0-60 in 4 seconds. Say goodbye to the good 'ol days...

[SCOBRAC]

Electric cars are nothing new, they've been around since the early 1900's. (Un) Fortunately even GM can't make them work. It was rumored they lost $25-30k on every single EV-1 it built. They didn't even have the confidence to sell the stupid things... Every one was leased and presently none are on the road. We still have electric car charging stations at the city hall in my town that are NEVER used.

[mj_duell]

Originally Posted by SCOBRAC

Electric cars are nothing new, they've been around since the early 1900's. (Un) Fortunately even GM can't make them work. It was rumored they lost $25-30k on every single EV-1 it built. They didn't even have the confidence to sell the stupid things... Every one was leased and presently none are on the road. We still have electric car charging stations at the city hall in my town that are NEVER used.

Well.....Yes and No. I have the direct inside track on this; I'm married to one of GM's senior fuel cell research scientist. We had an EV1 for a short time as part of GM's research program. Not all, but some are still on the road today, but only certain GM employees drive them through the program. They get charged by home adapters or at the GM facilities that host the cars. The car was not a complete loss and taught the engineers thing they needed to know as far as the electric motor and power applications were concerned. The major shortcoming was the 100 mile range which was not always 100 miles depending on your driving habits. It was amazingly fast for its short driving time.

I'm holding out for one of the fuel cell powered cars my wife is working on. Hydrogen is the best solution for the future.....although I love dealing in cars that harkened back to a time where dead dinosaurs were king . Anyway, with fuel cells the range of an average car will be in the 600-700 mile area and it will burn 100% clean. Electric motors driven by the power output of a fuel cell are very torquey. I have been for rides in some of GM's test vehicles and they are very fast. Technically the only thing holding us back is the supply infrastructure for the hydrogen.

By the way, don't anybody think that a fuel cell powered Cobra has not been discussed at my house . I'm waiting for the day the FC cars hit the dealers and I start the worlds first FC hop-up parts business and have an in house development scientist.

Just my ramblin for the evening.



--Mike / Turn Ten Racing, Inc.

[4pipes]

Ask your wife if the energy required to produce the hydrogen is a justifiable amount, given that hydrocarbons were probably burned to generate the electricity to separate the hydrogen gases. Some kind of ratio would be helpful to understanding this quandry.

[What'saCobra?]

Good question.

Unfortunately, only a fusion/fission/positron anihilation heat source will provide enough cheap & clean electricity for the hydrogen cycle to work efficiently, particularly in fuel cells, which require particularly clean hydrogen.

As much as i appreciate W's courage and plain common sense about many things, he is not yet about to give his oil pals and father's oil pals and the Saudis the heebee-jeebees about replacing our oil economy big time and soon.

But sooner or later we need to tell the arabs to go pound that sand...

[mj_duell]

Originally Posted by 4pipes

Ask your wife if the energy required to produce the hydrogen is a justifiable amount, given that hydrocarbons were probably burned to generate the electricity to separate the hydrogen gases. Some kind of ratio would be helpful to understanding this quandry.

She was right next to me when I got the email notification for this post. She works on the fuel cell membrane research not hydrogen production, however this is her answer:

Hydrogen is the most abundant gas in nature and has many sources. Burning hydrocarbons such as natural gas or coal to produce hydrogen is only one source. She does not know the ratio off hand. Hydrogen is also a byproduct of some manufacturing processes in certain industries today and could be harnessed as fuel instead of waste. Solar energy and Nuclear energy can also be used to produce the gas. There are also many other viable sources. Basically, no country that had a hydrogen infrastructer for fuel cell cars would need to import hydrogen, especially the U.S..

She suggests this web site: www.hydrogen.gov



--Mike & Sue / Turn Ten Racing, Inc.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by mj_duell

Hydrogen is the most abundant gas in nature and has many sources.
--Mike & Sue / Turn Ten Racing, Inc.

Titanium is actually one of the most abundant minerals on (in the) earth, so why is it so expensive?

[neverwouldof]

Titanium is very hard to cast at high quality standards and must have very tight tolerance's on temp control during the process. I use to deal with Titanium foundries in China and only certain foundries could handle the tolerance's. So that is why it is pricey! Certain Aluminum alloys aren't so cheap either. I have a titanium bike which is indestructible, i bet a titanium cobra would be sweet!
Keith

[greg schroeder]

The car is cool and all, but 0 - 60 on full charge? How often is the car at full charge? One 1/4 mile pass and you can't repeat the result until you charge up again.