fuel rant

fuel rant

Ok, so here we are. Payin $2.70 gallon.. bitching.. Next summer we'll be bitchin about $5/gallon, and basically the government won't really push technology until it becomes absolutely necessary. They've been studying fuel efficiency for like 10-15 years and all we have to show for it is hybrids that get 10mpg more than regular cars (while sacrificing weight to make up for batteries)? What about those 6 high school students that created a 50mpg car (HS students!). Of course they argue "well, that's great for testing purposes, but in the real world there's the question of safety, which is why the car companies can't rush). You hear how that 50mpg car works? pretty ingenious actually.. From what I gather from digg.com, they take a 15k rpm DC motor, spin a 60 pound flywheel, that accelerates the car 0-60 in like 4 seconds, a fuel efficient diesel engine takes over, charges the batteries.. Basically a better designed hybrid. Then there's a guy that has invented a more efficient transmission (90% efficient compared to 45% efficient of current technology). From what I can see, there's no gearbox (basically a cone mesh design), but it allows going backward/forward without moving parts, and it has regenerative braking built in (stores the energy in some sort of hydraulics), and releases that when you want to accelerate again. The car companies are really slacking, but I can't say I blame them. They have no incentive to innovate because consumers are still buying gas guzzling SUV's even though they spend more at the pump per week than they do on food. Sure, develop a hybrid and charge the consumer $4-6K more and see how many you sell (it's sort of like offering healthy choices at fast food restaurants, nobody is buying). I don't even care so much about the cost of gas (supply/demand) but now with chevron advertising us to conserve fuel (they make the dam stuff and they're telling us to buy less!), that's just scary. I'm almost considering removing my bass box (50+ pounds), removing my spare, maybe removing that back seats to save weight (and gas).. At this point I really don't care about driving a fast car around, I just want a car I can put gas into. They really need to stop bandaging the 100 year old internal combustion engine and create something better. I mean there's a scientist that has a theory on creating a time machine, and we're still using engines with technology from when the industrial revolution started, it just really blows my mind. We should be in flying cars by now.

canadian government is not gonna do anything either cuz they making sh!t loads of tax money from high prices on gas...

The Society of Automotive Engineers hold a collegiate competition each year for supermileage vehicles. Last year's winner won with around 1800mpg. This year the design goal is 2000mpg for us.

The key... less weight, low speed, low aero drag, and low rolling resistance. No hybrid systems, just a small single cylinder ICE.

heheh its time to switch back to OEM steelies w/ small tires to save gas...

don't you just hate people who complain about how much they pay for gas, but then they drive a brand new SUV. I mean c'mon if you can pay for a big ass SUV, be prepared to pay for the gas. I do agree the high gas prices and the goverment is not doing anything about it. They say that opec is already on full gear, but because there are so many vehicles on the road, the demand is still high. Why doesn't the goverment limit the production of vehicles who consume alot of gas? I myself recently paid 23 dollars on my corolla......on a corolla!!!! It used to be 9 bucks which lasted 2 weeks. man this sucks ass.

I think we should start looking @ the Stiltner cycle engine. Forget the Wankel and the Otto cycle.

well gm is applying the hydrogen system in there new car at the D.C area. shell gas station are going to have hydrogen pumps. i think shell and gm have some type of partnership.

isn't california starting to build hydrogen fillups already? And what ever happened to the E-85 vehicles? toyota doesn't have any, only E-85 vehicle that looks decent is a nissan pickup truck.. The fuel up stations are scarce, but if I could save 50 cents a gallon, I'd go out of my way (especially if I could use 87 regular octane in emergencies)

we really cant do anything

I find it intresting that avg fuel economy haven't increased in the last 80yrs since the model T which get ~17MPG.

The efficencies of ethanol are over rated. While I am a beliver in the fact that farmers need a crop they can make enough money to live, ethanol has been shown to be a huge waste of resources. More energy goes into the manufacture of corn ethanol than we can derive from using it as a fuel.

Hydrogen is even worse. The current method of making pure Hydrogen is electrolysis. This takes rather large amounts of power to accomplish, and the resultant fuel hydrogen does not contain (I think a 66% loss) as much energy as went into the process. This includes the difficulty in transport and storage, although as time goes on those costs will probably decrease.

Gas is the way to go for now. We dont have the tech to make biodiesel, ethanol, or hydrogen a viable fuel. Of course research is a continual process, but at this point, gas is our only choice. We just have to get better at using a gallon of gas. Next summer analysist have been quoted as saying "you'll wish you still had 3 dollar gas."

I think we need to start a pay as you burn tax policy.

yea i think i should just bend over now and take it

hydrogen production can be free if it's created using solar power (I've seen people invest in equipment to do so.. One guy gets 350 miles per fillup in a corvette converted to hydrogen, and he claims he can create enough hydrogen from his system in 3-4 days depending on the weather.

There's also supposedly some guy making oil from garbage, and it's more efficient than what it produces, so there are other ways.. Also read an article that there's enough oil in alberta canada to supply enough oil for all of north america for the next 50 years.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v498/chanzheng/zheng/744f8376.jpg" border="0" alt="" />

well, i guess its time for me to start busting ass on my idea.. its based off the ICE, but isn't just a bandage..

as for hyrdogen cars.. i dunno, i still don't like the idea... sounds great on paper, but... either way

and e_adree, katrina did just that... charlotte's going wild filling up while they still can... i'm glad we topped off the cars while it was still $2.49... i waited in line 45 minutes to fill up my dad's truck and 2 fuel cans... at a steal, $2.89 a gallon... 15.7 gallons, cost me $45.77... and an hour later, that same station was $2.99... it'll prolly be over $3 in the morning.. crazy stuff...

i'm kicking myself for buying my impala right now (gets like... 18-19 MPG in town w/ A/C, 22-23 w/o A/C... i guess i'll forget about creature comforts for now), but glad i got that instead of the trailblazer i was looking at..

Doesnt this violate a law or two from Thermodynamics?

I saw 3.50 for premium today.

Anyone have any info on this? That's some cool shit.

you guys think this is bad, remember that bigass country called China? Well they are quickly modernizing and their oil / gas consumption is rising dramatically. Obviously this means less gas for U.S. consumers.

Oh and SUV drivers bitching about gas prices really piss me off. They have no room to talk.

its a clusterf*&amp;^ now

the oil companies will never allow hybrid/ wutever eco friendly cars to take off.

it'll never happen. the government and oil companies are basically butt buddies. thats why theres no talk about capping the price or anything at all.

its fuckin ridiculous. 3.39 for the z -_____- and its gonna be going up even more.

The ONLY solution - drive less and/or use less gas. I'm going to get my dad's '78 Honda chopper going....that ought to save some gas.

Trav

Oil from garbage being more efficient......violates thermodynamics. Sorry man.
50 years worth of oil in Alberta.....I'm a geology graduate student, and there ain't no 50 years of oil in Alberta. Otherwise we wouldn't be busting our ass lighting the elk on fire and contaminating the permafrost up in Alaska for what amounts to a little over a years worth of oil consumed in the states.

I don't think hydrogen or solar or wind is gonna do it for a replacement for oil. My alternative.......the only one we'd ever need: nuclear fusion. Not fission (chernobyl), fusion. If we ever hit that home run, I think it would open up a list of possibilities out of this world, literally.

I meant that the energy it takes to create isn't as much as what you get (there's some waste, but not like ethanol where it takes more energy than the output).

Sure, I just saw what looked like a solar car than ran on gas (very small, bicycle tires, aerodynamic), that weighed like 150 pounds for the whole car and went like across the united states on like 4 gallons of gas, but that's going to the extreme. Still, I'd be fine with a tiny car like that if not just for commuting to work. It sorta amazes me that every vehicle has wide ass tires, like we're all taking corners at 45mph. We could be driving in SUCH efficient cars if we wanted to. That's not to say we shouldn't ever have cars like we do, but if we're just going to work and back, who cares what it looks like, how it handles, etc... We just need something to get from point A to B without costing us lots of money in fuel.

I've read 25-50 years of oil in several sites, but then again that could be bullshit. One thing I found interesting is that they just signed a deal to build an 18 million square foot plant to produce hydrogen right next to the exxon mobile plant in joliet, IL.. Makes you wonder if they're ramping up for fuel cell cars soon? I sometimes wonder if they're not purposely letting gas prices soar so that when hydrogen does go mainstream, and it's very cheap to buy fuel, consumers will be like "well, I don't like the idea of hydrogen, but if I can pay half the price for fuel, I guess I'll buy a FCV". People are very reluctant to change.

hah, you're lucky if you can 87 here... almost every (if not all) gas station in town is sold out of unleaded and mid-grade... everyone only has 93 and if they are lucky, diesel. and most places are almost out of 93 as well... thats been ranging $3.49 to over $4 a gallon here.. thanks katrina..

as for aerodynamics and weight yadda yadda.. still can't help a lot of other specific vehicles that use up tons of fuel... semi's, big work trucks, dump trumps, garbage trucks, school buses... things we gotta have whether you like it or not...

Fortunately the vehicles you listed are diesel powered. And there's not a shortage of diesel, at least not here.

The problem is largely geographical-- they can't check the oil levels in the U.S. There's oil in Texas, oil in Oklahoma, oil in the Gulf of Mexico, oil in Pennsylvania... but all the dipsticks are in Washington, D.C....

Agreed.. not much you can help with work vehicles, they are what they are.. But just converting all the commuters to more efficient vechicles (perhaps narrower cars too so there can be 2 special xpress lanes (made from one lane) just for those cars?

Let's add more fuel to the fire, huge oil spill 65 miles away from new orleans.. Bush is paying people to puncter tankers, I just know it! this is too dam coincidental!
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9175553/#typoedthefirstone

How about propane gas (i beleive thats what it is) injected to the intake system? I saw this in Mexico they have it testing on 03 + corolla saw a report on it while back, I was down there a few years ago and saw a few trucks with it.... My cuzin also saw somthin similar here in the US in a truck he changed the guys oil,, he said the oil came out like if it was brand new,,,, the guy told him that the oil had 6k miles on it!