Goodbye oil - new electric car

Pat494

Pat494

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Just seen a programme on telly that introduces the electric car of the future

It's called a Honda Clarity

Just take in these facts folks and be converted

Uses compressed hydrogen for a fuel cell
Costs about the same as petrol
136 horse power
0 - 60 mph in 9 seconds
Recommended by Jay Lenno, comedian and car buff
Range 240 miles on one charge
Only emission water
Besides the wheels only 1 moving part, so little maintenance


here is the official website
Honda FCX Clarity - Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle - Official Web Site

This should herald the beginning of the END of oil dominating the world's economic systems.
The future is hydrogen
 
And the beginning of the end for pedestrians....



It does have its advantages like having maximum torque from 0 rpm.
 
Top Gear had this on months ago. Looks excellent but only available in California at the moment, won't see them in Britain for a good few years yet.
 
What people don't realise is that you need to burn oil in order to create hydrogen. So it's not as "green" as you think. I'm not sure what the figure is but the carbon footprint is a significant percentage of what you'd create if you were just driving a normal car.
 
Hydrogen for Transport

the future is methanol, or other alcohols, as per Brazil.

the logistics of the hydrogen economy are not insurmountable, but not economic.
where does this hydrogen come from? currently from fossil fuels!
and extracting it from nat.gas reduces the energy from the original gas itself!

read the bits about hydrogen energy density, and need to compress and store.

the economics of using methanol, or other sugars requires less new technologies, and more easily adaptable to current engines. the main issues will be the ethics of using land to grow sugar cane rather than food to feed people.

EDIT: you beat me to the source of hydrogen bit, Hoggums.
 
I seem to remember that there is a growing industry in the Shetlands/Faroe islands making hydrogen from wind/wave energy and sea water !

They certainly have loads of wind to play with
 
Hoggums said:
What people don't realise is that you need to burn oil in order to create hydrogen. So it's not as "green" as you think. I'm not sure what the figure is but the carbon footprint is a significant percentage of what you'd create if you were just driving a normal car.
Click to expand...

No, this is only at present; when the technology is fully mature and actual infrastructure goes into place they will use renewable energy sources to create the hydrogen. In fact filling stations will be able to produce their own hydrogen on-site, using no fossil fuels whatsoever.
 
trendie said:
Hydrogen for Transport

the future is methanol, or other alcohols, as per Brazil.

the logistics of the hydrogen economy are not insurmountable, but not economic.
where does this hydrogen come from? currently from fossil fuels!
and extracting it from nat.gas reduces the energy from the original gas itself!

read the bits about hydrogen energy density, and need to compress and store.

the economics of using methanol, or other sugars requires less new technologies, and more easily adaptable to current engines. the main issues will be the ethics of using land to grow sugar cane rather than food to feed people.

EDIT: you beat me to the source of hydrogen bit, Hoggums.
Click to expand...

Again this is only true at present; the cost of hydrogen cells will drop dramatically once they go into mass production. At present they are far more expensive than an IC engine, but within 5 years the costs will be roughly the same.

Yes the cost of implementing infrastructure would be very large, but not much more expensive than implementing methanol.

Hydrogen is going to be the future of cars, everything else is incredibly energy-inefficient and less green in comparison.
 
interesting point, but there's no way you'll be able to generate enough renewable energy on site at a motorway filling station, unless it's the middle of the Sahara or 10 miles out at sea. maybe there'll be some sort of geothermal energy system in the future, where you just drill down far enough to the lava and tap energy from the earth's core.

and what happens when one of these cars gets into a smash? does it explode like the space shuttle Columbia? Might make Formula 1 more interesting :)
 
ahardy66 said:
interesting point, but there's no way you'll be able to generate enough renewable energy on site at a motorway filling station, unless it's the middle of the Sahara or 10 miles out at sea. maybe there'll be some sort of geothermal energy system in the future, where you just drill down far enough to the lava and tap energy from the earth's core.

and what happens when one of these cars gets into a smash? does it explode like the space shuttle Columbia? Might make Formula 1 more interesting :)
Click to expand...

Nope, solar and hydroelectric arrays will make H2 production very straightforward - as I said the tech is there, it's just not in place/mature at the moment.

The tanks will obviously be fully shielded against exposure to ignition during a crash - no matter what you use to power a car, by its very nature fuel has to be unstable to some extent.
 
Last edited:
The only eco friendly car ever was the one Fred Flinstone drove.

Don't VW make a petrol car thats more economical than a Prius (think it called bluemotion)?
 
Did you catch that story yesterday about the flying car.
120 mph on the road and 70 mph in the air
He is off to Timbuctu for a trial run. Might have wished he had started with the M25 but then again it might have taken him a month to get round
 
Pat494 said:
Did you catch that story yesterday about the flying car.
120 mph on the road and 70 mph in the air
He is off to Timbuctu for a trial run. Might have wished he had started with the M25 but then again it might have taken him a month to get round
Click to expand...

Sounds like one of Clarkson's escapades!
 
Skill Leverage said:
Nope, solar and hydroelectric arrays will make H2 production very straightforward - as I said the tech is there, it's just not in place/mature at the moment.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen the maths but I'm pretty definite that there just isn't enough sun and wind at any one point like a motorway service station to generate the hydrogen you would need to keep all those cars and lorries trundling along.

I hate to doom the proposal but collectively we are just way too wasteful with our energy because it's so so cheap. We gorge ourselves on it. I like the idea of carbon-neutral motorway service stations, but I don't believe renewable energy can sustain the demand. And I don't believe our society is capable of cutting back without going cold turkey.

Look at the Heathrow 3rd runway argument. The only serious opposition, ignoring the usual tree-huggers and NIMBYs, is the Mayor of London, and he opposes it because he's backing a different airport in the Thames Gateway, in other words none of them were at all bothered that they are planning for way more CO2 producing air traffic than Kyoto or Kyoto2-whatever allows for.
 
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