80 - 250 miles per gallon... it's happening !!!

CORTE MADERA, California (AP) -- Politicians and automakers say a car that can both reduce greenhouse gases and free America from its reliance on foreign oil is years or even decades away.

Ron Gremban says such a car is parked in his garage.

It looks like a typical Toyota Prius hybrid, but in the trunk sits an 80-miles-per-gallon secret -- a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries that boosts the car's high mileage with an extra electrical charge so it can burn even less fuel.




Gremban, an electrical engineer and committed environmentalist, spent several months and $3,000 tinkering with his car.

Like all hybrids, his Prius increases fuel efficiency by harnessing small amounts of electricity generated during braking and coasting. The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in this San Francisco suburb -- all for about a quarter.

He's part of a small but growing movement. "Plug-in" hybrids aren't yet cost-efficient, but some of the dozen known experimental models have gotten up to 250 mpg.

www.cnn.com...

So whats the problem... why not get this technology out and save everyone some money... I just don't get it.

as much as i love to see an alternative that could make America less reliant on foreign oil, reduce pollution etc. the inventor did use the trunk as extra room to add more batteries. so the question is where do u put a stack of groceries or bags of clothes to? the technology still has a lot to go before u can put small batteries that powers the car to about 100 miles to the gallon while not consuming space.

I would give up the trunk space for the extra mileage...

heck, use the back seats for hauling the groceries...

Originally posted by deltaboy
as much as i love to see an alternative that could make America less reliant on foreign oil, reduce pollution etc. the inventor did use the trunk as extra room to add more batteries. so the question is where do u put a stack of groceries or bags of clothes to? the technology still has a lot to go before u can put small batteries that powers the car to about 100 miles to the gallon while not consuming space.

The reason why is he only spent 3000 dollers to retrofit a pre-existing car as there is no such thing as a production plug in hy-brid yet. If Toyota would get off it's ass and offer it as an option, it will most likely not be stored in the Trunk. Hell they should come out with a totally different Hybrid car that has it as standard, put in state of the art lithium batteries and maybe some PowerChips to harness power from waste heat as well. I don't see such a production model coming until at least 2007-08. If Oil is still up their in a year we could see a concept very soon.

Originally posted by elevatedone
I would give up the trunk space for the extra mileage...

heck, use the back seats for hauling the groceries...

What about families who take their kids shopping? This would be better suited to a Hybrid SUV or Minivan to increase mileage.

EDIT How big are flywheel batteries. I've heard they are really good at storing large amounts of energy effieciently but are expensive.

[edit on 15-8-2005 by sardion2000]

well, that won't impress me much...
I have car that goes 100km(60miles) with 4.2L of diesel... and it weights 1800kg with good space for five passengers and a proper trunk... So i really can't see this as a major improvement (why not trying to make a diesel/electric hybrid?)



ps. The car is VW Passat 1.9Tdi

We have had hybrid cars and electric cars for years now. The only reason the gov't is developing them now is beause of the Peak Oil problem. The oil companies didn't want to lose their billions of dollars back in the 80's. We haven't needed oil for decades, because there are many other ways to create energy which are less costly and produce more output.

Look this up for yourself guys and gals. They have had electric cars ever since the Nicola Tesla days. (Late 1890's, early 1900's)

Those batteries in cars have also been around for ages. Joseph Newman has developed an energy machine that will solve all of todays energy problems. He has patents for his device in countries all around the world... EXEPT the United States. I wonder why???

A book discussing his work is entitled "The Energy Machine of Joseph Newman." It has blueprints and shows you everything about the machine and how to build it yourself. Warning that the book is 700+ pages so it is a long read, but worth it.

www.josephnewman.com...

Book [ISBN: 0-9613835-7-7]

In this month's Popular Science, there was a short snippet about an extremely fuel efficient diesel made by Mercedes Benz. It was modeled after a tropical fish which has some of the closest aerodynamic properties to a drop of water [which they say has the ideal aerodynamic properties.] The Car looks awful but they say it can get 70-80mpg highway with its diesel engine. Non-Hybrid, normal diesel engine. The piece said that it was only a prototype and they dont have it slated for production but it also said that it shows that they can make efficient cars.







Link

I'd drive that car with some black and black rims. Anything to save me money.

There's a lot of information on different plug-in hybrid project on the site below:
www.greencarcongress.com...

Quite a few people are working on it and they do have diesel-electric hybrids.

Toyota seems to have some reservations about it but that does seem to be stopping independent outlets from modifying existing hybrids into plug-in hybrids.

calcar

As you well know, the true environmental impact of a plug-in depends on the source of the electrical charge. Coal-burning power plants do not lessen the greenhouse gas production and criteria pollutants increase. Secondly, to create a vehicle that meets consumers’ needs, a breakthrough in battery technology in regard to capacity, durability and cost, is necessary. Outside experts predict this isn’t likely to happen this decade.

In the meantime, we are strongly committed to our hybrid technology which offers a great balance of reduced petroleum consumption, improved fuel economy, cleanest criteria pollutants and driving pleasure at a price people can afford. We have such confidence in hybrids’ durability and reliability that Toyota is looking to increase the number of gas-electric hybrids on the road. We have 10 hybrids under development globally now and by early next decade it's conceivable that 25 percent of the vehicles we sell here in the United States will have hybrid powertrains.

Nobody, including CNN, seems to be asking how much the electricity cost to plug his car in. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually spent MORE money by plugging it in instead of just using gas, but I don't know for certain. If he did actually save money, then you'd think lots of people would start doing this.

Originally posted by asawa
Nobody, including CNN, seems to be asking how much the electricity cost to plug his car in. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually spent MORE money by plugging it in instead of just using gas, but I don't know for certain. If he did actually save money, then you'd think lots of people would start doing this.

Yeah right, people are lazy, ignorant and stupid. If it isn't pretty much handed to them on a silver platter you can forget this tech ever taking off. So Toyota get off your ass!

Well most people are lazy/stupid, not all are. Plus, there are plenty of entrepreneur types out there that are smart and if they thought they could make money providing a service of adding plugs to hybrids, they'd do it (unless the gov't shuts them down for violating some stupid regulation or something, or Toyota sues them, or some patent holder who never uses the patent sues them... which brings us back to your point about people are stupid).

Anyway, I found a web site that compares gas vs electric car costs via a calculator where you enter the current prices, etc.:

www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us...

This is for a very specific OLD electric-only car, so not sure how applicable it would be to the Prius. Electric appears to be cheaper according to the calculations, at least cost per mile (not initial cost of car).

I saw someone going down the street once at about 20mph on roller blades with a small gas engine strapped to one of the boots. I bet he gets great mileage, but it'd suck in the winter around here with all the snow/ice.

my car gets 44mpg, not a hybrid, can out-handle "most" cars on the road now, and its quick (but nowhere near fast at all)


what is it .............................a honda civic HX w/custom adj dampers, bigger stabilizer bars, new control arms, and Stiffer rated springs.