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The future of automobiles leaves some green with envy

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Tuesday, September 1. 2009
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It's a diesel, hybrid, a plug-in, a three-cylinder - and a tour de force, perhaps?

BMW's Vision EfficientDynamics concept has been the subject of rumor and innuendo for weeks, but now the German car company is setting the stage for its 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show display with new details of its concept.

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#1 Enoc Siuol on 09/01/09 at 11:44 AM
I would love to own a hybrid car but from what I have seen the numbers (expense) don’t add up to where it’s practical. They are more expensive than a conventional car that can already get great MPG (like the Toyota Corolla). The cost of the major servicing required at 100 thousand plus miles also has to be factored in. If you drive far more highway miles than city miles, like I do, does it get that much more MPG that will offsets the higher cost to own. How much more is it to insure a hybrid and to repair if in an accident? I would think more.
#2 Sheila Tolley on 09/01/09 at 01:00 PM
It should reduce DUI charges. I would definitely need to be sober to find or open the door.
#3 psycho on 09/01/09 at 03:31 PM
Well fist of all this is a concept car. It will not look like this when put in mass production, but the technology will most likely stay. I'm all for a more powerful electric car, not to be green or anything. I just like the idea of a fast quiet car. I never got the concept of a fast car must be loud and drink a lot of gas.
#4 GM on 09/01/09 at 04:34 PM
Electric cars are like any electronics. Wait 6 months and it will be obsolete. Batteries? Give me a break! Technology is available for far greater advanced power sources. Pending breakthroughs in storage of fuel capable of withstanding accidents is all that is keeping some out of production. If people believe that battery powered vehicles are the only spin-offs from the advanced technology of today then they should pull their head out of the sand. As technology advances, the speed which the advances are made increases. Dreams of a science fiction type future will be reality in just a few years if we don’t destroy ourselves or witness the arrival of Armageddon.
#5 GM on 09/01/09 at 04:36 PM
Nice reply. Best one yet!
#6 Paul on 09/02/09 at 08:37 AM
Most fast cars are loud due to simple physics. The more power it makes, the more violent the explosion in the cylinder. Mufflers can quiet this noise down only so much. Poor fuel mileage used to be 'par for the course' in fast cars, but fuel injection and advanced ignition control has changed all that. Look at the new Vette (600+ hp), or the new Shelby (540 hp). I don't have the MPG figures on hand, but I can bet you that they are a far cry from what the old 60's musclecars used to get, and they're faster. And yes, they're more expensive.

Yes, I like fast cars. Even an electric car can be fast. Throw 340 volts at one and see what happens! The real problem with electric cars lie in battery technology. GM even admitted as much when they designed the Chevy Volt (not released yet), as they designed the car before the lithium ion batteries it is to take has not be perfected as of yet. Hopefully they will get it all sorted out soon.
#7 Tom Rauch on 09/04/09 at 09:48 PM
One horsepower is about 745.7 watts.

The average house uses around 5 kilowatts of average power, depending greatly on how it is heated or cooled.

Now imagine our power grid, a grid that barely keeps up with homes and factories (do we have any left?), when a bunch of twenty horsepower cars that have 50% charging efficiency are charging 8 hours a day.

A 300 horsepower car would need 224 kilowatts of power if it was 100% efficient, which it will not be close. That would be enough to run 45 houses, so we would all have to drive a whole lot slower and a whole lot less time or continue to burn petrol.

If we built efficient vehicles and taxed the hell out of fuel 40 years ago, it would be a different world today. In the 70's I was part of a group calling for a $4 per gallon gasoline tax. Since we waited until we are almost out of easy oil, changing will make very little difference. We are out of easy oil (we have about two years worth at most), and the Arab's have us by the you-know-what.

I want to have a tea party, to raise the tax on oil.

Tom
#8 grandma on 09/04/09 at 11:15 PM
I'd have to be limber enough to get into the thing-and very sober-would also need pain meds for my lower back
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