[xrad]

flash..get the hydrogen generator installed...





http://jackson.kijiji.com/c-Cars-vehicles-...QQAdIdZ58804714



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5Fyvu05t9Y...feature=related



more bang for your buck

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='xrad' post='56387' date='Jul 16 2008, 12:05 PM']flash..get the hydrogen generator installed...





http://jackson.kijiji.com/c-Cars-vehicles-...QQAdIdZ58804714



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5Fyvu05t9Y...feature=related



more bang for your buck[/quote]

I assume you're pulling our collective legs here. The guys at mythbusters tested one of these things, and found it did zero, zilch, nada for gas mileage.

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[flash]

we could always convince GM to start building the EV-1 again and solve it all - oh wait - they pulled every last one of those back from the owners and destroyed them - even the one at the petersen museum was forced to be disabled

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[xrad]

you can build one cheaply and test it.......



hydrogen may add a little punch so the engine uses less fuel to do the same job, but i would think that those little systems don't produce the required amount..... maybe I will make one this winter..



if you want the real skinny on overall efficiency (sp?), check out the 'dust to dust' website. I think Honda civic or something is #1.

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[flash]

after reading some of the "cost per lifetime mile", our cars look pretty darned good

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[sguy]

Another effect of lower speed limits (assuming that traffic will actually slow down) is more cars on the road. Lower speed = longer travel time = more cars on the road at any one time. We all need more congested roadways don't we? That increases safety doesn't it?



Cheers,

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[Anchorman]

As my own informal test, after I filled the tank on Monday, I decided to drive at the speed limit on highways. It's been interesting. It's not as difficult as I expected - it just means that I stay pretty much in the unfamiliar territory of the right lane. It turns out to be more relaxing than I expected - the primary thing to watch out for are vehicles approaching rapidly from the rear. Vehicles merging onto the road are not as problematic when you're moving more slowly - and driving at the speed limit is certainly "more slowly". And, there aren't many vehicles moving more slowly, so passing is an infrequent occurrence (but when I've had to, I speed up a bit in the middle or left lane and then drop back to the right lane and the speed limit). I haven't refilled the tank yet (I'm doing the test with the PT Cruiser - I'm not ready to relegate the 968 to the right lane!), so I don't know if there's a measurable MPG effect - although I'm sure I'll need to do more than one tank to find out.

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[Renalicious]

Well according to that old Porsche magazine article on our cars, our engine runs at it's more efficient at around 3K rpm. A whopping 36%-ish thermal efficiency. In 5th gear that will be about 100 - 110kph. Still I find that I get plenty of gas millage on the highway in 6th, as long as I'm not blasting around at 140+

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='flash' post='56395' date='Jul 16 2008, 01:31 PM']we could always convince GM to start building the EV-1 again and solve it all - oh wait - they pulled every last one of those back from the owners and destroyed them - even the one at the petersen museum was forced to be disabled[/quote]

<img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/blink.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> Given the truly dire financial state GM is in right about now, if the EV-1 had even the faintest glimmer of hope of supplyng the consumers a viable product that satisfied a genuine demand (and at today's gas prices, how could a car that uses zero gasoline possibly miss...), they would be working around the clock firing up the production lines, wouldn't you think...?

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[flash]

nope - not as long as we have CEOs and board members of companies like chevron in the white house



did you know that the entire fleet of EV-1s was a lease fleet? they had no intention of ever selling them - they made them only to comply with the 10% zero emissions sales laws in california - once the auto industry forced that law to be repealed, those cars were forced to be returned - the "owners" wanted to keep them, but GM threatened to file criminal charges against anyone who failed to return the car



no joke

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[Cloud9...68]

I have to confess, I didn't follow the EV-1 story very closely (though I do remember an interview with a GM engineer who worked on the project, and when asked "what's the range of the car?" his response was "with or without the AC running?"), but the idea of a company not producing a viable product that could make them a significant amount of money because of some oblique political connections just doesn't pass the smell test. By that logic, as soon as the White House has a new occupant, the project should get the green light, right? Sorry, I don't buy it. But then again, I believe Lee harvery Oswald acted alone in assassinating JFK, so I'm not too big on conspiracy theories...



But ignoring all that, how likely is it that GM was a decade ahead of the rest of the auto industry in electric car technology? In other words, if the EV-1 (which, if I remember right, used stone-age era lead acid batteries) was so great, why haven't other companies, without the burden of the political noose supposedly affixed around GM's neck, gone into volume production of a fully electric car (and no, the $115K Tesla Roadster doesn't count)? I can answer that - it has nothing to do with political pressures; it's simply because electric car technology is nowhere near ready for prime time for the vast majority of consumers.

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[flash]

um - toyota was doing the same thing in destroying the rav EV



there is a new documentary about the whole thing on cable right now



it is very clear that it was political pressure - it would affect a lot of businesses - the parts industry would all but dry up - jiffy-lube would be out of business - the 180,000 gas stations in the country would be gone - oil companies would suffer - even the auto manufacturers would suffer, as the electric cars would outlast the gasoline cars 4 to 1



i think it is a bit naive to think that the consumer was the driving force here - the public barely even knew about the EV-1 - other than in some public service "see what we're doing for the environment" ad, did you EVER see a commercial for it? how about the electric RAV? - we are fed commercials for the most mundane cars as if they were oxygen and we could not live without them - if they were trying to sell it, we would have seen it - also, they would not have been held to lease fleets - they would have sold them



the public was and is ready for the electric car - 90% of the public could live with the range of the vehicle as their commuter vehicle - while it may not be the solution for every car need, it certainly does fit the bill for the largest majority



i expect that, just like every other electric car innovation, it will probably be bought up and set aside



but you can read about electric cars here:



http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/17...005-to-2008.php



and here is where you can read about the downfall of the EV-1:



http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/

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[Ryan]

Flash, if you folded the big-a** side view mirrors flat against the side of the Denali you could gain some MPG.

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[flash]

lol - true enough - the current plan is to add a belly pan, a front air dam extension, as well as a rear trim wing

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[ds968]

[quote name='flash' post='56468' date='Jul 18 2008, 12:33 PM']lol - true enough - the current plan is to add a belly pan, a front air dam extension, as well as a rear trim wing[/quote]



screw the denali belly pan, need you to work on a 968 full body belly pan so I can get one and then test the car's absolute top speed limits on a drive to SoCal, dang it !!

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[Anchorman]

Further to my "drive at the speed limit" test - two tanks of gas have averaged 26.96 mpg vs. my long term average of 24.06 - with the speed difference being about 10 mph on roads with limits of 55 mph or higher. I'm going to keep this test going, may try it on the Porsche next week, as I expect to do a 400 mile drive on Monday.

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[flash]

dan - i have one in process - just working out the catalytic converter heat issue



jim - i did this on the way home from cleveland when i fist got the car - i actually got a stretch of over 30 - it was amazing - the car was bone stock though too - couldn't keep it up though - started getting tired - had to pull over amarillo for a 3 hour nap - spent more on the hotel than i saved in gas - i was making this an otherwise non-stop run home, so further napping and delays from doing 55 were out of the question

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