Cars will be running off liquid fuels 200 years from now. It is a much simpler problem to figure out how to turn CO2 and water into hydrocarbons using electricity than it will be to make battery powered cars work.

Tough to beat ~130,000 BTU/GAL, liquids are a gift from God, batteries are the spawn of Satan.

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I will believe the distances being quoted only when I see the results of minus forty weather testing with my heated sets, windshield washers, halogens and stereo going.

Well, to be fair, GM has been testing the Volt in Canada for a few years now for those very things. Also, given that we're talking Volt, the answer to highway 'charge' is, well, gasoline. It's got a full ICE engine that will hold the charge at 30% on a highway drive as long as you keep some gas in the tank. That's what costs so much....a full ICE (and corollary systems) AS WELL AS the battery-powered drive. It's not a hybrid, really, it's an electric commuter car with a regular car built on top of it. Not cheap, it's true, but my diesel-fueled Audi cost more. Each to their own. Together with a new nuclear build, I think this could be an interesting combination. You recharge overnight, just like I now do with 7 different devices each and every day. Young people already understand this cuz, well IPhone batteries SUCK. But anyone who talks about wind or solar and the Volt in the same sentence is a fucking idiot.

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The next RE bubble.....Bolivia!

Salar de Uyuni...but the truth is that lithium is not the fuel, it's just the material to store the energy from the fuel. It's all about how you make the electricity in the first place.

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When the system is corrupt absolutely you must seek representation by those who are absolutely incorruptible.

As I understand it, there is enough extractable thorium in the earths crust to last us until the sun consumes the Earth. The energy crisis is a myth, since you can use that nuclear energy to recycle hydrocarbons.

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"I've seen people go into real poverty trying to pretend to be rich."

How about a tri-hybrid. Diesel electric base operating system with battery storage for converting breaking/idling energy back to usable energy. Then slap a small steam generator on top of the diesel engine to convert waste heat into electricity. You could even throw a couple solar panels on top for Greeny wetdreams. It would be a horribly bulky system, but you would be much more fuel efficient.

I wonder how much of fuel efficiency is related to aerodynamics. These big square faced vehicles have to be wasting a ton of energy overcoming air resistance. It always seemed to me the best mode of transportation would be something like the Messerschmitt KR200, only sleaker, and give it a steel cage so a driver has racecar like survivability. Watching hundreds of 2 ton trucks driving down the interstate with only one person inside just seems so wasteful to me and it's all predicated on the belief that SUVs are safer in accidents.

All this Ecar bs is going by by with Obama just like the hydrogen car left with Bush. All of this car stuff is covered in the
BOSCH Automotive Handbook.Read it,comprehend it,read it agian.

E cars = battery hell
Hybrids energy change of state working against you. It is what it is,sorrey.
Ethenol is not compatible with our infrastucture. End of story.
Hydrogen has 4 problems Density,storage,loss and production.
Compressed air cars could launch from a ruptue over a 3 story buildings in a single poff. add that to a propane truck.
Synfuels problems are political. The others have real problems.

Wel I really want one of these.
http://cdn.fiskerautomotive.com/files/fi....



Never mind the Vauxhall Ampera this is the ultimate, range-extending plug-in hybrid, a long, low-roofed, sleek saloon powered by a 403bhp pair of electric motors and a 260bhp General Motors 2.0-litre petrol generator. When all three motors are hooked up, its capable of shooting to 60mph in 5.9 seconds, and on to a top speed of 125mph. And when driven less keenly, it puts out as little as 83g/km of CO2. Its called the Fisker Karma, it will cost around 70,000, and goes on sale here in the UK next March, simultaneous with the launch in its North American homeland.

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There are no markets anymore, just interventions Chris Powell

I just got back from Miami where the bass player that played with me down there told me he runs his car on used vegetable oil that he gets for free from restaurants and has not had to pay a penny for a gallon of gas for a very long time.

While I didn't have much time to talk about this at any length I must admit I was both impressed and fascinated!!

That is significant - if we all eat ten pounds of french fries a day...

Great Bubble. That will support what 100 cars per city?

NEXT.

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"Sounds to me like you guys a couple of bookies" - Billy Ray Valentine"No I am not scared, and neither should you be!" - Iraqi Information Minister Economists are like lookouts at the house of ill-re

Eighty6thebs:

We are a long ways from knowing the full future potential of running your car on things other than gas.

Knowing what it costs people who both use and need 4 wheel drive gas guzzlers in "canyon states" like Utah and others I could easily see these "jimmy rigged" alternatives taking off.

I'd even be glad to play a supporting role should i ever have the time and/or resources......

What is the efficacy of a true auto equivalent of a diesel-electric train, whereby the fossil fuel powers an onboard generator of electricity unconnected (mechanically) to the drivetrain? In this case, fossils would take over until a recharge of the onboard batteries. But the fossils would exclusively generate electricity.