response 1 of 80:

Sep 18 00:16 UTC 1991

Ford has a program going.  I know a guy who is working on the
project.

response 3 of 80:

Sep 19 08:11 UTC 1991

With fuel cells, & sufficiently efficient electric motors,
an electric car could well become interesting in the future.
I just saw a neat device on TV -- a portable elctric nail
driver powered with a fuel cell.  I think it's pretty clear,
though, that lead-acid and related technologies just don't
have the energy density to keep up with internal combustion.
External combustion, though, does have possiblities.

response 5 of 80:

Sep 20 18:07 UTC 1991

There is actually going to be a surprising amount of choice in the 
matter in a couple of years.  Because of the move by California to 
cut their air pollution in the next decade all the major manufactureres at 
the Zurick show had prototypes of Electric or alternatively fueld vehicles.
New York is also going to implement the the California standards which 
call for a certain percentage of vehicles sold by manufacturers in the 
state to produce zero emissions.  Several European countries are looking
at it also.  Nissan has announced a battery that they have achieved 15 min
recharge times.  I'm in the process of getting more exact details on that
one; like recharge from what stage of discharge...etc.  In sweden or was 
it Norway(?) I have heard that they have urban transportation based on 
small electric cars owned by a city that recharge by the curb on special 
grids (like bumper cars?).  People insert their credit cards and drive 
off to where ever.  Parking at another recharging station and inserting 
their credit card again to establish the cost of the trip.  (Better details
for this story would be welcomed).  My impression  is that most of the 
offerings being worked on are going to be expensive.  Like NISSAN and their
luxery sports care EV.  The thing is...what we need is an Electric YUGO
since these things are bound to be 2nd or 3rd cars for people.  They should
be really basic.  Nothing extra and priced so all the people who have 
been wanting them for years can afford them.  The Mercedes Bensz and Porche
folks could care less about environmental impact (Is that an imflammatory
statement?) when it comes to THEIR wheels.

response 7 of 80:

Sep 21 01:29 UTC 1991

Supposedly GM is building an electric in the Buick Riatta plant.  The 
prototype looked feasible, but for some reason they made it a 2 passenger.

response 9 of 80:

Sep 22 23:48 UTC 1991

Re 7: They made it an impractical 2-seat sport coupe to help break the old
stereotypes of modified Le Car type vehicles as 'the car of the future'.

response 11 of 80:

Sep 23 17:41 UTC 1991

Yea..on the issue of polution from electricity generation.  I really want
to see Electrical cars happen on a large scale, but this means we have
to work fast and hard to get clean technologies in place very soon.  Its
probable that there will be an intermediate stage of hybrid systems.  The 
vehicle will generate electricity on the road via a natural gas or hydrogen
fuel cell driven generator.  Anybody know whats happening with fuel cell 
developement.  What is the environmental impact expected to be?

response 13 of 80:

Sep 24 12:11 UTC 1991

From my reading it seems that the size and weight of batteries per unit
of energy, i.e. energy density, is not conducive to portable operation.
The battery size/weight/cost/environmental issues have to be resolved 
before battery powered cars will truly hold an overall advantage over
the current gas powered auto.
The trick with any energy source is to make use of 100% of the available
energy.  If an internal combustion engine could be made to run at much
higher temperatures (400 degrees F+), fuel economy could also be greatly
increased while emissions could be greatly reduced. Also, the fewer steps
one has to go through to make use of an energy source, the better.  Why
burn coal to spin a turbine, to generate electricity, to be transprorted
several miles, to be stepped down, to be stepped down again in a battery
charger, to be stored in a battery, to be controlled by a commutation 
circuit, to spin an electric motor to be linked to wheels that propel a
car.  It would be less costly and more efficient to burn the coal in the
car.

response 15 of 80:

Sep 25 05:12 UTC 1991

NOx emmission does -- it's an unescapable fact of chemistry.
Nevertheless, moderate rises in temperature don't shift the equilibrium
that much-- 300 F cylinder wall temperatures, as achievable in air
cooled engines, is indeed helpful.  Really high temperatures have other
obstacles, our materials technology isn't really up to it yet (although
it is improving rapidly).  Improvements in ceramics could well spell the
difference here.  I vaguely recall that fuel cells for hydrocarbons
require similarly high temperatures -- that's the reason behind the NOx
problem there, & it's another materials technology puzzle.

I think it may be a while before we see fuel cells for coal.  (At
ordinary temperatures, pure carbon is surprisingly inert.) In the
meantime, the technology for coal isn't likely to change much from
today, or even 50 years ago.  There have been some interesting
experiments with magnetohydrodynamics, but pollution control problems
mean that's not likely to become useful for a while, if ever.
Unfortunately, most of the technology for coal seems to require large
sized plants before it becomes worth all the overhead.  On a small
scale, there are just too many hassles -- witness the virtual extinction
of coal fired domestic heating.  Besides, coal is not a renewable
resource, and the radioactivity released ought to give many people cause
for concern.

A more interesting technology might be corn.  Yup, ordinary dried corn.
Turns out it burns very nicely and "fairly cleanly" (especially compared
to wood), it's a renewable resource (of course), and it even burns with
an especially hot flame, which should given it an interesting efficiency
edge.  It also doesn't require any energy to pulverize (unlike wood or
coal) as it already comes in handy firing sizes, and it even comes
pre-packaged with a special rugged low-friction coating.  Yes, sir,
someday you and I may be pouring popcorn into our cars.

response 17 of 80:

Sep 25 17:03 UTC 1991

One point that I should probably make about burning a fuel within the 
vehicle versus burning a fuel at some central location such as a coal
plant.  It is much easier to control the emissions from one source 
rather than many millions.  The point was well taken however about the
inefficiency and waste.

Again, we need breakthroughs and commitment to new and clean technologies.
One possibility will be that photovoltaics will progress to the point
where cogeneration by the many millions mentioned above will become the 
norm.  I don't mean solar run cars but home based recharging stations that
are also tied into the grid.  All the parts are in place for this except
cultural and political resolve.

response 19 of 80:

Sep 26 12:14 UTC 1991

Indeed, the gluttonous use of energy in this country is frightning.  When
I visited Germany a few years ago, I was impressed with the conservation
efforts ingrained into the people.  Air conditioning was almost extinct,
people would turn off their cars if they had to stand idle for more than
a couple of minutes.  Washing machines would spin so fast that the clothes
required only a third or less drying time.  Many houses were equipped with
thermal blinds.  Many of the auto bahn's had special radio transmitters
that could be activated by the local police to transmit alternate route 
very impressive system!)   

response 21 of 80:

Sep 27 10:35 UTC 1991

They also had an impressive rail system.  Trains between all cities and
rural areas, street cars, busses and subways in larger cities.  Lots of
people on bicycles and mopeds.  The respect the bicyclists received was
surprising.
Your point is well taken though Marcus.  Germany is a large energy
consumer and they too need to take more drastic efforts to reduce their
consumption.  But their conservation efforts went well beyond what I was
use to here.  (I may have a German name, but I was born and raised here
and have visited Europe only a few times.)

response 23 of 80:

Sep 27 22:29 UTC 1991

A truly global solar-generation "plant" is an interesting idea; since
it's always sunny *someplace* in the world, if you had enough generating
sites then it shouldn't be a problem if someplace is clouded over, or
if it's night.  Transmission might be a problem, though; I don't know
how practical transmitting electricity over tens of thousands of miles
is.