Question about energy-efficient hybrid cars...

[her209]

Have you guys ever wondered how much electricity this thing consumes?

How is the electricity for these things generated?

I.e., using a pure gasoline car which produces pollution versus, using a hybrid or if you wish, pure electric car, which uses electricity produced by other means which can be from coal burning, wind mills, water generators, nuclear power plants, etc.

 

[Pepsi90919]

did you just answer your own question?

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
did you just answer your own question?

No, because I don't know how many miles/joules or whatever it is that you measure electricity by.

 

[Booster]

You want an energy efficient car? One word: gas. Convert the engine so that it would run on gas and the costs of ownership will lessen dramatically.

 

[Yomicron]

Start here

The Honda Insight has a 13HP electric motor, which is 9.69KW, if you were to run the electric motor at full speed it would use 9.69KW. But the electric motor is only used when extra power is needed.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
did you just answer your own question?

No, because I don't know how many miles/joules or whatever it is that you measure electricity by.

I saw a controller for a Range Rover that had been converted that puts out 2000 amps @ 120v from 20 batteries (240 volts) That is some serious energy requirements.

The awesome thing about electric motors is that they have 100% of the torque at 0 RPM.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: Yomicron
Start here

I didn't see a mi/joules rating or whatever.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Hybrid cars get electricity from the combustion engine. You don't charge the batteries with your wall outlet.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: Jellomancer
Hybrid cars get electricity from the combustion engine. You don't charge the batteries with your wall outlet.

Then what's the point of the electric car stations?

 

[Yomicron]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: Jellomancer
Hybrid cars get electricity from the combustion engine. You don't charge the batteries with your wall outlet.

Then what's the point of the electric car stations?

Those are for all-electric cars. ie no combustion engine

Hybrids also recover power from breaking.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: Jellomancer
Hybrid cars get electricity from the combustion engine. You don't charge the batteries with your wall outlet.

Then what's the point of the electric car stations?

Those don't have anything to do with hybrids. I dunno about you but I've never seen an "electric car station", but I have seen hybrid cars.

 

[dullard]

Those are for electric cars. You asked about hybrid cars - which all run from gas.

 

[charrison]

Anyone know why we do not use diesel electric?

 

[her209]

But eventually they'll run out of electricity right?

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: her209
But eventually they'll run out of electricity right?

No. The batteries are charged from braking, when the electric motor is used as a generator, converting momentum back into electricity, and from the gasoline or diesel engine.

 

[Booster]

Originally posted by: her209
But eventually they'll run out of electricity right?

That's a no-brainer to me. I think that a good alternative power is natural gas. It works in any ordinary gasoline car engine with some not such of a big deal modification, is lots cheaper and the car runs so much better with it. Of course, it can be scary to drive, but I don't think that it's more dangerous than to drive with a tank full of highly flammable gasoline anyway.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: Booster

Originally posted by: her209
But eventually they'll run out of electricity right?

That's a no-brainer to me. I think that a good alternative power is natural gas. It works in any ordinary gasoline car engine with some not such of a big deal modification, is lots cheaper and the car runs so much better with it. Of course, it can be scary to drive, but I don't think that it's more dangerous than to drive with a tank full of highly flammable gasoline anyway.

In Trinidad, right before we left, there was a trend towards natural gas powered cars... or so it seemed from watching TV. NG is cheap in Trinidad because the economy is heavily oil dependent.
It is an extremely easy conversion process, if you can spare the trunk space.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: charrison
Anyone know why we do not use diesel electric?

Good question!
There are diesel-electric buses, and I see no reason why that technology can't be used in cars.

 

[Triumph]

First, gasoline is not "highly flammable" as TV would have you believe. Ask any paramedic or fireman, and they'll tell you cars almost NEVER explode, let alone even catch fire.

GM had a concept diesel/hybrid electric vehicle about 2 years ago, so it's entirely possible, just no one has taken the initiative to do it in a production car yet. IMO, hybrid electric cars are the best technology out there right now to increase fuel economy. Better than natural gas, better than hydrogen fuel cells, way better than electric cars. They can be made to perform just as good as your average subcompact economy car, but with much improved fuel economy. They don't need any "plugging in," the only fuel you need is readily available. Now, if they would just stop making them so damn ugly!

 

[0roo0roo]

how a hybrid car works. in great #%@ detail howstuffworks.com is god.

u read this carefully before you reply again.

 

[zephyrprime]

It's simple. Hybrids have an onboard electrical generator that are driven the gasoline engine portion of the car. They are not plugged in.

They gain their energy efficiency from the fact that the have 2 engines. All motors have varying efficiencies at different RPMs & under different loads. So the Hybrid's efficiency comes by having an electric motor that is more efficient at low horse power range than a than a normal car sized gasoline engine.