Reply With Quote
The inventor will be assassinated, and the company bought and mothballed.
I think I know their secret, though. That thingy underneath looks like a wind up key.
I am so there!
EdmundsCARLSBAD, Calif. — Accelerated Composites LLC, a small startup company here, said it is developing the Aptera, a two-seat hybrid passenger car delivering 330 mpg at a steady 65 miles per hour — at a price under $20,000.
The company said the car, which may be ready for production in two years, will have acceleration and handling similar to that of the Honda Insight hybrid. The first Aptera prototype may be ready by March.
The prototype under construction will be powered by a single-cylinder, 12-horsepower diesel engine and a 24-horsepower DC electric motor, and will have a continuously variable transmission. Power is delivered through a single rear wheel mounted on a composite swing arm. The car is expected to have an electronically limited top speed of 95 miles per hour and an estimated 0-to-60-mph acceleration of 11 seconds.
Now that's American engineering at work.
The inventor will be assassinated, and the company bought and mothballed.
I think I know their secret, though. That thingy underneath looks like a wind up key.
Lmao^
Yeah I dont think they will need to assasinate anyone, I doubt people will by a car that looks like that (and Im sure that the one wheel in the back wont be allowed by our government, that would seem to be the easy out for oil execs) it would be to easy for the "its too slow and preformance is awful" knock.
Looks like they just looped the top off of the Clark Productions logo. They'll probably go broke being sued for that.
It doesn't look very safe either, imagine that thing hitting a tahoe.
Modeled after the vehicle Evel Knievel used to try to jump Snake River Canyon.
I think the reporter in this blurb probably neglected one important bit of information. It gets 330 miles to the gallon because you have to recharge the batteries at night.The prototype under construction will be powered by a single-cylinder, 12-horsepower diesel engine and a 24-horsepower DC electric motor, and will have a continuously variable transmission.
I take that back.
I looked up the specs and it doesn't have batteries. It goes that far partly because it only weighs 850 pounds.
http://www.acceleratedcomposites.com/apteraspecs.php
That thing would get creamed on the highway
You guys are looking at this the wrong way. These kinds of vehicles aren't just a choice future drivers will have, we might as well all face facts, the future of cheap oil is bleak. Cars in the near future will all have to be much lighter, made of composites and incorporate some type of hybrid technology. Running into that 3 ton SUV will become rarer and rarer as it become more clear just how bad the world crude situation really is. American automakers have been gambling against hybrid tech for years and have lost, are lost, and willl continue to be lost until they improve their reliability and fuel efficiency. If we go to war with Iran we could be looking at $6+ gas or more, very easily. I congratulate these guys for thinking outside the box.
Hmm, it is made out of lightweight composites and probably has more structural integrity than the made-to-crumple tahoe.
Not that 1050 pounds versus the 4,000 (my guesstimate, probably low) of what a tahoe weighs would be a fair matchup, I just imagine that the little car wouldn't be as dangerous as you might think. It would probably need some extra airbags.
I'd rather drive a jetta diesel...
That said,
I would wonder how it would fare in actual crash tests.
Heh, given that they only have the one prototype, that could be a bit problematic to arrange.
While I think war with Iran is a more remote possibility than most seem to assume, I DO think we will see $6.00 gas within ten years.
My personal guess is that the price of oil will rise by about 7-10% per year for the next few years and faster after that. This is based on what I have seen as projected futures prices for oil ten years down the road. This will be a doubling every 6-9 years.
Check out the older thread "why is oil below $50 now" for more thoughts on this.
Amen.I'd rather drive a jetta diesel...
Biodiesel.
BIODIESEL.
Its ready, its waiting, its right here in front of us.
VW Beetle Diesel gets 50 miles to the gallon.
NBADAN is right.
Damn, I can't believe I said that.
We have seen the end of cheap gas.
Biodiesel requires more energy to make than it produces... (the return on invested energy is negative)
Diesels also still produce a LOT more greenhouse gases and other pollutants than conventional gasoline engines do. Even the newer cleaner ones don't completely deal with the extra pollution.
SOOOOO
If everybody switched right now, the air quality in major US cities would plummet.
Save on the gas, but pay for it in lost productivity on a massive scale due to increased health costs from respitory disorders.
Diesels also still produce a LOT more greenhouse gases and other pollutants than conventional gasoline engines do. Even the newer cleaner ones don't completely deal with the extra pollution.
SOOOOO
If everybody switched right now, the air quality in major US cities would plummet.
The diesels are the cleanest and most refined they have ever been.
hearsay and propaganda.Save on the gas, but pay for it in lost productivity on a massive scale due to increased health costs from respitory disorders
You are correct, and they are still more polluting than the average gasoline engine.
Since you have called me on it, and I have made some claims I will do some research to find the articles that I read on this and get back to ya.
If I mis-remembered what I read, my apologies, but this is based on my best recollection of stuff I have read on the subject.
...and if you doubt that increased air pollution causes increased incidences of respitory disorders, talk to doctors in Mexico City. I can get you articles on that quite easily.
If your disbelief is in the fact that you doubt that productivity will be damaged by people getting sicker, then you are too far gone for me to bother, heh.
Diesel Exhaust and Air Pollution from the American Lung Association website.
(snip)
For the same load and engine conditions, diesel engines spew out 100 times more sooty particles than gasoline engines. As a result, diesel engines account for an estimated 26 percent of the total hazardous particulate pollution (PM10) from fuel combustion sources in our air, and 66 percent of the particulate pollution from on-road sources. Diesel engines also produce nearly 20 percent of the total nitrogen oxides (NOx) in outdoor air and 26 percent of the total NOx from on-road sources. Nitrogen oxides are a major contributor to ozone production and smog.
....
[on to the bit about health risks from air pollution]
Dozens of studies link airborne fine particle, such as those in diesel exhaust, to increased hospital admissions for respiratory diseases, chronic obstructive lung disease, pneumonia, heart disease and up to 60,000 premature deaths annually in the US.
The health risk from diesel exposure is greatest for children, the elderly, people who have respiratory problems or who smoke, people who regularly strenuously exercise in diesel-polluted areas, and people who work or live near diesel exhaust sources. Studies have shown that the proximity of a child's residence to major roads is linked to hospital admissions for asthma, and there is a positive relationship between school proximity to freeways and asthma occurrence. Truck and traffic intensity and exhaust measured in schools were significantly associated with chronic respiratory symptoms.
...
[full text at linked article--RG]
I hope they qualify as experts on respitory disorders.
Now granted there are new deisel technologies that reduce a lot of this pollution, but I stand by my assertion that the cleanest deisels are more dirty than the average gasoline engine.
Speaking from an economic standpoint, I would say that the economic impact of lost health would be greater than any potential benefits of the conversion. I can't support that with anything other than my own gut instict and the fact that health care costs continue to rise faster than inflation, making the avoidance of those costs an increasingly important public policy issue.
Last edited by RandomGuy; 03-18-2006 at 07:11 PM.
In fairness, the above posted article was from 2000.
Diesel technology has gotten cleaner in the last few years with the addition of some new technology has made them a bit cleaner, but there are some problems that limit the applicability:
Green Diesel: Fact or Fiction?
I trust I have backed my assertion well enough?...
Diesel exhaust control technology still is unproven in real-world operating conditions
Optimism for cleaner diesel must be tempered with caution. CARB has certified only two diesel particulate filters and one Green Diesel Technology™ school bus. New technologies show the potential to reduce soot emissions to very low levels, but potential and real-world results are not the same. If the new technology fails, degrades, or is disengaged, diesels will continue to pollute the air with black, toxic soot.
...
This is just a prototype, obviously, and I wouldn't expect a production vehicle to look like that or get quite as good milage, but this is the kind of innovative thinking that will maximize the use of resources much better than leaning on taxpayer subsidized alternative fuels that would otherwise be uneconomical.
I agree, but even if the mileage is 1/2 of the prototype THAT would help ease the crunch immensely.
I think that light-weight composites are pretty much the cliched "wave of the future".
, 1/10th of the mpg of that prototype would place it among the most efficient production vehicles. 60 mpg should not require hybrid technology, or even a real reduction in vehichle weight or loss of performane. It just takes some innovative engineering. Those who can get it done stand to make a boatload of cash (and then answer for their evil profits to idiot politicians).
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
