What is happning to the powerful cars!!!?

Question

I had raed an article that explains that in the future hydrogen cars will take over gasoline or other fuels on cars. IF that happens cars will be very slow and have no acceleration. Hydrogen cars have 100 hp and go 0-60 in 16 seconds. Racing and fun with cars will not exist. Why cant they just make bio diesel and ethonal. Both fuels dont pollute the envirement and have the same power of gasoline and diesel. Cars of the future will suck if hydrogen cars will take over all these fuels. Also i found out that the manual transmission will be obsolete when this type of car comes out. The fun of driving will be gone. Why will this happen or will it happen?

Answer 1

There is a car built by GM that runs on hydrogen.It goes like a bat out of h**l.The prototype is allready here.The only things thier working on is safety.The emissions are harmless.You are thinking of natural gas powered vehicles.

Answer 2

You could build a racing electric to do what you describe right now--if you wanted to spend the money to develop it.

I have no doubt that eventually someone will--and there will probably always be  a limited number of gas-powered vehicles built.

But think about this--for the kind of driving most people do most of the time--commuting, going to the store,e tc--that kind of power and acceleration simply isn't needed.  

But--FYI--here's where the production-line (not specialty) electric technology is TODAY:

The new "Tessla" electric is a two-seater convertable sports car that looks a bit like an Austin Martin.  It goes 0-60 in 4.0 seconds--with a top speed of 130 mph (210 kph).  IRange is 200 miles and takes 3-1/2 hours for a full recharge. t is going into production with the first deliverises scheduled for 2008.  Price is $92,000.  The company is also developing a smaller electric for urban travel and a family size sedan--don't have any specs because they've got the details under wraps.

Don't jump on the range limits--or price.  Innovative technologies are always pricey at first--and this is intended to be a high-end prestige vehicle.  Technological innovation and growing volume always bring prices down and improve performance over time.

Answer 3

There's so much misinformation in this question.  Let me pick the most glaring, for an example.

"Electric cars might have speed but, they have no torque to pull things"

Electric cars have far better torque characteristics than gasoline engines.  A gasoline engine needs a multispeed gearbox to keep it running in a reasonable part of its' torque curve.  An electric car needs no multispeed gears, since it develops torque starting at zero rpm.

The reason electric cars have lower top speeds is that a lower horsepower electric gives the same acceleration as a higher horsepower gasoline motor, because of the electric motors better torque.

Biodiesel and ethanol are better for pollution than gasoline, but not that much.  In the future, electric and/or fuel cell cars will be the way to go, powered by energy basically from nuclear power plants.

I'm a serious motorsports enthusiast.  When electric/fuel cell cars become widespread as passenger cars, people will be racing them.  The idea of racing gasoline powered cars will then be as silly as the idea of racing steam powered cars (they used to do that) is now.

Answer 4

Your pretty close when it comes to the American cars but the European versions have set speed records (BMW) and are much more performance / mileage oriented.

American cars are effectively 10 plus years behind their European counterparts.

If you want true innovation, performance and mileage you need to look to Europe.

Answer 5

First of all, I don't know where you heard that hydrogen vehicles will be significantly slower than current cars. Both Honda and GM have fuel-cell vehicles that reach 0-60 in about 10 seconds, which isn't lightning quick, but is comparable to other petrol-powered cars. Not to mention the fact that hydrogen cars are also electrically powered, and electric motors make all of their torque starting at 0 rpm, so take-off will be brisk.

Racing cars will likely continue to be powered by gas for quite some time, until fuel-cell technology advances to the point where it equals current race car performance. And as much as current methods of producing of hydrogen may not be completely clean, and bio-diesel and ethanol may be cleaner-burning than gasoline, they are by no means clean fuels. Both produce CO2, albeit in smaller quantities, and both require a diversion of food-stocks to fuel production, which many contend is an unwise use of resources.

Manuals are indeed slowly being phased out, but that is primarily due, in this country at least, to lack of consumer demand. But if you are worried about driving not being fun, you should know that manuals are slowly being replaced by semi-automated manual transmissions. Check out VW's DSG for an excellent example. Also, seeing as most of the components of a hydrogen-powered car are mounted in the floor of the vehicle, the handling and balance should be significantly better than that of many gas-powered cars.

Answer 6

Take a look at the IndyCar Series Cars.  They are Honda V8's 650 HP that burn 100% pure Ethanol.  An IndyCar can reach speeds of 240 mph and frequently race in the 200 to 220 mph range.

Answer 7

The problem with biofuels is that to grow the crops you need to make biodiesel or ethanol, you're taking away land that could be used to grow food crops.  This then raises the price of food.  Ethanol is also a very small improvement over gasoline in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.  Plus there's simply not enough agricultural land to grow the crops to supply a significant percentage of biofuel for cars.  In the UK for example, if they used all their agricultural land to grow crops for biofuels they could still only power 20% of their cars that way.

You don't have to worry about hydrogen though.  We don't have the technology for hydrogen fueled cars, and it won't be mass produced for probably another 20 years, if then.

The solution is going to be plug-in hybrid cars and electric cars.  Electric cars will solve your problem - just look at the Tesla Roadster:

http://www.teslamotors.com/

0 to 60 in 4 seconds, top speed of over 130 mph, range of over 200 miles

http://www.teslamotors.com/performance/p...

Or the ZAP-X Crossover which will be coming out next year:

http://zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=456...

0 to 60 in 4.8 seconds, 155 mph top speed, 644 horsepower, 350 mile range.

The fun of driving will be gone?  I think not.

Answer 8

i was watching history channel the other day and there was a bio diesel car that got 100mpg but was still fast, dont remember how fast but it was unbelievable fast for a biodiesel, i do dread the day of no more fuel cars, just because i know so much on how fuel works with cars, its like starting from scratch with my engine knowledge, there will eventually be powerful yet environmental friendly cars, but until that day, i want gasoline cars in the market

also to all those people who hate on hummers, the hybrid cars are just as deadly, the production and transportation of the batteries harm the environment with radiation, the world is going to end no matter what we do, the world goes into stages, from ice age, to heat, ice age , heat and so on and so on, we cant do anything to stop what already has begun, the fate of earth is not in our hands

Answer 9

Hydrogen is a much higher performance fuel than gasoline when used in an internal combustion engine (not fuel cells). It's burn speed is 10 times as fast as gas. So, if your engine will hold up, you can run at 10 times as many rpms as gasoline.

With gasoline, you must allow a certain amount of time for the gasoline to ignite. It is a very very small amount of time, but in the future, gasoline cars will run at the highest rpms possible and gasoline's burn speed will limit the performance of the engines.

Take a look at BMW's H2R, a hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) car.

Answer 10

I think you're referring to the Tesla roadster, that can beat a Ferrari.  But as to racing fun, there will have to be division, just like now - how many drag/top fuel cars do you see on the highway?  It will be a sport event, like skeet shooting, where the gun people love it and the others try to make laws outlawing it.  

What I want is no dependance on either foreign OR domestic fuel of any sort.  I want to recharge my own stuff at my house with no grid at all - solar or wind CAN do that, but cost a bunch.  That is what needs to change.  I HAVE a muscle car, but realize it's part of history, not the future.  That doesn't mean sell it, it means that TRUE driving enthusiasts, (a small minority of people) should keep what they have, and develop their art.  The typical person has no need for that.  

If you want to race, go register and race.  I'm all for it, and would take my baby boy to see you, and if he wants to do that, I have a car ready for him.  Otherwise, we need to unplug from everything so we can stop throwing our money at large groups of jerky people that don't believe in educating women, like the terrorists.

I plan to have an electric only car as soon as I can afford it and the technology meets my needs.  I refuse to support the big auto industry, which tries to tell me what I want and make me spend too much for it.

Answer 11

There is a lot of mis-information put out by the fossil fuel motor industry & media.

0-60 in in 1.04 seconds, 45 feet, 155mph at 1/4 mile sporty enough for you? please watch the video if you're not convinced!!http://electricandhybridcars.com/index.p...

Basically electric motors give far far more torque, right through the rev band, than infernal combustion. That is why locomotives use them. That is why the first car to exceed 100mph was electric http://www.speedace.info

Hydrogen is used in fuel-cells to provide electric (it is simply an inefficient way of storing electric used to electrolise it from water) Modern Li-ion batteries give a range of 100s miles, even for a 5 seater pick-up, and can be recharged in 10 minutes, http://phoenixmotorcars.com

the only things electric cars lack are the noise, the complicated whining & clanking, high maintenance, having to visit a filling station & the smell. Why was the GM EV1 in such demand? and why did GM demand them back from very happy owners just to CRUSH them? http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com

please try a real ev before you make up your mind, not the toys the oil/detroit global car makers want to foist on you.

Answer 12

Electric cars, and more specifically electric motors, have a very high torque so they are able to accelerate very quickly, but you would still need the transmission in order to gain a high speed.

And yes, biodiesel and ethanol both DO pollute the environment, just not as much.  Also, you have to consider the manufactureing costs of making those fuels.  Does that process pollute the environment at a low enough level to make producing the fuel any more environmentally friendly than gasoline?  Also, E-85 (85% ethanol 15% gas) has about a 75% effectiveness compared to gasoline, so even with the cheaper cost, you're really getting the same result.  You have to buy more gas to get the same distance, and the environmental benefits arent that great of an improvement.

I have not heard that yet about the H2 cars being so slow.  That is still a long way off though, and many breakthroughs will happen by then.  Do you really think that they will make cars that people wont want to buy, even IF the gov't mandates them?  People will just improve their own cars, instead of having to buy new.

Answer 13

In brazil they have cars that run on achohal.

Answer 14

Greener Automobiles+Alternative Fuels/Energy:

http://green.yahoo.com/index.php?q=node/...

http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/gettin...

http://www.schnews.org.uk/diyguide/howto...

http://www.bnl.gov/rideshare/reduction.a...

http://www.puregreencars.com/

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconom...

http://www.store.sundancesolar.com/

http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/...

http://www.evuk.co.uk/

http://electric-cars-trucks.blogspot.com...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEq-GbVcF...

I have lots of info that I think you will find quite helpful and enlightening:

http://ecowellness.multiply.com/   for excellent environmental info, amazing environmental pictures and videos (These videos show the beauty of this world and what life can be like if people take the time to appreciate life’s true beauty) plus tons of inspirational info to help not only our world and its creatures, but to also open peoples hearts and minds to many amazing wonders that life has to offer.  I also have lots of info in my blog to help fuel peoples imaginations to many possibilities that can be found only in the minds eye.

Let us all strive for a greener/brighter future by helping to create a solid foundation for future generations to build upon, so we can hand them a beautiful world, filled with never ending awe and wonders!!

Where peoples differences and uniqueness are accepted, where we all live as one, helping one another so that we can all play our own mysteriously beautiful melodies in the never ending, awe inspiring, song of life :-)

I truly have faith in humanity and believe that someday our lives and the world in which we live will truly be transformed for the better.

Answer 15

Yet another question from someone that doesn't have the basic knowledge of alternative fuels.

Ethanol does NOT release the same amount of BTU's as gasoline.  Hence the reason it's at least 20% less efficient than gasoline.  It actually takes more energy to produce ethanol than ethanol releases.

If you put nothing but ethanol autos in a city such as NY or LA you likely wouldn't be able to breath the air.  The fumes would make your eyes water, burn your lungs etc......The long term effects of ethanol on the environment is not know since there is not enough data.

So educate yourself on the facts before making statements you assume are true.

Answer 16

hahahaha lol you so funny you make me feel sorry for the future!

Answer 17

id say just wait this is a new way of thinking for auto makers when gas powered cars first started they only went 5-10 mph and look at them today! so it is just a matter of a better or more efficient design!