Hydrogen fuel cell, electric, hybrid, diesel, or other?

Question

Which of these high mpg vehicles do you recommend.

I feel I missed some, so metion others if you wish.

Answer 1

Battery-electric, with some solar panels to trickle-charge the batteries.

Answer 2

Neither, give me a chevy anyday...

Answer 3

compressed air:

top speed of 70mph

$3 to fill up w/air

125 miles on a full tank

zero pollution (even the generator to compress the air runs on compressed air)

Answer 4

Hydrogen, Icelanders are the masters of the Hydrogen fuel cell. Áfram Ísland! :)

Answer 5

Colin

Honda has just released their first Hydrogen car (FCX Clarity).

http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity...

"The FCX Clarity is a next-generation, zero-emissions, hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle based on the entirely-new Honda V Flow fuel cell platform, and powered by the highly compact, efficient and powerful Honda V Flow fuel cell stack."

http://world.honda.com/news/2007/4071114...

It definitely has potential for "future car technology". In fact Honda just gave the first Individual Customer from Las Angeles a 2 year lease on the FCX.

http://world.honda.com/news/2005/4050629...

I built my first hydrogen cell about 5 years ago and now currently run 2 trucks, my home hot water heater, home stove and home generator on hydrogen (no ones contacted me yet) and offer a step by step DIY guide to walk anyone interested threw the process. You can find it at www agua-luna com or you can email me.

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at  www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World... Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY... All With Just One Click of A Mouse...For more info Visit:  

www AGUA-LUNA com

Stop Global Warming, Receive a FREE Solar Panels Now!!!

Answer 6

Diesel, YZT is wrong when he state “diesel produces less energy” diesel has more energy potential the gasoline, are more fuel efficient then gasoline. I’m sure he gets that impression because they tend to put very small diesel engines in cars.

For most people a diesel engine works great, that gets as good if not better fuel mileage then the hybrids. So I’d go diesel.

Answer 7

Diesel isn't the answer, yes they use less fuel but they put far more particles (polution) into the air more than any other fuel.

A British study of people walking on oxford street (used because it has mainly diesel vehicle using it) found a number of health issues with the fine particles emitted.

Electric and Hydrogen are the way to go, another possibilty is simply compressed air, this has been used in warehouse vehicles for years and several companies have plans for cars cabable of 200km range

Answer 8

that depends on the usage by the individual.

personally, i feel that we can use a combination of those to suit different needs.

ok, by ignoring cost of each type of fuels,



hydrogen fuel: slightly environment friendly, but the risk of explosion during refueling and the magnitude of explosion in accidentsmakes it a low level choice.

electric: ok, but production of electricity needs fuel for most nations, so i think this is almost same to the current situation. also, electric cars can only travel a max of about 150 km in a fully charged batt, that is not very much strictly speaking, so needs very frequent charging, and the time taken for charging? definetely more when compared to the current petrol stations (full tank of a few hundred km worth in 15 mins) so not very user friendly if you travel long distances

hybrid: seems  ok, using electricity in short trips and switch to petrol in long ones. but that would mean two diff parts in one car, that would add weight and size, thus might have to sacrifice the trunks section? generally, seems the best choice at the moment.

diesel: almost same as current petrol, just that diesel cost less, but litre by litre, diesel produces less energy, so might use more volume of diesel than petrol for same trip. also an ok choice.

other: there are few others here, the one plausible ius solar cars, but very low efficiency, cant use it at night, and needs such amounts of solar cells that current cars of this tech allows only one person per car. so, not suitable for ppl traveling at high speeds, long distances, and carry more than one person.

my final choice, i prefer to get the hybrid.

Answer 9

The best choice is, of course, a bicycle, and, occasionally, a community car share network.

However, if you absolutely cannot rearrange your life to create this as a possibility, then a VERY fuel efficient regular gasoline car driven only when needed is likely the best choice for your own health and the health of the environment (your bank account will benefit too, due to initial costs, fuel costs, and insurance premiums).  Even better would be choosing one that was built close to where you will be purchasing it (no half-way-around-the-world shipping energy used).

For example:

Toyota Yaris, Corolla, or Matrix; (also Celica, or Echo)

Scion xA

Honda Fit, or Civic

Nissan Versa, or Sentra

Hyundai Accent, or Elantra

Mini, or Mini Clubman

Mazda 3, or 3 Sport

Acura CSX; (also RSX, base engine)

Ford Focus

Dodge Caliber (1.8L engine, manual trans.)

Lexus LX570 (just seeing if you were paying attention)

Some hybrids (i.e., efficient ones) are pretty good too, but certainly more energy goes into producing them then a regular car (e.g., batteries, electric motors, extra drivetrain components, etc.).  Is this difference recuperated in the long run?  It's difficult to say for sure.

As an example, check out http://cnwmr.com/nss-folder/automotiveen...

A health concern of hybrids, fuel cell vehicles, and electric vehicles is that they all expose vehicle occupants to rather strong electromagnetic fields (high voltage at a very close distance).  This may or may not have negative health implications over a long period of vehicle use (long-term health study of hybrid-driving taxi drivers anyone?).

Fuel cell vehicles, 'ideally,' will use water to get hydrogen from, with only water coming out the tailpipe (after the hydrogen recombines with oxygen from the air).  The powerful countries of the world already have a difficult time getting along over oil,  and now we're thinking of asking them to try to get along over WATER!  An ACTUAL life necessity (not just a human-created 'necessity,' like oil)!  Yikes! ...

Biofuels are, for MANY reasons, a definite no-go on their own.  However, mixed with petroleum fuels they have some benefits (cleaner exhaust), and this will also allow the supply of petroleum to end later than it otherwise would.

Diesels just stink.  It takes more energy to produce diesel fuel than it does to produce gasoline.  And the particulates from diesel exhaust can become permanently lodged in your lungs - not good ...

Good luck.

Answer 10

hydrogen, we need more fresh water

Answer 11

buy fully electric. they are quiet, price is reasonable and youll be envyed among family and friends being futuristic.

here are some basic electric vehicles. plenty of others on market, just have to seek them at internet. they dont have marketing budget of a GM or Toyota..

www.trike.com

www.aptera.com

www.think.no