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Highly efficient vehicles

Johnny Acree

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Johnny Acree

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What caught my eye, was the last page
"Building What People want"
it has proven, we can build highly efficient vehicles but they don't seem to be what most of the people want.
We are willing to pay a premium for high performance, but we are not willing to pay for efficiency.
Some governments have raised the price of fuel as a way to encourage people to buy more efficient cars. Some have made the manufacturers build to a standard.
Tesla seems to have found the sweet spot.
WE WANT IT ALL!
power, efficiency, luxury, range, technology, safety, style, and all at a price they can afford.
Just don't look weird while doing it
 

AriLea

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Some pretty neat looking vehicles in that group. However, I didn't see one that was easy for an old person with arthritis to get in and out of.
So true,
even so, I count 8 that anyone could get in and out of with little problem, or about equal to my Corolla.
But, my wife needs an 8in riser on the toilet, and the Corolla is awkward for her, so maybe none of them are perfect for her. A mid-sized crossover would probably work best for her. So she is limited to about 25mpg at best. Certainly she will never ride in my Atlantric, should I ever finish it.
She could likely get in the Elio driver seat about as well as the Corolla, but not in back.(but she has no license)
The Aptera might be about right for her, but I have to see one in person.
But for me, at 67, I'll give all of them a go!
 
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Made in USA

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Here is something to ponder, a vehicle that runs on compressed air. Now granted, it probably won't go fast or far, but it is relatively simple and uses "green" energy. Read about the early locomotives here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireless_locomotive

There is one example at the Carillon Park in Dayton Ohio that was used in the downtown area by NCR to shuttle things between buildings.
 

BigWarpGuy

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Zero Pollution has a air compressed powered vehicle.
AirPod-2.0-Presentation-20161031-3-6.jpg

I doubt it will go fast.
 

AriLea

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In the 70 and 80's there was much activity around air, hydrogen, CH4(natural gas/methane), propane, steam, wood, even batteries and solar.
It was the OPEC crisis, and solutions were in demand. When OPEC realized that the world may well discover a way to make them irrelevant, they relented.
Really, that's the only reason why. Their market manipulation was triggering much development. Whole countries were on track to switch to other fuels.

And also it made it worth the investment to develop technology for off shore and other sources of fossil fuels. A lot of methane sources were found too. They didn't seem to anticipate those two issues.

I myself was tasked with running a series of engine power dynamic tests using a propane/methane mix. The carburetor was modified so that it could use gas, propane or methane. Methane was cheap but a huge tank had no range. So it was filled 50% with methane and the rest with propane, which was at an OK price, but lots better range, but still not as good a range as regular fuels. When CH4 and propane went low the driver could manually switch to regular fuel.
The switch between the two gasses was automatic. The methane in liquid form, would boil off until it ran out, then only propane was left to boil off.
So, having some electronics background, I used a zirconium oxide sensor to feedback to a restrictor valve which would follow the changing fuel mix.
We produced a SAE paper on the subject, which I still have a copy of.
Range is still one of the biggest issues with these alternatives. In the case of compressed air, efficiency can also be a problem. But that depends to some extent on where and how you are compressing the air. This is also the determining factor in how green it is.
 
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