer nation that has become more environmentally aware.
The day you knew hybrids were here to stay was the day car companies started announcing hybrid SUVs. Imagine, all the size and little of the guilt. That being said, there are some misconceptions about hybrids, so lets address the big two.
Buy any old hybrid and you will get a major tax credit. This is the first myth that arises around the hybrid. Can you get a tax credit? Yes, but you must comply with certain requirments issues by none other than the Internal Revenue Service.
If you want to claim a tax credit for buying a hybrid, you have to comply with a few regulations. First, you have to purchase a brand new hybrid. Second, the IRS must have ceritifed the car. Third, you can only claim the amount then available.
The funny thing about the tax benefit of purchasing a hybrid is it is a moving target. The IRS initially sets an upper limi and then has the option to lower that amount each quarter of the year after it analyzes the number of cars sold.
This lowering of tax credit amounts can be a real shock to someone that purchased a hybrid. As of the writing of this article, the famous Toyota Prius is about to lose all of its tax credit. One has to think that fact is going to hurt sales.
Many people are outraged by the phasing out of the tax credit available for hybrids, particularly the manufacturers. Talk about a selling point! The credit, however, was never meant to support an industry, only generate interest in it.
A second area of misunderstanding with the hybrid vehicle has to do with the batteries. Obviously, the car requires special batteries. There is a myth that they have to be replaced every 40,000 miles. This is alleged to be a big problem because they are expensive.
In truth, there is no requirement that hybrid batteries be changed every 40,000 miles or so. Most brands come with warranties of up to 100,000 miles. Although hybrids are fairly new, the batteries are reported to last well into the hundreds of thousands of miles.
Should you make your next vehicle a hybrid? If you want to cut your driving costs and help the environment, then the answer is definitely yes. Just make sure to buy it new and check with the IRS on your tax credit amount.
Want to see how you can get hybrid-like fuel economy out of your current vehicle? Click Here for my best tip on how to improve fuel economy for your current vehicle – hybrid or not!
New Honda Insight Debuts at Paris Motor Show
2008
Written by admin
The long-awaited and much-anticipated Honda Insight concept car has finally debuted in Paris, and along with that we see a lot more nice pictures from Honda. Many people in the industry and the press (myself included) are billing this new Insight as a possible Prius-killer, and if anyone were able to bring a little competition to the hybrid table, it’s Honda.
The first Insight came out in the US in 1999, a year before the Prius, and still has the highest EPA rating of any gasoline car. However, the small, two-seater didn’t appeal to many people with families and the car never registered very high sales. READ MORE »
Auto Industry Says Small Cars Are Disposable and Bad for the Environment
2008
Written by admin
The auto industry is beginning to look more and more like a crooked politician with lies and deceptive statistics. Everyone knows the industry is hurting recently: gas prices are up, vehicle miles are down, people are buying less, and people are buying smaller. All of this means that car companies are making a lot less money than they used to. Environmental concern is definitely a big player here, but when you consider that hybrid sales are also down a considerable amount this year, it’s obvious that the current ill state of the auto market is a result of a global economic downturn.
The industry is getting desperate
Why do I say this? My partner on the EcoModder forums sent me this link, telling me it would be worth writing about it. To be honest, I didn’t even read it for a few days, but now I’m glad that I did.
There’s no denying that people are becoming more and more concerned with the environment, but instead of selling hybrids, the industry is trying to twist that environmental concern into sales of big cars and trucks: READ MORE »
The New Crude Oil Is Water
2008
Written by admin
The New Crude Oil Is WATER
by: Leslie Lackman
HERE’S THE BAD NEWS.
Engines waste petrol! Up to 80% of the high-priced petrol that you pump doesn’t get you anywhere because it goes UNBURNED to the catalytic converter. That means you are getting 0 MPG (zero, zilch, nada) from most of the over-priced petrol you pump into your tank. READ MORE »
