Getting past the Prius (Fortune/CNNMoney.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

Everyone knows about Toyota's hybrid hit. Below are eight fuel-efficient alternatives, either here or on the way.
By Sue Zesiger Callaway, Fortune

Honda Civic GX
Type: Natural gas
Efficiency: 28/39 MPG
Price: $24,590
Availability: On the market


It has the cleanest IC engine out there--and with a home-fueling option, you can fill the tank for only $1.30 a gallon.

seven more: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0705/gallery.fuel_efficient_alternatives.fortune/index.html?cnn=yes

[whistle]

1. There is not enough natural gas to run automobiles and it is far too

...costly

[TheMadMonk]

Demand will change that. There's plenty of natural gas, in the ground.

Which is where I'd prefer it to stay.

[NickB79]

10. Natural gas in North America is peaking

http://www.energybulletin.net/3361.html

"CALGARY (CP) - Canada's known natural gas reserves continue to decline even though a record number of wells were drilled in 2003, the energy industry announced Thursday.

In its annual estimate of energy reserves, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said natural gas reserves declined by 2.5 trillion cubic feet by the end of last year, to 56.6 trillion cubic feet. A major factor in the decline was a decision by Alberta's energy regulator to lower the gas estimates by 7.5 trillion cubic feet for thousands of small single-well pools that had little or no production."

Natural gas is not as abundant a fuel source as most people think it is.

[TheMadMonk]

4. DP. Bye. Bye.

Double post

[still_one]

2. For about 22000 you can get a prius, which gives you between 40-45MPG

ultra low emissions, and you don't have to worry about where to find natural gas when you are on the highway

In addition, NG is slowly creeping up in price

It does not seem particularly practical to me unless there is more intrastructure

What they should do is start bring disiel autos like they have in Euope back hewe

[TlalocW]

3. I have a natural gas vehicle

I needed a large cargo van for my side business, but I didn't want to have to pay an arm and a leg to fill it up as well as wanting something a bit greener than regular gas. I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where natural gas is in plentiful supply, and its price is set at the beginning of the year, and it's currently at 94 cents a gallon.

Unfortunately, filling stations are few and far between. There are a couple about five miles from my house in two different directions, and others in the city and suburbs. I could take it to OKC or Dallas without any problem, but as far as I can make out there's only one CNG filling station in Kansas, and it's private so I couldn't take the van to visit my family there, but that's okay - it's primarily for use in the Tulsa and surrounding areas, although I've been driving it to my normal job lately because it's cheaper. I've filled it up 4 times since Saturday (had a lot of work over the weekend), and combined, it's still cheaper than one fill-up on my Nissan Sentra.

TlalocW

[44mpg by 2010]

9. 35 mpg(US) highway Van option from Ford

Ford has a diesel van call the Tourneo. The newer 8/9 passenger is said to get 30 mpg(US) combined average and 35 mpg(US) highway. It has been around for over 3 years. All we need to figure out is how to import it for Europe.

OH? Diesel in our area is about 10% cheaper the gasoline as of 5/22.

[TheMadMonk]

5. Up to 45 mpg. Vehicle weigh 5500 lb. (2 1/2 ton) , 100 mph,

And the fuel was pretty much anything which didn't clog the jets.

AND this was in the BLOODY thirties.

So what the hell happened? I'm talking of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doble_Steam_Car">Doble Steam Car.


Surely with modern materials and machining even better than this can be achieved. Why isn't anyone seriously investigating steam?

[Pab Sungenis]

6. Um...because no one has figured out how to charge $3.50/gal for tap water?

Also, steam boilers take a long time to warm up, and you'd need to run your car for several minutes before it built up enough pressure to move. Boil a pot of water some time to see what I mean. That's how long it would take to start your car.

[htuttle]

8. They can get around that problem with a flash boiler

Basically, instead of boiling a whole bunch of water, you run it through a thin, coiled copper tube and just heat that. Boils nearly instantly. Way safer than an old Stanley Steamer boiler, too.

Even more efficient is a flash boiler pushing a turbine coupled with an electric generator. I've heard of several designs like that, but none in mass production. Too bad, too.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. "Real" hybrids

Think the Prius is earth-shattering? Check out this Gasoline-electric automobile from 1916:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/automotivetech/d86d3bcc2eb84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html


Or, GM's XP-883 from 1969:
http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/hybrid-car-ready-in-1969/


Or, how about the TurElec from 1975:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/automotivetech/c45d3bcc2eb84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html


I remember reading in the 70's about "real" hybrids. These would be fully electric cars (with electric motors at each wheel and regenerative braking) with a small gasoline engine which would run at constant RPM to recharge the batteries.

Put a stirling engine in there to power the generator, and it seems like a winning formula.

[CRF450]

11. The milage on that Audi Q7 V12 TDI sucks

A Z06 Corvette with 505hp 7.0L v8 can average better gas milage than that and smoke that big boat!