Fuel-Efficient-Vehicles.org

Home News Headlines * News Blog * Links Tesla Roadster Tesla and Dark Energy Nikola Tesla Biography Electric Cars Electric Motors Generators and Alternators Historical Super Carburetors Books on Super Carbs Mighty Yet Tiny engine, NASA 1st prize Future Denied The Pacheco Hydrogen Generator A Hydrogen Generator you can build many more Hydrogen Generators others have built Stanley Meyer's "water car" Dennis Lee Energy Inventions (suppressed) Hydraulic cars & info Mike Blood's Hydraulic dragster 1997 Don Banky's Hydraulic Car 1955 H.J. Magnet Motor A Simple magnetic motor I.V.T. / C.V.T. Oil News

ENERGY NEWS
Headlines

West Philadelphia High School "0 to 60 in 4 sec. & 50 mpg on soy bean oil" "read all about it" ...

the Smart car

DaimlerBenz

over 700,000 sold world-wide

This one was seen by the editor in the Bahamas (on a Nov. 2006 4 day cruise)

The new model made its debut in at European auto shows in November 2006. "Even the base 'pure' coupe gets ABS, ESP, and 4 airbags. ... The `fortwo's` high-strength steel safety cell can effectively dissipate energy from impacts with much larger vehicles."

Hybrid Technologies plans to sell an electric version of the smart vehicle in the U.S. starting at US$35,000.

It is being called a hybrid car even though the vehicle is all-electric. The electric smart car will have a range of 120 miles (190 km) to 150 miles (240 km), a top speed of 80 mi/h (129 km/h), and charge in 5 to 6 hours using a standard 110V AC outlet. An electric smart is currently undergoing testing in the UK and will only be offered to commercial clients as a trial for the time being.

For the history of the smart car, see Wikipedia.

Smart Roadster

The Smart Roadster went through several variations.
from 2003 to 2006. See wikipedia

Perhaps working elbow-to-elbow with Tesla Motors is beginning to rub off. Lotus
has just unveiled its Exige 265E, a research and development car that runs on E85.

Lotus has also designed an electric car for ZAP. (see below)

ZAP SANTA ROSA, Calif. (February 8, 2005) - California automaker and distributor ZAP announced today that it has received more purchase orders for the Smart Car Americanized by ZAP, with orders in-hand totaling over $55 million. Zap is also taking reservations for this sports car, the ALIAS ZAP says that the initial concept phase for the new vehicle is complete. The targeted price is $30,000, top speed in excess of 100 mph and range of 100 miles per charge. Many of the technologies already specified for the ZAP-X electric car concept will be applied to the new vehicle, but delivery is expected to be sooner than the ZAP-X. CEO Steve Schneider said more details of the new vehicle will be presented at the annual shareholder meeting, July 29, 2007 in Santa Rosa, California. ZAP-X

---

June 11, 2007 New Li-Ion batteries in DeWalt power tools It recharges in minutes (rather than Hours) and lasts a decade (instead of a couple years) [and has twice the charge]. A123Systems batteries will be evaluated in prototype Saturn Green Line Vue plug-in hybrid SUVs later this year. see article June 6, 2007 Accord hybrid being replaced with 60mpg Diesel see article May 24, 2007 Europe may restrict their oil imports to the US Thursday, 24 May 2007Large US imports of gasoline, mainly from Europe, are starting to raise questions. Last weekend gasoline in Germany went over $7 per gallon and analysts are talking about the possibility of $8 gasoline later this summer. The Europeans note that the US is now importing roughly 1 out of every 8 gallons of gasoline consumed and that there is no end to this imbalance in sight. Some Europeans are beginning to ask whether their governments should be taking action to slow the exports to the US. Peak Oil Has Arrived! The 3 Largest Oil Fields in the world have peaked! May 28, 2007 #1. Saudi oil fields overall are in decline at 2% to 8% a year: ”There are published reports that Ghawar has from 30-55% water cut. This means that about half the fluids brought up the well are water. #2. Kuwait: Saturday, November 12 - 2005: It is incredible revelation that the second largest oil field in the world is exhausted and past its peak output. Yet that is what the Kuwait Oil Company revealed about its Burgan field. Chairman Farouk Al Zanki said :”The peak output of the Burgan oil field will now be around 1.7 million barrels per day, and not the two million barrels per day forecast for the rest of the field’s 30 to 40 years of life.” #3. Cantarell, Mexico - in decline; 5-11-2007 Cantarell has actually begun to decline. The most recent Upstream (May 11, 2007) quotes Jesus Reyes Heroles, the Pemex leader as saying that Cantarell would produce only 1.5 million barrels per day in 2007. This is compared with over 2 million in 2004. see article March 2, 2007 Solar Cell technology & mfg. explosion in Silicon Valley wafers that sell for $5 apiece are used by companies like General Electric to build the most efficient solar modules on the market today. Solar prices have declined steadily. In 1980 the cost of generating solar power with a silicon cell was about $30 per watt; today it averages $3 to $4 a watt. Applied’s goal is to bring the cost down to $1 per watt, making it competitive with conventional power sources. [given that $1/watt refers to 2007 oil prices, by 2009, $2/watt may be “competitive” and anything less, cheaper! - editor] California is also committing $3.2 billion to fund a drive to install solar panels on a million rooftops by 2018 see article

X Prize Foundation: $25+ million prize for a 100 mpg car! "People love their cars. They are vital links to our jobs, our community, ourselves. For everything we love about them, cars are chained to the most severe global crises of our time: oil dependence and climate change." - X Prize Foundation "news, March 5th 2007"   "over 30 competitors sign on, Aug. 1st 2007" "There's a very large industrial complex married to an old solution," says X Prize Foundation founder Peter Diamandis. "We fully endorse the X Prize," says Bob Lutz, vice chair of General Motors, "but we just cannot divert ourselves from the business at hand." That business is the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid electric car that Lutz hopes to have on the streets by 2010. "We're really not that interested in technology as a science-fair project," he says. But GM and the other major automakers are sure to be watching carefully for interesting technologies. If a team designs, say, a clever hybrid engine that bolts right onto the transmission of a Dodge Neon, it could sell the design to Chrysler and emerge a big winner regardless of whether it does well in the race. Eric Hagerman, Wired magazine, 12-20-2007

Action to Declassify Secret Energy Patents
Contact your representatives.

Home biodiesel processing system-kit

---

Audi (TDI) DIESEL engine wins the

54th Annual Mobil 1® Twelve Hours of Sebring
March 15-18, 2006

Sebring, Fla. - Audi Sport North America made history Saturday as the diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI of Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The new prototype is the first diesel car in the world to win a major sports car race.

It was the type of debut Audi was hoping for in preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The German manufacturer used Sebring as a test for the most prestigious sports car race in the world, set for June 17-18

The new Audi R10 TDI is powered by a completely new 5.5-litre, twelve-cylinder bi-turbo TDI engine which is extremely economical and quiet.

The Le Mans Prototype, with over 650 hp and more than 1100 Newton metres of torque, significantly exceeds the power produced by the majority of previous Audi racing cars – including that of its victorious R8 predecessor.
The main target of the Audi technicians is to reach the reliability level of the R8, which never recorded a single engine failure in the 77 races it has contested to date.

Audi ventures into previously unexplored diesel-engine terrain with the V12 power plant manufactured completely from aluminium. The enormous torque of over 1100 Newton metres not only makes extreme demands of the R10 TDI transmission system – as even the Formula 1 specification engine dynamometers at Audi Sport had to be reequipped with special gearboxes capable of withstanding the unusual forces.

---

TDI (Turbo Direct Injection Diesel)

While TDI's are available in many countries around the world, Volkswagen (and Audi) has been the only manufacturer selling diesels cars in Canada or the US since 1999.

The VE engine found in the A3 Jettas and B4 Passats were rated at 90hp and 149ft.lbs of torque (1.9 liter and 50 mpg). The A4 Jetta, New Beetle, and A4 Golf were rated at 90hp and 155ft.lbs.

The B5 Passat with it's 2.0l TDI pumped out 134 hp and 247 ft.lbs of torque. The king of power is the 5.0l 310HP V10 Touareg (until the Audi R10 came out) that puts out 553 ft.lbs of torque.

The high-pressure pump-injection system achieves the highest injection pressures currently available in any direct-injection process. The associated fine atomisation of the fuel ensures that a high degree of thermodynamic efficiency is attained and the highest specific torque per litre is at the driver's disposal. This system also permits controlled pilot injection as a means of ensuring low engine noise levels and minimum emissions.

Ethanol 1933 Corn-alcohol fuel pump, (in Nebraska) Make it today at about $1.oo/gal. Ethanol, which can be produced with corn, soy, mustard seed, and even some grasses, is considered a renewable resource. Mixtures of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, called E85, can be used in many vehicles currently available. Biodiesel, which may be used in regular diesel engines, can be made from recycled cooking grease or vegetable oil.

National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, for each gallon of gasoline burned in a vehicle, 20 pounds of CO² are emmitted.

Feb. 03, 2004 Chevy
Underscorring the extreme [if not backward] attempts being made to gain just a little in fuel economy:
"To improve fuel efficiency, Chevy has integrated technology that automatically shuts off four of the truck's eight cylinders when not required, reducing fuel consumption by 8 percent, said Chevy spokeswoman Jolie Jackson."


"Gear Splitting performance and overdrive economy"
Focusing on performance but admitting an increase in fuel economy, Gear Vendors has announced a new model gear splitter for the C5 Corvette. Their focus is on trucks, RVs, and high performance cars but, the clear message is not only that higher gears save gas but, high performance people can appreciate fuel economy also. (www.GearVendors.com)

Electricity vs. Hydrogen

"Fuel cells are not used in any of the most expensive phones or laptop computers. Even satellites which might cost $100m to build use lithium ion [Li-ion] batteries. Now surely you'd use the best option in a $100m satellite wouldn't you? There are also some basic energy equations that show that [using fuel cells] is quite stupid."
says Elan Musk, billionaire co-founder of Pay-Pal, who also funded the start-up of SpaceX (a low-cost space craft manufacturer that's now selling ships to NASA) and a solar power company, SolarCity.


Date: Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:12 pm
Subject: Electricity Beats Hydrogen Fuel, New Study Indicates

From:
"Patrick Mazza"
patrick@ ilea.org

Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment
P.O. Box 22437 Seattle, WA 98122-0437
http://www.ilea.org

ELECTRICITY BEATS HYDROGEN FOR FUELING CARS AND
FOR STORING AND DELIVERING ENERGY, NEW STUDY FINDS

"In key roles envisioned for Hydrogen as an energy carrier, transmission of remote renewable resources, storage of intermittent renewables and vehicle fuel, electricity offers more energy efficient options that might preclude mass-scale emergence of H2 technologies," concludes the study issued by the Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment and funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The study compares the actual energy available when hydrogen and electricity carriers are employed ... Electrical transmission provides roughly twice the end use energy.

Hydrogen as clean vehicle fuel, as projected in President Bush's hydrogen car initiative, leads to a dead-end. Using electricity to charge electric vehicles (EVs) provides twice the miles per kilowatt hour than employing electricity to make hydrogen fuel. It is a gift to the oil co.'s with no return on the "investment".

Plug-in electricity eliminates 2.6 times more CO2 than if it is used to displace gasoline by making hydrogen fuel for cars. Charging EVs removes twice the CO2 of making hydrogen fuel. The study calculates similar results for use of natural gas, which also has been proposed as a source of hydrogen energy.

"In the conversion of electricity to hydrogen and back again, we are forced to admit a loss of more than HALF (55%) of the original electricity that we started with (some estimates put this loss considerably higher). Bearing this in mind, we are confronted with a very sobering fact: Of the number of generators needed to supply energy to this conversion process, less than half as many would be necessary if we never made the conversion to hydrogen in the first place!"

"... the stark reality is that an existing hybrid car seating 4 passengers gets twice the mileage of an existing fuel cell car holding the same number of people - this is a fact, not a prediction. In all fairness, when the dust finally settles [after x years of development], fuel cell and hybrids cars will probably come out in a tie; this is a fair (and probably safer) assumption upon which to base all future arguments." "Twenty Hydrogen Myths": A physicist's review
By Dominic Crea

From one who worked on developing the necessary hydrogen fuel tanks:

Hydrogen is a sad misdirection. I worked a number of years in the alternative fuels industry, with an enphasis in hydrogen.

The problems with hydrogen keep it from being a reasonable alternative for so long that interim solutions would be far better for our planet.

Hydrogen infrastructure will take many years to erect.

Hydrogen can either be "cracked" from water, using vast amounts of energy that must be gotten from some other source, or it can be extracted from fossil fuels (so what is the point?)

In order to store hydrogen onboard a vehicle it must be compressed to about 15,000 lbs per sq inch (this produces an energy density close to that of gasoline). Imagine the difficulty and expense inherent in these sorts of pressures. (this is what I worked on - carbon fiber fuel tanks) Or we could find more efficient metal "foam" or "sponge" in which to store large amounts of hydrogen - the technology is not anywhere near mature.

Or we could simply cool the stuff. Now the temperature of liquid hydrogen is −423.17 °F. Cryogenic bottles can maintain these temperatures for a relatively short while. Handling these sorts of liquids is not for the average consumer and significant amounts of energy is needed to maintain these temperatures.

Perhaps, some day, hydrogen will be our dream fuel, but there is a fuel that works TODAY:
Electricity drawn from batteries.

it is not exactly news but, just keep in mind
that Ford owns Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, and more.




Also, note that General Motors ownes
Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Cadillac, GMC,
Hummer, Saab, Opel, Holden, and Vauxhall. (see gm.com)


Brands of Chrysler Corporation:
Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, & Jeep






Tow Mater from the movie Cars


Lightning and Tow Mater

---

a 1 or 2 month sample:


"Due to security risks and a lack of support for web standards this
website does not support IE6. Internet Explorer 6 was released in 2001
and it does not display modern web sites properly. Please upgrade to a
newer browser to fully enjoy this site and the rest of the web."
Further: "to update to Internet Explorer 7.0 is fraught with uncertainty."

The safest web sites are viewed best with trusted browsers

"Firefox Back On Top"

FEDERAL EXPERTS SUGGEST DITCHING INTERNET EXPLORER

your IP address is 38.107.191.98