New engine shakes up auto industry

greenman7

A new engine has no radiator, no pistons, no valves, no transmission, and no fluids, other than the fuel).The engine is only suited for hybrid-electric vehicles. The efficiency they are claiming: is over 3x what today's petrol engines produce. The developers, a team at Michigan State University, hope to have this engine on the market in the next two/three years.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42460541/ns ... nnovation/

knightstyle

April 1st ???????

property.advert

It will all be obsolete anyway with this Vauxhall type thing where the fuel powers the generator when the battery has died giving hundreds of mpg and a plug in and play overnight.

http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vehicles/future-models-and-concepts/ampera/index.html

anotherbaldrick

Over 60 years ago we were building a research laboratory at Basingstoke to develop and produce the revolutionary "Fuel Cell"in which hydrogen is fed into a battery and this directly generates electricity to drive a car. Still waiting for them to appear.

anotherbaldrick

property.advert wrote: »

It will all be obsolete anyway with this Vauxhall type thing where the fuel powers the generator when the battery has died giving hundreds of mpg and a plug in and play overnight.

http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vehicles/future-models-and-concepts/ampera/index.html

£33,995 (less subsidy)= £28,995

reeac

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Over 60 years ago we were building a research laboratory at Basingstoke to develop and produce the revolutionary "Fuel Cell"in which hydrogen is fed into a battery and this directly generates electricity to drive a car. Still waiting for them to appear.

Wasn't that in the mid to late 1960s and so less than 50 years ago? Sorry, I'm quibbling.

SailorSam

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

£33,995 (less subsidy)= £28,995

Even at that price it may well be worth buying,
If you're using a gallon of petrol a day to go to work and shopping, lets say £150 pw, and the batteries on the Vauxhall could be recharged for pennies.
How long will it take for your new car to pay for itself ?
The savings i'd make and the annual mileage i do it would probably take about 100yrs, but could be a serious idea for others.

cyclonebri1

Still amazes me that 100 years on we are still sticking with piston engines, few other designs have lasted that long. It can only be the availability of fuel, ie, oil, that has extended this, but not for much longer. At least if something else comes along, we/they might just be able to keep our fingers out of the middle east pie.;)

dannymccann

While there is still huge profits to be made from the extraction and production of fossil fuels, the oil companies will continue to buy up all the possible alternatives to their old technologies and shelf them to stop them losing their market share overnight

anotherbaldrick

Why did this not catch on ? even has beneficial emissions (providing you grow rhubarb).

SailorSam

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Why did this not catch on ? even has beneficial emissions (providing you grow rhubarb).

I tried using one of those for a while but one of my neighbours blew me up to the Council, they had a no pets policy.
And the horse was doing no harm, he wasn't disturbing anyone. We kept him in the bathroom.
When the inspector came out he said it wasn't quite right, something to do with the fact we live in a 6th floor flat.