i have a solution to the petrol problem, all it takes is a hand saw, basically, you just cut a hole in the bottom of your car, and buy some really good shoes

not the manifold....
</cheesy fast and the ricey quote>

Yeah that was brilliant. Little roraty engines with viens that protude into the rotor housing...

and I suppose it used up/created 10 cubic meters of carbon gasses to compress the air into the gas tanks?????

Lol, yeah would most likely consume a bit of fuel to run the compressors... they're mostly 3 phase power AC powered, yeah? So if someone could nut nuclear fusion we'd be set!

How do you compress the air? I assume if you're supposed to buy the compressed air, they'll probably be using a dirty big fuel guzzling diesel engine.

Now, if each engine is only 50% efficient, then half of the energy you put into the diesel you get back in compressed air, then half the compressed air energy you put into the engine you get in usable rear wheel power, you're actually increasing the fossil fuel usage.

Doesn't seem like a very viable plan to me, but then I don't know the specifics.

Best thing to do is use a direct drive motor on each wheel and supplement power storage with solar power. I saw one doco on an electric car you can buy, custom built, in the states. They put it up against the latest Flagship of Ferrari and it was about 5 car lengths ahead of the Ferrari at the end of a 1/4 mile.

I'd like to see the government pay people for making modifications to their car that makes them more efficient. A lot of people go to the effort, and expense of making their engine breath better, primarily for more power, but a nice side effect is often better economy. Add to that an aftermarket ECU that uses a wideband oxy sensor, or even a chip for your standard ECU that give you better tuning and you make you car even more efficient.

It's be real nice if the government would pay you say 10% or something of the cost of modifications to you engine in recognition of makeing you car more fuel efficient. Just like they do with water saving devices! If the government will pay you to save water, why won't they pay you to save fuel?!?!?

Energy sink is always going to be the problem. It would appear that we dont currently have any alternative fuels which can provide a fraction of the energy return as, say, ripping fossil fuel from under the ground. Even the "energy payback time" of solar panels is substantial - as significant amounts of fossil energy are consumed in their production.

What was impressive was finding a new method of propelling the vehicle. Much like hyrdogen powered engines - this appears to be the easy part. Still waiting for that 'magical' solution to generate the energy used by said engine without consuming more in the process!!



Or drop the GST on all modifications which "improve efficiency"....

would that include body kits to help wind reduction thus reducing drag and requiring less fuel to propell the vehicle into the wind? so we should get body kits tax free

or maybe a flux capicitor

If that were the case, I'd improve my efficency to 300RWKW.

What about the vast expanse of space? You could kill two birds with one stone.

Set up a massive array of solar panels in a synchronous orbit over a barron place on the earth that doesn't require much sunlight. You then get large amount of energy from the sun that hasn't passed through the atmosphere and been partially absorbed already, so you solar panels would have a higher electricity created/area ratio, and you'd also help cool down the earth, and stop this "global warming" thing everyone's worried about, but reducing the amount of heat that reached earth from the sun.

Of course, this idea probably wouldn't be viable because it actually conforms to the laws of physics as we know them now...... what do you think John?

how do you get all that electricity back to earth?

I like the idea (SimCity 2000 had it) of a giant microwave transfer. Problem is, if thebeam gets misaligned, suddenly you have a whole bunch of cooked neighbours.

Or a bunch of extension leads tied together?

You could run it down an ionised beam of UV light.....

Edit, or if you are still hooked on the idea of hydrogen, you could harness the electricity in lightning.

Now if you could use that electricity to split water molecules, that would be a fantastic way of getting hydrogen.

I still think rodents on wheels are a much under untilized form of power generation.
Think about it.
Lettuce just about grows wild, and last time I checked, it doesn't consume fossil fuel.
And we could use the rodent faeces to create methane gas, which in turn could be used to create giant floating cities.
Oh the possibilities...

Why not just harvest hydrogen from the sun (or any other star)?

Well, when they said that the hybrid-style compressed air vehcile could get from brisbane to perth on a single tank i realy stood up and listened.
But seriously, if these people are willing to try and solve the problem, then we shouldn't be scoffing at them. i thought that was an amazing article. they plan to have affordable, alternatives on sale next year ($16000 for their micro car).