Very little electricity is generated from oil.
U.S. Electric Power Industry Net Generation
Electric Power Annual with data for 2005, EIA
Posted on 01/09/2007 10:06:35 PM PST by BlueSky194
The whole idea behind this is that mos of the power of your IC engine is needed for acceleration. Electric motors are even better at acceleration. Having a set of "buffer" batteries means that a tiny IC engine, just enough for cruising with a little extra to keep the batteries charged, is all this car needs.
That's for sure. That would be more fun to drive than my gas-sipping Saturn. Hybrids really do provide "free energy," in that they harness braking energy that is usually dissipated as heat.
We have a winner! Drain the swamp.
You lost me on that one. Doesn't sound like you are factoring in the price of YOU getting to where the car is. And what if you are a family of four? According to what you posted it would be cheaper to have my car transported 600 miles and for me and my family of four to fly there than to just get in the car and go.
You must have meant something else.
I love how everyone thinks they are better engineers than actual engineers after "reading some stuff on the internet" and that so many people still believe that technology will never advance beyond what we have today. :p
Let's not forget that Osama and his crew were largely rich brats. They're the Arab equivalent of the kids who upon entering university in the 1960's, renamed themselves "Moonflower".
It's time to take away their cash and their toys. Without oil, most of the worst nations of the world have nothing.
Regards, Ivan
I got that kind of mileage from my Volkswagen Jetta diesel back in the 70's.
Now we're to have orgasms because an ultra expensive battery will push a lightweight car 40 miles and then the engine comes on to recharge the battery?
Something is missing from this scenario.
To GM: good luck selling these.
Clarification: The Jetta would go about 600 miles on a tankful of diesel (about 14 gal IIRC). It worked out to about 54 miles per gallon. I loved the ability to drive and drive and drive and drive. My wife and daughters brought me back to earth by pointing out that occasional stops are mandatory.
Not exactly. The engine only puts out the average power necessary to drive the car. The instantaneous power required can vary between a negative value when running downhill, or braking, to a very large value when accelerating, or going up hill. An engine that is optimized for maximum fuel economy (560 mile range) would not have enough power for the accelerations and hill climbing that customers expect. Hence, the batteries. The batteries fill in the gaps. The engine only has to provide slightly more power than required for average driving to add enough reserve in the batteries for hill climbing and accelerations.
Will, or even WILL, cannot overcome the second law of thermodynamics. If you could invent the "250 mpg" carburetor, or the "million KWh battery that can be recharged in 10 minutes", I guarantee you that you would become a billionaire.
That is only somewhat true. Brakes on even small cars can develop hundreds of horsepower for the few seconds they are used. The batteries cannot be recharged at that rate. This excessive energy that can't be put back into the batteries is still wasted. Unless the driver decelerates very slowly, a large percentage of the braking energy in a hybrid is still wasted.
Very little electricity is generated from oil.
U.S. Electric Power Industry Net Generation
Electric Power Annual with data for 2005, EIA
I would have thought gas and oil would be reversed. Thanks for the info.
Makes you wonder how their competition lets them get away with saying this.
Chevy claims the Volt will get 50 miles to the gallon if the batteries aren't re-charged while running on the E85 engine.
the engine that drives the generator that charges the battery is probably about the size of a lawnmower engine.
the battery is what supplies the power to move the vehicle.
600 Highway to a tank full of gas, isn't all that more efficient than an existing TDI Jetta.. which should get 450-550 on a tank full of diesel highway.
Its an improvement yes, but hardly something astronomical.
Ditto
Not unless they build in a Boston catheter.
What about performance? 0-60 in 30 seconds is not a winner regardless of what the thing looks like.
Don't you just love the morons who write these things? How much petrol is in a "tank" of gas? In my Honda, I can go almost 500 miles (though I'm moving on sheer willpower the last 20 miles or so).
If that is a 5-gallon "tank", then 600 miles is impressive. If it's a 15 or 20 gallon tank, the claim is somewhat less impressive. Making a claim of "600 Miles on a Tank" is a completely useless claim without specifying an actual standard volume of gasoline.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.