What factors might detract from creating cars with higher fuel efficiency or cars that use alternative energy?

Question

What factors might detract from creating cars with higher fuel efficiency or cars that use alternative energy sources?

Answer 1

Cost.  The best 3 technologies we have to reduce fuel consumption are:

1 - Idle off and brake regeneration technology (hybrids)

2 - Ultralight weight materials - aluminum, fiberglass, thermoplastics, magnesium, carbon fiber and titanium.  

($, $$, $$$, $$$$ and more $$$$$)

3 - Clean diesel technology, that uses urea injection and particulate traps to control emissions, as well as the extra cost of the engine itself which is built twice as strong to handle higher compression ratios.  Also most diesels come with a turbocharger, which if you look on ebay, sell for $5,000.  So OEM car manufacturers probably pay less than $1800, but thats still $1800.

So there you go the factor that is detracting from making cars with higher fuel efficiency is cost.  But as time goes on, and more and more people buy fuel efficient cars, the cost of the technology comes down.

Answer 2

big oil

Answer 3

price.

and just because the car has higher fuel efficency doesn't mean it used less fuel to make and is less enviromentally friendly.

Answer 4

Production costs making the vehicles too expensive to sell.

That's the problem with Hybrids now.

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Weight of the battery system compared to the power of the motor system giving unacceptable performance.

Cost of the batteries.

Those are the problems with pure electric cars now.

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As technology advances, the hybrids will get less expensive and more efficient... and the all-electrics will be able to have higher power storage with stronger motors.

Eventually we might see practical long distance high speed all-electric vehicles.

The solar power race (which may or may not still be held... I haven't paid attention since 1997) proved that solar power CAN eventually be practical if we can get more efficient solar panels.  

Technology will be the cure to dependence on oil/coal based energy.  When the alternative technologies are efficient enough and cheap enough... Exxon won't be able to sell gasoline.