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

Since hybrid car technology exists, I wondered about the availability of hybrid home heating systems. It seems to me that this might be a viable option for homes in areas that have cold winters and rainy spring and/or fall seasons.

There is a system called a Dual Fuel system. This is a heatpump and a gas unit in one. Once the temperature gets too cool for the heat pump side, the gas kicks in.

What is the new hybrid car and how does it work?

The main breaking technology for the future of Automotives is the Hydrogen-Powered car. While its not considered a hybrid, it causes absolutely no pollution, and the only byproduct is water. Hydrogen is everywhere, and makes up for most of the elements in the universe (as far as we know). It is very inexpensive to produce Hydrogen, and you can even do it in your own home if you have the equipment. The car is not dependent on oil at all, which eliminates any dependence on Middle-Eastern or Alaskan reserves.

The car is available to buy, and currently is in production. Unfortunately, it is not practical because Hydrogen ‘fuel stations’ exist in around seven states, and only one or two per state. But they are productive, and more car manufacturers are building models based on this technology. One of them is the BMW H2R, a racecar that has set record speeds on the racetrack.

Now, for actual hybrids, I’ve never heard of one that ran on water. I’m only familiar with the gasonline-electric hybrids. Hybrids contain two motors, one gasoline, one electric. The gasoline engine is build smaller and uses current technology to promote gas efficiency. The electric motor works with the gas engine to accelerate the vehicle. Most gasoline is consumed during acceleration, so this cuts back on consumption significantly.

The electric motor also works as a generator to recharge the battery. In fact, every time you brake, kinetic energy is produced into electrical energy for the battery. Gas-electric hybrids range in gas efficiency ranging from 30-60 mpg.

Its a terribly exciting time for alternative car energy and many technologies are fighting it out for domination in the future. Some are very experimental while others are already available. The list is not small making the debate quite complicated. Which of the following would you bet your money on? And why? Or perhaps you have one not listed below:

electric hybrids & Car batteries
Plug-in Electric Hybrids
All Electric
Bio Fuels
Liquid Hydrogen
Hyrdogen Fuel Cells
Ultra-capacitors
Coal based synthetic or Coal-to-liquid

Plug in all electrics with lithium batteries.

hybrid cars are better on gas. Just keep the body styles that we like but outfit the cars with hybrid engines. Continuing to make normal, poor mileage cars is like continuing to make VHS movies in the age of DVD players.

They still do make VHS.

Until hybrid’s cost comes down, there will still be regular engines. New information I have seen coming out is suggesting the hybrid advantage is a lot less than advertised.

I’m not convinced the current technology is worth it in the long haul. I’m guessing it’ll be another 10 to 15 years before something worthwhile comes out.

You know the hybrid cars you get with a normal engine and an electric motor that kicks in when the petrol engine is not needed.
Well why dont they replace the petrol engine with a super efficient deisel engine to make it even more economical. The 0.8L engine in the new Smart car that does 80mpg on its own would be a prime candidate.

The issue with doing a hybrid diesel is purely an economical one. Clean diesel engines are expensive, hybrid batteries are expensive. Combine the two, and you’re pretty much looking at getting something equivalent to an entry level sedan for the price of a luxury vehicle. Nope, that just won’t cut it.

There’s lots of great ideas out there, but economic woes kill them. The hybrid diesel is one of them.

I need to know who makes hybrid cars… like i know companies like toyota makes hybrid thats NOT what i need to know, i need like like who makes the fuel cell or the technology or who does the research to make these cars and what company makes the technology??? and also who makes the main stuff that goes into the car??

Technology is NOT specific to any one manufacturer.

Toyota’s system is different from Honda’s which is different from Ford’s which is different from GM’s.

Every car company have their own research team on these alternatives. (Though Nissan licensed the stuff from Toyota, I think, to make their hybrids) And of course, they all built their own stuff (except Nissan, I think)

A friend of mine told me that she heard that the only environmental complaint about the Hybrid technology is that they use uranium in the making of the battery. Is this true or is it some modern folk tale?

no its not true at all but in some of the new batteries they toyed with radium but never uranium probably just a mixup

hybrid cars are called that because they are a combination of electric and internal combustion. The internal combustion charges the batteries and the batteries run the car. Mostly they use regenerative braking to store energy for starting also. Any time an industry designs machines which haven’t been used (in the new form) previously, something is learned, and that advances technology. But specifically, the advent and sale of hybrid cars give impetus (and funding) to new research in the areas of energy storage (batteries, supercapacitors) and generation (fuel cells).