$7/gallon for "regular" (89Oct)!!!

[EnergyCoherence]

I'd only be interested in an electric car if the following conditions are all met.

1-Must not be mini and fugly as hell. Have you seen the Nissan leaf? Looks like something out of those corny old movies about the future. What's with all the rounded stuff and weird bugeyed headlights? Driving one and being a male just screams "stuck up liberal, econut activist or a combination of the 2".
2-Must have 200 or more hp. 100ish hp just doesn't do it for me.
3-Must have a range of at least 250 Miles between charges, charge relatively quickly and not have the batteries degrade after a few hundred charges.
4-Must not cost an outrageous amount. $30k+ for some crappy little bubble car or $100K for a cool electric car like the Tesla. Not exactly in the average American's price range.
5-NO HYBRIDS. Pure electric only. Hybrids are massively overcomplicated, overcostly and IMO a dumb idea to begin with. They're like a half-assed econo car combined with a half-assed electric car. The result is a fugly pos like the prius which I wouldn't be caught dead driving.

Until those conditions are met I'll keep on driving my gas guzzling and carbon spewing V8.

If it's speed you want, most equivalent electrics smoke any gas equivalent for the price.


100% of the torque 100% of the time.. With a typical gas engine you only get the maximum torque at redline. It's funny how all these guys rolling in porche's, BMW's, ferrarri's would get smoked by a decent electric car costing 1/10th as much.

The reason I see hydrogen as a good solution, is because it is so abundant, and free. Water covers nearly 2/3rd's of the earth, and the exhaust is water vapor.

I believe Iran recently produced a fully electric car in around 15k. Not bad..

Here an old one -

Hydrogen cars actually have some potential assuming that we ever figure out an efficient way to get the hydrogen AND transfer it across the country. Anyone can set up some photovoltaic cells and use them to electrolyze water. Capturing and effectively distributing the highly explosive and flammable hydrogen is the tricky part.

Now that's a good start. Ask yourself, how much tax money would it take to build those panels with the electrolyzer. Pennies if you ask me. Actually the money we would save would put all of us over the top by far. About the dangers, Bob Lazar has already demonstrated a viable solution.

Interesting video, I watched all 10 mins of it.

I wonder what kind of power output he gets with his car with Hydrogen.

I think Hydrogen flames emit UV also.

He's stated there's about a 10% loss in hp, but with his v8, he says it's barely noticeable. The main benefit here is never ever having to pay for gas again. Now.. couple that with the MYT engine....Oh My..

@Razako
I've heard that the power used to generate hydrogen is higher than the power generated by hydrogen.

You heard wrong. I actually feel bad for meyers, never knew what he was up against. Almost like the forces of nature.

 

[AUTO XX]

Another beauty of it in a sports car is if you spin out and roll a combustion engine over backward even one revolution (by not getting on the clutch fast enough) it is toast, might even kill the tranny.
Electrics need a less complicated transmission so if you rolled backward with that one? Not really that serious.
Ever see on shows like top gear when they spin out, they just hammer the throttle and produce a bunch of smoke? Its a LOT cheaper to replace tires than it is to replace a transmission, clutch, and engine. ^_^

 

[HIMNL9]

Ofcourse electrical motors (especially calibrated "brushless" 3-phase units) have a bigger efficence than gasoline / combustion motors, the problem is the energy that you can carry with you in the car for fuel them, not about the efficence of the motor itself ..... unfortunately (til now, at least), internal combustion motors and gasoline (benzina) fuel is still the more efficent medium PER WEIGHT UNIT that you can use for power a car.

Once we can build a decent battery (or conversion unit, if you prefer fuel cells), then electricl solution will become the better one ..... but, til now :cryyy: .....

 

[Sinuhesieda]

I hope that someone does invent a new energy source. It would save mankind from all kinds of danger regarding conflicts over oil and ease the burdens of every day life for many people.

That's what the big money whats us to believe. There is thermal, wind, "sea wave" and sun energy that waits to get collected.

As long we live in money based economy it's not gonna happent.
Zeitgeist

 

[siamiam]

a lot of places in my state have been paying $9+ a gallon for gas for years now.

i live in an area in the state where its one of the cheapest and i paid $3.89 for regular last night, 2 miles from the oil/gas refinery as well

i think electricity is about 23c a kwh in my area and much higher in other parts

my cars go through a lot of fuel because we have to idle them for soo long for a good part of winter ( ive had oil freeze so thick i couldn't pull the dip stick out) ( also had anti freeze freeze )

what really hurts a lot of people here is not only gas for their cars but heating fuel, i usually have my home heated from early September through may , i know some folks who pay more for heat and electricity a month then they do for their rent and mortgages

there is word that fuel is supposed to jump again this year, its going to hurt a lot of people

high cost of fuel not only affects cars,home heating electricity but it also drives up the cost of shipping things, a lot of times food cost as well. its not fun paying almost $10 for a box of cereal in some areas of my state

if the high cost of fuel was going to something to free health care or at least reduced health care i wouldn't mind as much but judging from my $100,000+ in medical debt just from last year its not

 

[Traveller]

a lot of places in my state have been paying $9+ a gallon for gas for years now ... ive had oil freeze so thick i couldn't pull the dip stick out) ( also had anti freeze freeze...

$9? In an oil-rich State? How's Alaska's gas business? I only recently figured out that a good deal of the EU's gas supply is being "piped" over from Russia...

I have a small apt. and (thus) a dedicated gas heater, but people with houses here usually have a heating-oil based solution. In any event all of these fuels base their pricing on current affairs and what not, so the slightest stir in the Middle East will change prices overnight. In terms of gas, when the Ukraine were late in paying their gas bill, Russia turned off the pipelines; unfortunately for us, the EU supply runs through the very same pipelines...

The cold is indeed an added factor when it comes to calculating annual fuel costs. "Frozen anti-freeze", "thick oil", hard to imagine living in such conditions, tbh. In Vienna we can expect a few days of -10C (14F) annually, but the avg. temps in Winter are closer to 0 (32F). On the other hand, I had to run the A/C in Miami 10/12mths. That's also not a cheap proposition... :thinking: But your (Fairbanks) heating bill probably makes our heating / cooling bills look paltry in comparison...

 

[AUTO XX]

I have lived in weather as low as -56*C
You have to have acclimated to it for a while to function properly and you don't go out and take a deep breath unless you want your lungs to freeze.
I have also started my pickup in it, a couple of quads, sportbike, etc.
It's not great for an engine but if you have light weight full synthetic oil in everything, no big deal.
I haven't had antifreeze turn solid either but I have a gauge for testing it and I test every year.
There have been a few times that I had to tarp my truck for a couple of hours and start a fire under it on the riverbank but that is a very extreme case.
Most of the time I have a 20lb propane tank in the back and a tiger torch behind the seat but if it is -32*C or lower the bottle won't eject propane ^_^
I have actually carried propane in a scoop shovel at -35*C lol.
I also don't let my truck idle for more than a minute even at extreme temperatures. If you have light oil, you are showing full oil pressure on the gauge, and the engine/oil pump doesn't have anything wrong with it you should be fine.
My last car had 185,000km on it and the engine was in flawless shape when I sold it to my buddy (for a case of beer). Even in -35 to -40 the car was usually in gear and rolling before the starter spun to a stop.
Just an added note though, I keep the rpm under 2000 until the engine temp gauge is showing at least a bit of heat.
Revving a cold engine is just stupid.
I have also found that "lucas" upper cylinder lubricant improves my fuel economy by ~20% in the 6L pickup and by almost 40% (depending how hard you are highway riding) on the cbr 954 sportbike.
It also works out to only $3/treatment for a 120L tank if you buy it in the 1 gallon jug.
Pretty damn worth it if you ask me, the only down side is the truck takes twice as long to get up to ideal operating temp and it can be a cold 20 minute drive.

 

[Benm]

At almost $100 / fill-up, you're better off flying...

If you are travelling alone or with just 2 people, flying is often cheaper than driving in europe when it gets over 400 - 500 km. Most europeans don't drive long distances though, in the states it might be normal to drive a few 100 miles, but in europe few passenger cars do. I suppose the only reason to drive is when you need your car at the destination.

When you want to go, for example, from amsterdam to paris or berlin, flying on a budget airline is cheaper than the gas, and also faster. Since its all within the EU there is little hassle with passport controls or immigration either.

Another option is rail. Prices vary greatly between countries, but i can be an attractive option on some routes. If you book amsterdam-paris a few weeks in advance, a train return is 90 euros, and it gets you there in just over 3 hours. Thats about as fast as going by plane including transit to the airports at both ends, and half the time it takes to drive.

 

[siamiam]

$9? In an oil-rich State? How's Alaska's gas business? I only recently figured out that a good deal of the EU's gas supply is being "piped" over from Russia...



The cold is indeed an added factor when it comes to calculating annual fuel costs. "Frozen anti-freeze", "thick oil", hard to imagine living in such conditions, tbh. In Vienna we can expect a few days of -10C (14F) annually, but the avg. temps in Winter are closer to 0 (32F). On the other hand, I had to run the A/C in Miami 10/12mths. That's also not a cheap proposition... :thinking: But your (Fairbanks) heating bill probably makes our heating / cooling bills look paltry in comparison...

fuel should be cheaper here, it actually was close to the national average in the cheaper areas before our last governor was in office

as for my cars, all synthetic fluids when ever possible, oil ,diff,tranny , correct coolant,power steering , etc

when i can i plug the vehicles in, but some times you just cant , up on the north slope they dont turn off their vehicles

even with the best fluids ive seen wayyy too many vehicles and equipment break with out a proper warm up , lot of materials just become brittle, like walking out the grocery store and having your plastic bags fall apart is no fun

its been in the -30 to -40 and colder range the past few days , i saw -27f for the high yesterday

i should make a ice fog laser video

YouTube - Shooting a super-soaker at -45F

 

[AUTO XX]

Very true, I think steel crystallizes and becomes brittle at -37*C
I can only speak from experience here but I haven't had too many troubles in the cold.
The newer honda rubicon quads with automatic transmisions SUUUUCK in cold weather though. No choke, no primer, only and "enrichener" and they have 4L of heavy @$$ oil between the engine and the tranny.
Not cool....
@-45*C your spit will freeze and "crack" before it hits the ground ^_^
Anything less than -55*C and you might need to keep moving backward when taking a piss.... It would really suck to freeze to your own "icicle" :crackup: