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... w. (Bill Moore 1) These major car companies are in the same race, but on different levels. Every possible market has been exposed to a part of an EV that appeals to them. The EPIC with fast charge and being an economy vehicle.
The reliability of an EV Plus. Maybe the stylish body and responsiveness of GMs EV appeals to you. The size and technological superiority of the Nissan Altra EV. Does the Rangers advantage of being a pickup truck alone do it for you? The EV selection is becoming as diverse as the gasoline powered market and is slowly replacing it. I believe Daimler-Chrysler's EPIC is at the forefront of the electric market.
Their innovative Fast Charge sets them ahead of the game. The minivan body style can be replaced with something comparable to GMs EV if desired. The range, the reliability and the recharge time are the primary concerns. The rest can be adapted to the market and how it shifts. GMs EV will most certainly be a runner up. I have personally had the experience of driving one of these miraculous machines.
The curvy appeal and luxurious interior accompanied by its responsiveness and handling almost block the impracticality of them out of your mind. Electric is not the only answer for the future. Many other possibilities include Ethanol (an alcohol made from corn), which is also called a bio-fuel. Bio-fuels are high octane, clean combusting liquid fuels all made from renewable biomass such as trees or plants. Fords interest in using Ethanol as an alternative fuel source goes back to the days of Henry Ford.
Ford planned to use ethanol as the primary fuel for his Model T. However, the less expensive gasoline emerged as the dominant fuel. (Ford 4) Ford has now developed the Taurus into an Ethanol vehicle. IT has an 18 -gallon tank and maintains approximately 22 miles to the gallon. Estimated range is 250 - 350 miles. Propane more correctly called liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is one of the worlds leading alternative fuels. It emits one third less reactive gases than gasoline and is comparable in fuel range as well as miles per gallon.
Often Propane is less expensive than gasoline as well. The downside of this gas is that, like oil propane is in short supply domestically. Natural Gas is abundant in the United States and emits fewer pollutants than gasoline and cost 10 to 40 % less. The Crown Victoria is a popular natural gas vehicle. Estimated range is 18 miles per gallon with a 9. 4 -gallon tank. But cars using natural gas have bulky tanks and relatively short ranges between refills because the range of an NGU depends on how much natural gas is stored in the vehicle.
A frequent way to judge the mileage of a NGU is half the distance of its gasoline version. Gas-electric hybrids are a very popular and efficient choice of automobiles while the transition to purely electric vehicle technology is made and further developed. The Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight are pioneers in this field they will help to wean the consumer public off of gasoline. The Honda Insight is an ultra low emissions vehicle. It squeezes out an impressive 70 milers per gallon using a gas-electric hybrid setup. A gas saving feature that contributes to the Insights miraculous range is the Idle-stop feature.
When the car slows to a stop, and the clutch is disengaged and the transmission is put in neutral, the gasoline engine shuts off completely. The car becomes dead quiet except for the vent fans. When you put the car in gear and step on the gas the engine restarts before you notice. The transition from Idle-stop to start feels seamless. (Will Ryu 3) The Honda Insight utilizes the popular nickel-metal hydride battery. Estimated real world range is approximately 600 miles on a full tank. It is able to do this because, The insight uses a parallel hybrid propulsion system instead of the series hybrid.
The benefit of parallel is that you can take advantage of the electric and gas motors for what they do well. With proper interaction between the two motors they can work synergistically, becoming greater than the sum of their parts. (Will Ryu 2) Toyota's Prius is also a hybrid electric vehicle with a parallel setup. The most interesting fact about the Prius is not any of its features, but its price. Toyota is selling the Prius for $ 20, 000 each. But interestingly enough it costs between $ 35, 000 and $ 40, 000 to build. So for each Prius Toyota produces it is losing on average $ 16, 000.
Why is that? Maybe to get them out there for real world test and results. Maybe to get consumers hooked on the cheaper Prius other than alternative EVs so they will stay loyal. That is not important to the consumer, what is relative is that the Prius is cheap and efficient. It is estimated to get 50 - 66 miles per gallon. Its range is predicted to be about 800 miles on a single tank.
Prius most predominant feature besides cost is that it reduces carbon dioxide emissions almost 50 %. Even the army realizes the need for electric vehicles. Their reasons are different but the result is the same. The US army has developed a hybrid as well. A hybrid Hummer. The national defenses Corvette in Camouflage. (Bill Moore 1) It appears like the standard Humvee on the exterior, olive green and black camouflage.
But underneath the hood is where the surprise is. This Humvee is capable of accelerating to speeds up to 80 miles per hour (a solid 10 mph faster than the standard issue HMMWV). It performs 0 to 70 mph in 7 seconds flat. Which is literally twice as fast as the stock diesel model. Both versions have the same 300 -mile range but the new stealth Humvee gets 18 miles per gallon while the standard issue Humvee only gets 9 miles per gallon. The Intent of this version of the Humvee is its stealth mode, by flipping a switch on the console the turbo diesel engine is shut off and the vehicle draws solely from the battery giving it 20 miles in silent mode.
Silent mode also makes the vehicle invisible to infrared signature because the battery does not create heat as the turbo diesel engine does. The Holy Grail (Bill Moore, Ford. com) of new alternative fuels is by far however the Fuel Cell. William Grove, an English scientist, invented the fuel cell in 1839. Fuel cell technology was surprisingly simple, at least in theory. There are several types of fuel cells, but all consist of two electrodes surrounding an electrolyte.
Oxygen passes over one electrode and hydrogen passes over the other, generating electricity, water and heat. (Economist 66) The only waste product of a fuel cell is merely water. Fuel cell technology has been used in such projects as the Gemini and Apollo space shuttles. But until recently the technology has been either too bulky or too expensive for the average family car. GM is the first in most likely many to come to produce a vehicle powered by a fuel cell. This simple technology has been a long time coming, and in GMs description you can see where the simple technology of fuel cell gets complicated, Fuel cells generate electricity by the chemical combination of Hydrogen and Oxygen in what amounts to a kind of modern-day alchemy. The hydrogen rich fuel like methanol is stripped of its hydrogen atoms by the fuel-processing unit.
Then it is feed into the stack. Only the hydrogen ions (protons) are able to migrate across the membrane creating water vapor. The electrons remain behind. In the progress an electrical potential of about one volt per cell is generated.
Individual cells are then stacked together like a layer cake to provide higher voltages. (Bill Moore 1) These fuel cells suffer no limitations like a battery on range other than the amount of hydrogen it can carry. GMs entry in the fuel cell category is theyre new electric EV this time equipped with a fuel cell system. In addition the car has 44 nickel-metal hydride batteries. The electricity generated by the fuel cell powers the batteries by recharging them and runs the 137 horsepower induction drive train placed in the EV. The recharge time on this version of the EV is approximately 2 hours since it is not solely a fuel cell powered car.
The fuel cell EV has also been lengthened 19 inches to accommodate the fuel cell stack and 2 more passengers making it a 4 seater. The fuel cell has been equipped to derive the hydrogen it needs from Methanol. The fuel commonly used in high-powered racecar's. The fuel cell EV will get about 80 miles per gallon and has an estimated real world driving range of about 300 miles.
There are This technology seems like science fiction but in actuality its just within our grasp. In the year 2000 we do not have flying cars like some expected but in conclusion, we are getting the next best thing. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Miles Per Gallon Fuel Cell
