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Fuel Cell Cars

16:06 / 10.01.02

http://money.cnn.com/2002/01/08/autos/auto_tech/index.htm

GM has presented their 100% fuel cell car, running on nothing but H2O. Its realy neat looking, too:

Amazingly enough. Bush is talking about backing them. About time. They're predecting they may be viable by about 2004.

gentleman loser

13:53 / 20.01.02

This looks like a classic political bait and switch. Bush just killed Clinton's Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles which might have delivered an 80 MPG sedan.

Hmmmmm, wonder why he did that?

In other words, I wouldn't get your hopes up.

As is always the case, I suspect that Japanese and European automakers will lead the way long before GM, Ford and Chrysler ever will.

Besides, Americans just aren't going to buy these cars. Gas is only about $1.05 a gallon here and prices have not changed significantly in the past six months. Most people are obsessed with horsepower, not understanding that you don't need huge V-8 pushrod engines if you buy a vehicle that doesn't weigh two and a half tons and have bought into the safety myth of monster vehicles (fatality rates for cars and SUVs are identical).

The real question than no one can seem to answer (including me) is how to we get Joe Suburbanite and Jane Soccer Mom out of their gas guzzling Suburbans and Expeditions?

Anyone have any ideas?

[ 20-01-2002: Message edited by: gentleman loser ]

20:37 / 20.01.02

Bear in mind, also, that as long as petrochemicals are being used to generate the electricity to power the cars, there will still be a huge draw on oil. They don't eliminate oil consumption/pollution generatio, but rather concentrate in into a few areas.

06:46 / 21.01.02

quote:The real question than no one can seem to answer (including me) is how to we get Joe Suburbanite and Jane Soccer Mom out of their gas guzzling Suburbans and Expeditions?

I wonder if better public transport would really entice many people away from cars. That seems to be a standard answer to the question but it doesn't seem to work. Public transport is always going to be more of an inconvenience than private transport. That is probly why a better form of private transport is the only practical answer.

16:48 / 21.01.02

.

16:49 / 21.01.02

Electric cars will not likely match internal compustion in pure power anytime soon. That's the one problem, they can't climb hills very well. But in economy, with gas prices regularly reaching $2/gallon in the past year or so, they do become more attractive. Hydrogen is cheap.

They just need to get the cars themselves inexpensive enough to compete, so its a worthwhile investment financially, rather than an interesting showpiece as they are now.

17:49 / 21.01.02

quote:Originally posted by gentleman loser:

The real question than no one can seem to answer (including me) is how to we get Joe Suburbanite and Jane Soccer Mom out of their gas guzzling Suburbans and Expeditions?

Anyone have any ideas?

Create an alternative, fuel-economic, vehicle that fits 2-8 people comfortably and legally (complying to the seat belt laws for kid and adult passengers), while still looking as attractive as the stupid SUVs.

In my experience, most of the members of the nuclear family that buy SUVs are looking for something they can drive their kids in that looks better than the mini-van or the station wagon. Not all, but a lot.

19:12 / 08.01.03

Resuscitating this old thread with new hope:

GM's looking at releasing hybrid trucks.

Not quite fuel cells, but high-efficiency gas-electric engines.

After much internal debate, GM's top leaders decided to pursue a mass-market hybrid vehicle strategy.

"We didn't know if this was the right thing to do," one GM executive said. "We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars here. Billions, probably. We had to ask ourselves if it made more sense to put all of that money into fuel cells, which is where we want to go, or to risk it on hybrids."

The company's executives decided "to go big" with hybrids as an interim strategy largely because the world was beginning to regard Toyota and Honda as the true leaders in fuel economy, another GM executive said.

"We have to have credibility as innovators in fuel economy if we want consumers to accept what we plan to offer in fuel cells," the executive said.

02:12 / 09.01.03

Here in Colorado, there's a collective grumble from people regarding TV ads that spoof the latest drugs-supports-terrorism campaign. The barb is that they satirically point out that buying large amouts of gasoline for SUVs helps funds terrorism as well.

As they say, the truth hurts.