News on hybrid vehicles, fuel cell cars, and the future of automobiles

I know watts are a measure of work being done. How much wattage is required to move a 3000 lb automobile from a stop to 60 miles per hour. I’d like to know how to calculate this myself, so please show the formula you’d use to come up with the answer. I’m curious to know how significant a 250W solar collector on the roof of my hybrid car would be.

use
Kinetic Energy
KE = ½mV²

3000 lb = 1361 kg
60 mph = 26.8 m/s
KE = ½mV²
plug in the numbers to get the Kinetic energy.
KE = 489534 Joules

to get the power (wattage), you need a time. If it accelerates to 60 in 10 seconds
power = KE/10 in watts. = 489534/10 = 48953 watts.

If average car uses 100 HP, that is 74600 watts.

.

What are some Automobile companies that have cars out presently that are hybrid, or gas free?

or coming out sometime in the future?

The Chevrolet Volt coming out in 2010. This is an electrically driven vehicle.
It can be driven about 40 miles without starting the engine. To be driven further it has an on-board flex fuel engine that runs a generator. This can either provide electricity to the electric motors that propel the car or it can recharge the batteries.

It is a given fact that gasoline purchases by Americans results in direct revenue and weapons for islamic terrorists in the middle east who kill our troops and devise attacks on our country. This includes any sale of international oil from any other country because that is what drives up the prices for the terrorist-countries, including Iran, from whom we do not directly purchase oil. We know that by improving miles-per-gallon on average a few points, we would be free of non-domestic oil. Now, it is true that many people truly need large suv’s, or trucks, because of a business, for example land-scaping, or because they have 5 or 6 children, etc. But we all see the millions of suv’s, trucks, and sports cars that are simply used to drive back and forth from office jobs and the store, etc, a function that could easily be done with a hybrid-electric automobile (as I do with mine). So, do these people, truly just have a selfish lust and don’t give a damn about our troops and country?

Fact? No.

How come we have not heard what a great job our (all auto makers) have done in creating respectable gas mileage in our automobiles?
What is the push to the "HYBRID?"
I currently own 3 cars of which are all V-8 powered and range from 400 horsepower plus.
My oldest from 1990 which get a respectable 17 city and 24 to 27 highway and has the most horsepower. This car also has no catalytic converters on it AND it passes the sniffer test…just in case you are not familiar, it passes emissions.
And just to help answer the question I did own a 2000 Cadillac Escalade of which I sold because of the gasmileagee. It only did about 12 mpg…But look where we have come now. I am getting ready to go out and purchase a new Escalade and maybe a new CTS-V. I am not sure if I am going to pay for them after the first payment because Obama will bail me out.
But still 5 cars that will get great gas mileage. How can you complain?
My fear from people I have talked to is where are the batteries going when they don’t hold a charge anymore? And why don’t we know what that will cost? Batteries are expensive! Has anyone changed one lately? I have from having my cars sit, can’t drive them all at once!
So what is the point of emissions?
Does it really work?
I can say from experience NO!
Oh and where is the power goingn to come from when the car gets plugged into the home to be recharged?

Current generation hybrids do not need to be "recharged".
Very few hybrids have needed battery replacement during useful life, including in hard-driven taxis in winter cities like Toronto and Winnipeg. They also have minimu 100,000 mile warrrantee.
27 mpg (maximum) is not good mileage when gas prices hit $3 or $4 per US gallon, and they will get back to that range some day. At those prices, 17 mpg is atrocious. I know people with work trucks that get better than that. Compared to the next generation Prius, which will attain 50 mpg, it is pretty bad.
Batteries pulled from hybrids will be returned by the dealers for recycling. That is all part of the plan in place.
I repeat, the present generation of hybrids do not get plugged in, they are recharged by the engine, and regenerative braking.

When the plug-in hybrids hit the market in earnest, they too will have a complete recycling programme in place. Combining the average gasoline usage with the cost of recharging the battery, the average outlay will be similar to the cost of getting close to 100 mpg out of a straight gasoline engine. Remember, at least part of the recharge can come from solar cells during the day. Those are being improved as time goes on as well.

How come we have not heard what a great job our (all auto makers) have done in creating respectable gas mileage in our automobiles?
What is the push to the "HYBRID?"
I currently own 3 cars of which are all V-8 powered and range from 400 horsepower plus.
My oldest from 1990 which get a respectable 17 city and 24 to 27 highway and has the most horsepower. This car also has no catalytic converters on it AND it passes the sniffer test…just in case you are not familiar, it passes emissions.
And just to help answer the question I did own a 2000 Cadillac Escalade of which I sold because of the gasmileagee. It only did about 12 mpg…But look where we have come now. I am getting ready to go out and purchase a new Escalade and maybe a new CTS-V. I am not sure if I am going to pay for them after the first payment because Obama will bail me out.
But still 5 cars that will get great gas mileage. How can you complain?
My fear from people I have talked to is where are the batteries going when they don’t hold a charge anymore? And why don’t we know what that will cost? Batteries are expensive! Has anyone changed one lately? I have from having my cars sit, can’t drive them all at once!
So what is the point of emissions?
Does it really work?
I can say from experience NO!
Oh and where is the power goingn to come from when the car gets plugged into the home to be recharged?

Current generation hybrids do not need to be "recharged".
Very few hybrids have needed battery replacement during useful life, including in hard-driven taxis in winter cities like Toronto and Winnipeg. They also have minimu 100,000 mile warrrantee.
27 mpg (maximum) is not good mileage when gas prices hit $3 or $4 per US gallon, and they will get back to that range some day. At those prices, 17 mpg is atrocious. I know people with work trucks that get better than that. Compared to the next generation Prius, which will attain 50 mpg, it is pretty bad.
Batteries pulled from hybrids will be returned by the dealers for recycling. That is all part of the plan in place.
I repeat, the present generation of hybrids do not get plugged in, they are recharged by the engine, and regenerative braking.

When the plug-in hybrids hit the market in earnest, they too will have a complete recycling programme in place. Combining the average gasoline usage with the cost of recharging the battery, the average outlay will be similar to the cost of getting close to 100 mpg out of a straight gasoline engine. Remember, at least part of the recharge can come from solar cells during the day. Those are being improved as time goes on as well.

The terrorists and and the destruction of our environment are separate problems, but both fueled by our use of gasoline automobiles. Both problems are destroying our civilization and we are stubidly feeding the frenzy every time we fill up. Why don’t we NOT fund the terrorist countries and NOT ruin the environment, by just pulling out the troops and using the billions of dollars to subsidize electric and hybrid electric automobiles for Americans. Without oil money the middle east will have to build industries and become civilized in order to survive, instead of just buying terror weopons. And best of all, our grandchildren will be able to breathe and be alive and peaceful. And the effort to achieve these goals can be done with the "war" budget already in place. Can anyone tell me WHY NOT??

That’s a great idea, good luck with destroying the arms and oil industries together though …

It would not how ever solve the terrorism issue I’m afraid… They want to destroy the US, period, electric cars or not….

TV commercial promoting Lexus’ milestone achievement.

Duration : 0:0:47

(more…)

projections from the automobile and energy industry?

my honest impression is this:
electric cars are taking off with innovations in batteries we are getting better and better cars. There is a hybrid sports car that goes abot 200 miles on a charge and does 0-60 in 4 sec.

I think if hybrids continue to increase we will have lower gas prices and an increasing demand for better more fuel efficient cars.

In other words, the government would levy a tariff on foreign cars that use gas (petroleum-based) except maybe hybrids. This would give a boost to the American auto-industry if Americans continue to demand their SUV’s. If the demand for SUV’s is low and we switch to cleaner cars, then that’s great for the environment… and those auto-makers who put out cleaner cars! What am I overlooking here?

Why give a boost to the American auto industry if they put out an inferior product? Wouldn’t you be hurting the consumer by (1) making him pay more for a superior car or (2) forcing him to buy a piece of junk? If the American auto industry wants to stay competitive, they should develop a profit model that does not revolve around attrition.

If you care about the environment, all SUVs should be taxed at a higher rate, foreign and domestic, and all hybrids should be given a tax subsidy. Or better yet, tax all gasoline, which is easier to implement, and SUV owners would feel a greater impact because their cars get lower gas mileage.