Experimental Hybrid Cars Get Up to 250 Mpg

[Sean]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165650,00.html

CORTE MADERA, Calif. — Politicians and automakers say a car that can both reduce greenhouse gases and free America from its reliance on foreign oil is years or even decades away. Ron Gremban says such a car is parked in his garage. It looks like a typical Toyota Prius hybrid, but in the trunk sits an 80-miles-per-gallon secret — a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries that boosts the car's high mileage with an extra electrical charge so it can burn even less fuel. Gremban, an electrical engineer and committed environmentalist, spent several months and $3,000 tinkering with his car. Like all hybrids, his Prius increases fuel efficiency by harnessing small amounts of electricity generated during braking and coasting. The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in this San Francisco suburb — all for about a quarter. He's part of a small but growing movement. "Plug-in" hybrids aren't yet cost-efficient, but some of the dozen known experimental models have gotten up to 250 mpg. They have support not only from environmentalists but also from conservative foreign policy hawks who insist Americans fuel terrorism through their gas guzzling. And while the technology has existed for three decades, automakers are beginning to take notice, too. So far, DaimlerChrysler AG is the only company that has committed to building its own plug-in hybrids, quietly pledging to make up to 40 vans for U.S. companies. But Toyota Motor Corp. officials who initially frowned on people altering their cars now say they may be able to learn from them.

Why does something tell me the guys who created this are going to wind up in a car wreck

[tman_ndsu08]

Here's the problem with that sort of thinking: where is the electricity coming from?

If, instead of buying gas, people just plug their cars in, then energy companies are just going to burn the gas to make electricity instead.

[dejadee]

Electricity companies don't burn oil to make electricity, they mainly use coal, natural gas (which releases less CO2), or other forms of power which don't pollute at all (hydroelectric power, nuclear power). I'm not sure about the figures but it seems to me that the amount coal or natural gas it takes for electricity companies to power your car pollutes less than the amount of oil to get a comparable mileage.
Anyways, if gas prices keep on rising, this may be the cheaper alternative. You're also decreasing dependence on foriegn oil and sending less money to terrorists. I think it's a good idea.

[PatrickHenry]

Quote by: Sean Why does something tell me the guys who created this around going to wind up in a car wreck

Lol!! Sean, you are a closet conspiracy theorist! I knew it all along...

[Chris]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 Here's the problem with that sort of thinking: where is the electricity coming from? If, instead of buying gas, people just plug their cars in, then energy companies are just going to burn the gas to make electricity instead.

There are new types of hybrid that do not require the use of an electrical outlet.

Definately the way forward.

[SteveA]

You do gain efficiency by using an electric vehicle. A typical combustion engine is only aruond 30% energy efficient, whereas a power plant can be much higher than this an electric motors can be above 90% efficient.

So yes you push the oil consumption on to power plants instead but there is an energy savings.

The main problem is still cost. Even if someone had a 250 mpg car and only spend 1/10th the money on gas compared to 25 mpg car, if it costs an extra $10,000 to buy one, then you've got to do a lot of driving to make up the difference in cost.

There are indirect ways that we pay for oil though (like the war in Iraq is at least partly due to our oil interests there ... maybe those expenses should should be left up to the interested parties, instead of taken upon publicly).

[Chris]

I dont know if its true or not but I was reading somewhere that it took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil and we are going to use the next trillion in 30 years.