The state of cars in this country

don't forget one of these for the glovebox...you know, in case of emergency

hello-kitty-vibrator-pink.thumbnail.jpg

Hahaha! I have one of those. Never thought of keeping it in the glove box...
 
I think refineries are closed more often than banks..what with the new "bank hours" that are out there.
Most banks are now open on Saturdays and there are even some banks open 7 days a week.
 
Here's an interesting little car from Mercedes, 45mpg from a diesel. Any buyers?
http://jalopnik.com/5048124/mercede...-prime-shows-off-next+generation-benz-diesels

I'd at least take it for a test drive.

I liked the Jetta TDI a few years back, and that was about the same mileage - but the dealership wouldn't let me test drive the model with the package I wanted :wtf: so obviously I didn't buy it.

The Seat rental car I had in London back in '05 got about the same mileage, maybe a little better (Got >700 miles out of the tank) and KICKED ASS. It had the DSG transmission, and the 150bhp version of the VW TDI engine :drool:

Plus there are a couple of B100 pumps in Boston, running about the same or less $ than dino-diesel.
 
Maybe diesel is where its going to be? From my limited reading, it's clear you can squeeze a hell of a lot of bio-diesel from algae. On the order of 20X more than soy per acre.

Plus, the production of the algae should not compete with the production of food, unlike ethanol production. Growing corn, to make fuel, is going to go down as one of the dumbest ideas of our century.

Maybe we will see bio-diesel/electric hybrids in the near future. Plug it in for the short trips and use a little diesel generator to extend the range.

I don't see hydrogen/fuel cells as the answer either. Hydrogen, is a bitch to store and just doesn't have the energy density.

I honestly believe, that we are looking at the end of an automotive era. It looks like traditional gasoline powered engines will begin to fade as demand for these newer technologies expand.

What's it going to be super efficient diesels, hybrids w/ traditional gasoline motors, hybrids w/ an onboard generator, straight plug ins or something else?

Interesting times, if you are in the automotive or related industries.....
 
diesel hybrids

electric motor and diesel motor or electric/diesel generator?

This is something that has confused me about the current generation of hybrids we have now. Why do they clamp a traditional gasoline motor onto the damn things? If electric motors are so efficient wouldn't it make more sense to have a gasoline powered generator kick in to extend the range of the hybrid? Or is this going to be the next evolution of the hybrid ala the Chevy Volt?
 
Until the EPA can get it's head out of it's ass, and NY, MA, CA, ME, and VT do the same - diesel is not going to be the answer unfortunately.

But would be SUCH an easy change, the cars already exist, US manufacturers already can make them, the pump infrastructure is there....

Bah, it just ticks me off every time I think about it.

The infrastructure thing is one of my big sticking points on the whole Hydrogen/Fuel cell idea. We already have gas stations. Who in the hell is going to pay for all of the hydrogen based "gas" stations? How are they going to produce said hydrogen and the store it? At this stage in the game hydrogen/fuel cell technology is a dead end imho.
 
electric motor and diesel motor or electric/diesel generator?

This is something that has confused me about the current generation of hybrids we have now. Why do they clamp a traditional gasoline motor onto the damn things? If electric motors are so efficient wouldn't it make more sense to have a gasoline powered generator kick in to extend the range of the hybrid? Or is this going to be the next evolution of the hybrid ala the Chevy Volt?

You're describing a series hybrid and that's exactly what the Volt is. The motor is only used as a generator to charge the batteries on long hauls.