Electric brumby

[Bantum]

... still wrong, if you read the wikipedia why still the fur-fie waterfuel cell? water is a waste product in the fuel cell, water is neither the energy storage media nor the fuel. Sorry I get a bit pedantic about inaccurate descriptions where electrikety stuff is discussed ...

What does water consist of ... H2O - ( Hydrogen + Oxygen = embodied or potential energy ) so in the process of either heating / cooling it, applying an electrical current to it, or even using a catalyst - it can be 'converted' to another type of 'fuel' for use, hence my water as 'storage' fuel cell comment ...

We just haven't worked out how to do it effectively in a compact enough form yet ...

... What about Dams? they are old school, but very efficient and cost effective, but greenies won't allow them ...

All very good for large a city, but on the scale we're talking about it's a bit impractical to lug around that much water in the back of a car ...

... luv the electric brumby. I expected to see more batteries, so what depth of discharge is happening for the 50km range I wonder. pitty now electricity costs so much more for the recharge ...

Doesn't say earlier in the post, but you'd think it would be getting pretty warm towards the end of its run. The other brumby in link gives us : 12 batteries @ 120a/h = 144 volts ... This one has 10 batteries @ 100a/h = 120 volts , so yeah would'nt go too far ...

You could go 'solar' for a recharge + Add a few Capacitors in the mix as well ...

End of Rant ... :P

[Tweety]

Not that relevant here but in the late 1960's a Melbournite called Pritchard had a number of steam powered cars. A Ford falcon and a torana, the latter the body was modified to look different.

He was at the time revolutionary. Of course the carbon tax would kill it ebfore it took off now. But just mentioning it.

The world needs another fuel source. IMO hydrogen is the fuel for the future. Its here now but not supported enough.

Service stations have made it clear they will provide fuel in any form as popularity grows, not necessarily petrol based. It has recently been a change in direction from the older days because they know "the writing is on the wall".

[Silverbullet]

Not that relevant here but in the late 1960's a Melbournite called Pritchard had a number of steam powered cars. A Ford falcon and a torana, the latter the body was modified to look different.

He was at the time revolutionary. Of course the carbon tax would kill it ebfore it took off now. But just mentioning it.

You think steam powered cars is revolutionary? In 1933 an entirely steam powered bi-plane took to the skies for the first time, apparently viewers on the ground could hear the pilot yelling to them from the air because it was so quiet. Now that I'd like to see in person

[Tweety]

Silverbullet.

Revolutionary doesnt mean new idea. Read this:

http://www.linux-host.org/energy/spritch.htm

That shows how revolutionary it was and (as I've just found out myself) is still revolutionary.

This guy Pritchard might still be onto a power source of the future after a lifetime of thinking and developing..

[1111giles]

Hydrogen will be the next popular fuel of the future.
Hybrids / Electric cars are nothing more than a stopgap to satisfy the voices for 'green' cars (not that they are 'green' at all !)
There will also be other fuels used - sugar beet for alcohol in Brazil for example....

I can confirm that I am aware of significant works currently in motion for both viable (read efficiant) Hydrogen engines AND viable devices for its volume production. Re-newables (wind, solar and wave) plus nuclear power sources will be used to manufacture Hydrogen in the future.
My information comes from my connections with current R&D taking place here in the UK for automotive fuels and engines for the future......dont expect to see anything engine wise for at least 4-5 years, the hydrogen production units are here now - see here http://www.itm-power.com/

[Brumby Kid]

Hydrogen is good as long as we're carefully and don't have another hindonburg.
A 12 volt current will split water into hydrogen and oxygen. I did it at school.
Bio diesel seems to be taking off.

Cheers Cam

[Silverbullet]

I think hydrogen is the way to go, there's lots of it, it's everywhere, easy to produce and doesn't create toxic gas when you burn it. Is there still the problem of storage? As in you can't just fill a bottle with it like LPG or air etc.

Bio diesel and any fuels made from vegetables or plants is not the right choice IMO; to fuel the world we'd need to commit too much land to grow the bio-mass, land we will one day need to feed people.

[purp]

Hydrogen has several advantages over current electric vehicle tech:
- high energy density
- easy to make, store and transfer
- people are familiar with internal combustion (and like it)

But their are still draw backs:
- it is only as greenhouse friendly as the electricty used to make it - which in some parts of Aust effectively means you would be driving a brown coal powered car
- another step between electricity generation and vehicle motion is not efficient... Although at the moment it is better than recharging batteries, and much better than the infrastructure necessary to hot swap pre-charged batteries.

Personally I like fuel cell technology - chemical energy storage powering electrically propelled vehicles.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 15 years...

[thunder039]

Bio diesel and any fuels made from vegetables or plants is not the right choice IMO; to fuel the world we'd need to commit too much land to grow the bio-mass, land we will one day need to feed people.

+1

[Silverbullet]

Hydrogen has several advantages over current electric vehicle tech:
- high energy density
- easy to make, store and transfer
- people are familiar with internal combustion (and like it)

But their are still draw backs:
- it is only as greenhouse friendly as the electricty used to make it - which in some parts of Aust effectively means you would be driving a brown coal powered car
- another step between electricity generation and vehicle motion is not efficient... Although at the moment it is better than recharging batteries, and much better than the infrastructure necessary to hot swap pre-charged batteries.

Personally I like fuel cell technology - chemical energy storage powering electrically propelled vehicles.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 15 years...

Good points, but brown coal isn't the only way to make electricity, it's just the cheapest. I'd like to see who comes up with a viable way to make all roads in to one giant solar power grid; I think I read that if all roads in the US were solar panels you could power the globe or some such. Probably will never happen though.

[purp]

Oh, I think electric is the eventual way to go - whether it is hydrogen, batteries or whatever. But there are two reasons too move away from petrol (and deisel and gas) powered transport. One is to break the dependency on oil - for political reasons, and 'cause it is/will become more scarce/expensive. The other is green house gas emissions. At the moment, a car which gets its energy from the nation grid only solves one of these problems.