The future meets the past...

[D Spares & Tyres]

In all seriousness, I'd love to see 21st-century (or even mid-late 20th-century) technology applied to super-heated steam as a means of propulsion. I believe the last steam passenger cars in the 1920s took around 90 seconds to 'prime' before use, were relatively simple to operate and drive, and could hit respectable speeds - the more basic designs took longer to warm up and were complicated to use, but were shockingly fast. A modern spin would be very interesting to see.

There is a steam powered Morris Minor going around somewhere. I saw some pictures of it only a couple of years ago. Think it was for sale for around £10k.

[stephen01]

Looks right @ home

 

 

 

 

[garethj]

Nissan parked next to a Triumph Herald and it's the Nissan that's got the bonnet up!  Love it

[martc]

Isn't hydrogen a bit of a shit to produce in a pure form though? I vaguely recall that it is the most abundant element, but its not easy to refine into its pure elemental state and keep it there?

 

Might be bollocks though.

 

That's sort of bollocks. Hydrogen is very easy to produce in a pure form - all you need to do is electrolyse water...

 

H₂O + e^- --> 2H + O            you can do this at home with a simple 12v dc supply.

 

The H is formed at one electrode the O at the other - very easy to separate. The problem is the amount of electricity needed to produce it at the volumes required

 

But on the other hand it's sort of not bollocks as another potential supply is reduction of off-gasses from oil refineries (often seen being burnt off as flares) but the composition of this various widely and purification can be difficult (I think this process gives so called "brown" hydrogen). And you need oil refineries - which wouldn't exist at the scale they do now if petrol was replaced by H...

 

And storage - compressing it is hazardous as it requires immense pressure (and very sturdy bottles) to get it into a small enough volume to fill the space of a petrol tank but also to give the same range as a tank full of petrol.

 

There is a lot of research work at the moment to develop metal sponges that absorb vast amounts of H and can then release it with a little help (usual heat). However, until these sponges are perfected, it's no coincidence that most experimental H powered vehicles are buses - these have the space to store enough H under a much lower pressure.

[Bear]

There's a good, now dated book worth reading - The Hydrogen Economy.

 

Cracking hydrogen is a pain. If only there were some sort of emissions-free, large scale means of generating electricity that were proven, well established and generally very reliable, albeit 'a bit of a nuisance' when it goes wrong.

[forddeliveryboy]

Well done for buying an EV (coal/nuclear powered vehicle). Not because they're great cars but because they're different and simpler than the alternative - something we on autoshite should appreciate. If someone forced me to buy and use something new for under £18k and I didn't travel more than 90 miles at a time, 99% of the time, I'd probably have one for a daily commute.

 

Not only is the 'fuel' very cheap and almost tax-free, but you can use most of what you buy. If you buy petrol or diesel, about 30% of the price you pay is for the fuel itself, yet you waste two-thirds of the fuel through inefficiences. Making electricity isn't much more efficient (our largest power station runs at just over 40% efficiency) but it's the producers who pay for these losses.

 

Which is why if you're going to buy petrol or diesel, it's well worth making sure you love what you drive - only £1 in £10 of petrol is used for making a car move.

[xtriple]

All in favour. I love my hybrid (but not today!) but in all honesty, I don't need the petrol bit. Thinking about going full electric soon...

[Bear]

If I were leasing an executive car these days, I would have a Tesla. No hesitation.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

This should probably be in the stupid question thread,but

Do you have to pay for using recharging points? They seem to be popping up all over my town ( Milton Keynes) and I see them in shopping centres,fast food places etc all over the country. I had a look at one the other day and there didn't seem to be any payment notice or credit card slot, just 3 different plugs.

Being a cheapskate, I'd try not to charge the fecker at home at all if I had one.

[stillOrange]

They used to be all free in Greater Manchester Trasnsport Executive area but aren't anymore.

Some dealers, Nissan and Renault, allow you to charge batteries for free as long as you arranged it with them.

 

Normally you switch the charging and pay by mobile app or special touch card/fob.

[forddeliveryboy]

Doesn't really matter how the electricity is made. Far more is made from renewables than petrol/diesel. Very green at point of use too, so far better in cities. I know it goes against the Autoshite grain, but electric cars really do fascinate me now they're actually practical. I still really want one.

 

I'm still considering the possibility of building an electric 2CV. Few cars are better suited to conversion - no power assists, so removing the old engine isn't an issue, and nice and light, so there's less to haul about. Main issue is the cost of batteries still - a conversion kit with decent batteries would probably be in the order of £8000.

 

It could be made by rounding up the unemployed and putting them on a giant treadmill, most EV owners would still be convinced that their car was the most ethical ever made. Or by burning waste engine oil in outdoor fires and using the heat to make leccy. They would still be perceived by many as the greenest form of transport. More accurately they could be called coal/nuclear cars.

 

The cost of nuclear is so high and the potential for terrorist sabotage so great that eventually renewable power and storage capable of providing most of our electrical needs will be realised. Surplus wind and solar can be turned into bio gas which is probably what will power long distance land travel, using the existing gas grid.

 

Reckon re-engineering a 2cv to electric would make it no 'greener' - tho' most at 2cvfests probably would rate it as cool. I couldn't justify spending all that money to make it less good, when you could have a Leaf for a similar amount in two or three years. Or this, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reva-G-Wiz-Electric-Car-New-batteries-with-a-2-Year-warranty-stock-Clearance-/121651508455?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c52feb4e7

[stephen01]

So I've not even driven the leaf, waiting for insurance to click over, but so far it seems to be going ok! 70 miles in and I've put it on charge.so first time we've charged it up since saturday night. charge it up again friday, then a full charge sunday ready for a rip down to london. normally costs approx 40 quid in fuel, hoping to do it on 1x full charge at home, £2.50, then free top up/s along the motorway.. (M1)

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Sounds flippin ace that TBH.

[Pillock]

I would.

There's some unanswered questions about charger availability - like, what if you pull into the services and there's four people queuing for the charger at half an hour each.... Just add two hours to your journey? How long will they be free for at services given that motorway services would charge you for air if they could?

 

But..... £2.50 for a run to London? Yes please.

[cort16]

Audi blue diesel made out of water and wtf.

 

http://www.techradar.com/news/car-tech/audi-has-made-diesel-from-just-air-and-water-bad-news-for-electric-cars--1292138