What do you think the future holds for automotive power?

I believe that for the near future, super-efficient gasoline and diesel engines will get us to what's next. I don't think hybrids like the Prius and Insight have real staying power but they do serve as an excellent stopgap. Personally, I'm waiting for hydrogen. As James May said in his review of the Honda FCX Clarity, battery powered cars have always seemed very promising but they just don't work in the real world. Another thing he pointed out which I find spot on is that battery powered cars also take away the convenience of the car itself. That is being able to drive until you run low on fuel, you can fill up in a matter of minutes and continue driving. If we switch to something with batteries that only goes for 75 or 80 miles and then takes 8 to 10 hours to bring back to life, we'll have stepped back, not forward.

 

gasoline is here to stay. but more efficient variations. i think hybrids, diesels, etc. will remain to bounce around as the minority. but in the end, gas will remain. if anything, there will be more logical forward-thinking with weight saving to control gas efficiency. can see carbon fiber and aluminum become more common through all tiers of cars.

personally, i think this country is too divided to ever see a mass overhaul for the use of secondary fuel - from consumers to pump station implementation. truthfully, secondary fuel sources do not fit the profile for ALL users - from farmers to city dwellers - it would be impossible to have it set a new totalitarian standard. its really more of a political division that we have here that would make it difficult. private businesses do not have the development funding to make it profitable. and voters are never going to have a majority decisions on BIG time grants. the scaling of a new fuel standard would take a long, long, time. it may work for certain areas of europe and southeast asia - but U.S.? dont think so - at least not for the next couple of lifetimes.

 

I only hope Hydrogen because, of what I know, its the best alternative to the power gas provides compared to the minutes a full electric engine would run if it produced a good 400hp. Technology may fix this in the future though. Knowing whats in the news today unfortunately, it will probably be gasoline till our last breath....

 

Manufacturers know all electric is not the solution for future vehicles. But for the time being there is a market for it, and profit to be made which is why we're seeing it.

I see hydrogen as the next major step. Till then expect to see more all electric vehicles and mainly hybrids of all sorts to keep meeting CAFE? standards for avg mpg a manufacturer must have.

Thing I dont know is though. Can there be a lot of power pulled from a hydrogen car?? Maybe we'll see hybrid system that uses hydrogen and electric in the far future.

All I know for sure is electric is just a way to make money and meet certain regulations. Its the short-term solution

 

The future is hydrogen. Maybe LNG as a 'bridge'.


ASSUMING that the cost of finding and refining oil rises enough to make development of new technologies and infrastructure viable.

 

Question about LNG.

I saw on the Natural Gas Honda Civic that you have to put those mini natural gas tanks in the trunk. What's the range before you have to exchange/refill tanks?

 

Battery technology continues to improve. Size and capacity is being improved upon every year, kind of like computer memory. I think eventually we will be running battery powered cars. Now it's just a matter of making the batteries cost efficient.

 

Hydrogen seems to be ideal, with the whole water as tailpipe emissions thing. But it's ridiculously cost prohibitive. I'm sure they could design storage units in a way as to prevent explosion in the result of a serious accident.

Battery tech seems to be constantly improving though. I just wonder if there's a ceiling to that.

 

Unless there is a massive game changing leap forward and battery tech, its not the future.
LNG and ethanol have the same basic issues as gasoline, just further down the line.
Hybrids are a stop gap, but could last a long time if the super capacitors ever get from lab to manufacture.

Hydrogen is the most promising real world tech that we have IMHO. I'm thinking the fuel cell version myself rather than compressed gas.

 

Natural Gas

The US has hundreds of years worth of the stuff. It also burns cleaner than gasoline.

 

why isn't diesel on this list?

 

One also needs to put a time period into the debate. A decade from now versus two decades from now sort of thing.

That being said, the amount of battery advances in the last decade have been tremendous but still have a long way to go to providing a all-electric solution. Gotta give GM and Nissan some credit for at least starting to move in that direction.

 

A pure electric is definitely not the answer in the short term, but I see the EVs with gasoline range extenders making a solid stand in coming years as the cost continues to come down. These vehicles combine the urban usability of an EV without the range anxiety that comes from a pure electric.

Longer term, something like the FCX Clarity with a hydrogen fuel cell seems like a truly viable option for more pedestrian commuter cars.

Performance cars will not be getting away from gasoline anytime soon, but turbochargers will continue to improve efficiency and we will continue to see HP go up, but engine sizes will continue to come down slowly as the turbos get better over time.

One trend I hope to see is the reduction in cost for more high-strength materials so that cars can start to trend down in weight over time as lighter vehicles should also make them more fuel efficient regardless of what form of fuel they are using.

 

Hydrogen.

 

I think we will see a lot more increase in efficiency before we see LNG or H2.

 

Probably because it comes from the same barrel of oil as gasoline (unless you're talking about bio-diesel).

 

where's the Mr. Fusion option?

 

 

I think CNG/LNG would be a good solution now if we want to truly be energy independent. We have so much of that stuff... and it's super cheap right now too.

Hydrogen would be ideal though.


You just refill the tank.

http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-n...refueling.aspx

 

Wouldn't we all have hover-boards in the future?

 

 

How about a hydrogen/battery combo like a Chevy Volt Hydrogen? With improved batteries in the future and hydrogen backup power, that seems the way to go. I really like the Volt idea to ease "range anxiety".

 

Why add more cost and weight to the car when hydrogen already gives good range and doesn't take long to refill?

 

I think it'll be ethanol. Same convenience of gasoline, and I think it'll be easier to modify a gasoline vehicle to run on ethanol than to junk it or do a swap for EV or hydrogen. Not to mention legislation is slowly increasing the percentage of ethanol in our gasoline, and many cars are already E85-capable. Only problem I see is where it'd be grown.

 

So we'll pay less for ethanol (fuel), but pay more for food

 

You're only going to raise food prices (and fuel) by doing that.

Ethanol only exists because of subsidies.

 

Unless they can actually figure out how to make ethanol from the left-overs (the refuse) in an economical fashion.

 

I think we'll see Biodiesel from algae and farm waste before economically viable ethanol

 

Could be. Just throwing it out there since I know it's been in the works for a while.

 

Where's the flux capacitor?

 

To improve mileage and reduce costs of a fill up. I mean isn't that the idea of the current Volt? I think hydrogen is close to the same cost as gasoline right now.

 

No infrastructure , electricity is already distributed across the country.
Germany did some H2 powered experimental fleet with BMW's in the 2000's.

 

Switchgrass, but the chemist/industrial engineers are still working the production problem. Much better potential over corn and Al Gore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panicum_virgatum#Bioenergy

 

Ethanol

 

I think that if hydrogen car demand and sales increase the infrastructure will be there.

Might as well do CNG and battery instead since nat gas is so much cheaper than hydrogen fuel... and more refilling stations.

 

Perhaps. But strategically, why should we?

We can continue to use a relatively cheap available energy source, then as the supply starts drying up and prices go through the roof we switch.

Then, when everyone else is fighting over the last drops of barely affordable gasoline/oil, we're sitting pretty with massive amounts of cheap natural gas energy.


IOW - why use our ace-in-the-hole before we really have to?

 

Short term I think small gasoline engines supplemented with turbocharging. Probably the easiest and most cost effective way for auto manufacturers to meet upcoming mileage goals.

Later on I see electric driven cars becoming much more popular. Electric driven vehicles intrigue the hell out of me. The tremendous torque available makes me giddy. I toy with the idea to one day to build a '67 Mustang fastback with a Lexus sourced hybrid drivetrain.

 

Tell that to Brazil

 

If only we were able to grow that volume of sugar cane...

 

+1, CNG has proven to be a pretty good fuel for fleet operations. Buses, trucks, mail delivery, municipal service have all used it with excellent results. Also the amount of modifications to te vehicle are pretty minimal compared to other fuel sources.

I have long term hopes for batteries as the technology to develop larger capacity and cheaper production. Getting larger surface area for the electrodes for a given volume continues to increase over time. Nanotube tech has been the end goal for batteries but there are some other shorter term tech that fill the gap until that promise is fulfilled.