Hybrid Brown

[Win2Win]

Gordon 'kiss my :butthead:' Brown has just been going on that we must push forward with hybrid cars! This is the same prat that said we should push forward with biofuels.....and destroy the raiinforests.....peat bogs.....etc...to do so :splapme

Hybrids.....matey....if you read the reviews on them, read the science mags, even do something as simple as watch Top Gear, you will see that NORMAL diesel engines outperform them.

A hybrid is only any use if you are doing around 20mph or less stop starting. If I was to buy one, then I'd get zero benefit, as my average speed is 50mph, with very little stopping (unless a sheep jumps out!!).

Top Gear done a test, and the hybrid lost against the normal car by a distance.

[Mavrick]

I wouldn't count on it Keith. When the Chevy Volt (which is a serial hybrid) finally comes out 2010 it will sell like hot potatos. Plug-in hybrids are the future, without a doubt.

[Win2Win]

We already have Diesel's in development that do over 100mpg, one company in California has manged 120mpg, and reckon in 2-3 years they can hit 150mpg.

Production of 100mpg diesel's is not that far off, although you won't be able to get a Jaguar version for Mr Brown :)

The problem with the Chevy is that they have designed it to run on biofuel.....oops!!! And again, if you are going long distances (more than 40 miles) you'll be using fuel anyway.

[Mavrick]

The problem with the Chevy is that they have designed it to run on biofuel.....oops!!! And again, if you are going long distances (more than 40 miles) you'll be using fuel anyway.

They can run on anything as a biodiesel generator is just a diesel engine and an ethanol generator is just a petrol engine.

It might only have a 40 mile all electric mode but, 90%+ of trips are under that anyway so the oil saved would be huge, and if you drove further then you would get a combined milage like 150MPG equivalent for like a 100 mile trip.

What a company can do in the lab and what actually gets massed produced is two different things. I would bet every penny that I had that we won't see a commercial vehicle with 120MPG+ in the next 15 years. It's just not possible unless it's lighter than a Smart.

[Win2Win]

Numerous bits of science have already been tested at 100mpg, a few examples:
http://www.smartplanet.com/news/transport/10000515/ecomotors-promises-100-mpg-engine.htm
http://www.hugg.com/node/7556
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/02/loremo_ag_157_m.php

[Mavrick]

Cheers for the links. I'll give them a once over when I get a few minutes.

[Win2Win]

We probably won't switch to all electric for at least 50 years, as we have enough oil to get us past the end of the century, even at present growth levels.

Shouldn't be long before the 500mpg motorbike appears :yikes: