Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

http://www.smh.com.au/news/innovations/pow...ge#contentSwap2

according to car makers easily accessible good crude oil is running out at a rapid rate (i guess we all knew that) - so now they are looking at other forms of power to get our cars moving.

Interesting read - especially when they point out that 50% of the pollutants come from energy providers (coal power), yet vehicles are used as a scape goat for pollution.

Years ago, id never have thought of an option to buy a hybrid like the prius - but now it seems that its becoming more and more inevitable (being a car nut, i wouldnt mind driving one) - but just the thought of not being able to hear the rumble of petrol powered engines makes motoring seem boring.......

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/234044-future-of-motoring/
Share on other sites

Had the 'opportunity' to drive a Prius when I was working in Sydney a few months back, basically had it as a rental car.

The fuel economy was really good, but to me personally, I wouldn't fork out any cash for one, there seems to be a fair bit lacking in them still. Most obvious was off the line, there was somewhat of a delay before the car would actually move.

"The batteries in hybrid cars are designed to last the life of the vehicle, said to be at least 10 years. To date, Toyota Australia has not had to replace a hybrid battery under warranty"

Lol yeh thats because the warranty is only 3 yr's, how bout after that, go talk to some of the first gen prius owners that are up for battery replacement and see how much they have to fork out for new ones......

I don't see why car companies are spending money developing hybrid cars when everybody knows eventually they will just be electric, why not spend that money from developing hybrids on developing electric ones now? If I can build in my back yard for under 20g's an electric car that has a top speed of 100+ and will get 150Km to a charge why can't car companies build and sell something comparable? I'm looking at buying a small car at the moment and if I could buy an electric one with those spec's for somewhere round that price i'd be there now with my hand up.

On a performance note, think of the possiabilities with electric's, in a petrol car you have one motor and the power has to be sent to the wheels through some sort of mechanical drivetrain, with an electric car you have a motor in each wheel all of which are completley independently controlled....as far as handling and control go it would be insane!

it's alright u can record the skyline rumble and play it through your speakers when your driving ur electric car!

eventually electric will overtake IC engines in performance and we'll mod them instead. instead of bigger exhausts and intakes and turbos we'll get uprated battery packs and high current motor controllers. shouldn't be too hard to learn. it's all good!

it's alright u can record the skyline rumble and play it through your speakers when your driving ur electric car!

eventually electric will overtake IC engines in performance and we'll mod them instead. instead of bigger exhausts and intakes and turbos we'll get uprated battery packs and high current motor controllers. shouldn't be too hard to learn. it's all good!

Hahaha... ...I've been thinking of this for a while...

There's a guy in QLD that has made a fully electric Toyota Echo... ...I was thinking of doing it to a skyline... ...But dropping in two or three electric motors...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I think you're really missing the point. The spec is just the minimum spec that the fuel has to meet. The additive packages can, and do, go above that minimum if the fuel brand feels they need/want to. And so you get BP Ultimate or Shell Ultra (or whatever they call it) making promises to clean your engine better than the standard stuff....simply because they do actually put better additive packages in there. They do not waste special sauce on the plebian fuel if they can avoid it. I didn't say "energy density". I just said "density". That's right, the specific gravity (if you want to use a really shit old imperial description for mass per unit volume). The density being higher indicates a number of things, from reduces oxygen content, to increased numbers of double bonds or cyclic components. That then just happens to flow on to the calorific value on a volume basis being correspondingly higher. The calorific value on a mass basis barely changes, because almost all hydrocarbon materials have a very similar CV per kg. But whatever - the end result is that you do get a bit more energy per litre, which helps to offset some of the sting of the massive price bump over 91. I can go you one better than "I used to work at a fuel station". I had uni lecturers who worked at the Pt Stanvac refinery (at the time they were lecturing, as industry specialist lecturers) who were quite candid about the business. And granted, that was 30+ years ago, and you might note that I have stated above that I think the industry has since collected together near the bottom (quite like ISPs, when you think about it). Oh, did I mention that I am quite literally a combustion engineer? I'm designing (well, actually, trying to avoid designing and trying to make the junior engineer do it) a heavy fuel oil firing system for a cement plant in fricking Iraq, this week. Last week it was natural gas fired this-that. The week before it was LPG fired anode furnaces for a copper smelter (well, the burners for them, not the actual furnaces, which are just big dumb steel). I'm kinda all over fuels.
    • Well my freshly rebuilt RB25DET Neo went bang 1000kms in, completely fried big end bearing in cylinder 1 so bad my engine seized. No knocking or oil pressure issue prior to this happening, all happened within less than a second. Had Nitto oil pump, 8L baffled sump, head drain, oil restrictors, the lot put in to prevent me spinning a bearing like i did to need the rebuild. Mechanic that looked after the works has no idea what caused it. Reckoned it may have been bearing clearance wrong in cylinder 1 we have no idea. Machinist who did the work reckoned it was something on the mechanic. Anyway thats between them, i had no part in it, just paid the money Curiosity question, does the oil system on RB’s go sump > oil pump > filter > around engine? If so, if you had a leak on an oil filter relocation plate, say sump > oil pump > filter > LEAK > around engine would this cause a low oil pressure reading if the sensors was before the filter?   TIA
    • But I think you missed mine.. there is also nothing about the 98 spec that supports your claim..  according to the fuel standards, it can be identical to 95, just very slightly higher octane number. But the ulp vs pulp fuel regulations go show 95 (or 98), is not just 91 with some additives. any claim of ‘refined by the better refineries’ or ‘higher quality fuel’ is just hearsay.  I have never seen anything to back up such claims other than ‘my mate used to work for a fuel station’, or ‘drove a fuel delivery truck’, or ‘my mechanic says’.. the actual energy densities do slightly vary between the 3 grades of fuel, but the difference is very minor. That said, I am very happy to be proven wrong if anyone has some hard evidence..
    • Hey guys I’m chasing a Rb20det complete or bare block need a good running engine as mine has low comp 
    • You're making my point for me. 95 is not "premium". It is a "slightly higher octane" version of the basic 91 product. The premium product that they want people to buy (for all the venal corporate reasons of making more profit, and all the possibly specious reasons of it being a "better" fuel with nicer additive packages) is the 98 octane stuff. 95 is the classic middle child. No-one wants it. No-one cares about it. It is just there, occupying a space in the product hierarchy.
×
×
  • Create New...