[InfiniteNow]

Last night, on the PBS program NOVA, the importance and the science of improving our transportation technology was shared in an accessible and entertaining manner. From NPR, Click and Clack from the Saturday morning program "Car Talk" (which has helped people understand, fix, and laugh about problems with their cars for decades) were our guides, with John Lithgow (of 3rd Rock from the Sun and 2010: The Year We Make Contact fame) as the narrator.



The site for the episode, with additional information and resources, is here:

NOVA | Car of the Future | PBS



You can watch the entire program online (split into 6 chapters) at the following:

NOVA | Car of the Future | Watch the Program | PBS



Please watch the program and tell us what you think (or, if you've seen it already, just jump right into your comments).


Which approach do you think will be most fruitful?
Which approach do you find most lacking?

If you support a combination of approaches, perhaps you can assign a percentage, based on your own opinion, as to the role each approach should (or could) play as we move forward into the future.


Above all... watch, enjoy, learn, and hopefully discuss.

[freeztar]

I just finished watching it.

I still like the idea of electric the best. Of course, supplementing this with petro improves the range, but does not solve the foreign dependence issue (unless you use ethanol of course, but that's a whole other quaqmire).

I'd have to agree with the guys from GM. We need better battery tech, not only in terms of storage capacity and safety, but also in terms of recharge time and longevity. No cross country trips to grandma's house in the Tesla just yet.

[InfiniteNow]

What I wondered is, "Why don't we put solar panels on the cars to help recharge the batteries?"

Also, there is work being done on solar paints. We could paint the cars with this, and voila!


I'm glad you saw it. Hopefully others will as well.

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

What I wondered is, "Why don't we put solar panels on the cars to help recharge the batteries?"

Heh, I was thinking the same thing. They made the comment about putting solar panels on the roof of your house and using that to charge your car and I was thinking, "why not keep those panels on the house FOR the house and through some on the roof of the car FOR the car".

Also, there is work being done on solar paints. We could paint the cars with this, and voila!

I don't recall reading about the solar paint idea, though it does sound familiar. I'll have to go look it up.

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by freeztar

Heh, I was thinking the same thing. They made the comment about putting solar panels on the roof of your house and using that to charge your car and I was thinking, "why not keep those panels on the house FOR the house and through some on the roof of the car FOR the car".

I don't recall reading about the solar paint idea, though it does sound familiar. I'll have to go look it up.

The energy density of solar panels is far too low to be of any use in charging the volt or any other solar car you drive every day. Even if the entire surface of the car was a solar panel it wouldn't do much in the way of charging the battery or extending the range. If you only drove a couple days a week or a hour or so a day you migth have something but I would rather ride a motorcycle that gets 60 mpg+ than drive a car that will only get me across town twice a week. If the battery problem can be solved and the car doesn't cost more than I'll make in the rest of my life I would buy one for sure. Of course to really help with the CO2 thing you would need to have a sizeable percentage of your eletricity made by nuclear power. and we all know how much the greenie nuts love that

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

The energy density of solar panels is far too low to be of any use in charging the volt or any other solar car you drive every day.

Not when coupled with regenerative braking, hydrogen fuel cells, high efficiency quick charging batteries, and "plug and drive" technology. It's not about silver bullets. It's about tommy guns.


Come on, people! It's time to get off of our asses!!!

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

Not when coupled with regenerative braking, hydrogen fuel cells, high efficiency quick charging batteries, and "plug and drive" technology. It's not about silver bullets. It's about tommy guns.


Come on, people! It's time to get off of our asses!!!

I can't believe you said that dude, with fuel cells you don't need the batteries! If they can figure out a way to safely store large amounts of hydrgen then all we need is nuclear power to generate hydrogen! A plug and drive car would be cheaper than a hydrogen fuel cell car, both to make and to drive. Why take the extra step to make hydrogen? Once you get the batteries right there is no need for hydrogen in a short drive vehicle and no need for batteries in a long range hydrogen vehicle. Combining the two only makes it that much more expensive. Like having a diesel engine for long range travel and a gasoline engine for short range.

[InfiniteNow]

Did you watch the show? What did you think?


That was just my opinion. The larger point being that attacking one technology does not imply that some combination of technologies cannot work. We need to make this work, that's realy my larger point in nearly all of my posts here at Hypography.

We have the technology.
We have the ability.
We have the intelligence.



Now, we NEED the collective wherewithal to get it done. Man on the moon by the end of the decade... that sort of thing.

Except, this is for our collective survival, not just bragging rights over some other nation.



Sorry... went off there for a second. Watch the show. Let's talk about that.

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

Did you watch the show? What did you think?


That was just my opinion. The larger point being that attacking one technology does not imply that some combination of technologies cannot work. We need to make this work, that's realy my larger point in nearly all of my posts here at Hypography.

We have the technology.
We have the ability.
We have the intelligence.



Now, we NEED the collective wherewithal to get it done. Man on the moon by the end of the decade... that sort of thing.

Except, this is for our collective survival, not just bragging rights over some other nation.



Sorry... went off there for a second. Watch the show. Let's talk about that.

Yes I watched the show, I loved the concept, but it looked a lot like expensive toys for rich boys. I'll be impressed when they come up with a car that someone like me can afford. Until then it's just pie in the sky.

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

Yes I watched the show, I loved the concept, but it looked a lot like expensive toys for rich boys. I'll be impressed when they come up with a car that someone like me can afford. Until then it's just pie in the sky.

Wanna go in half and half on a Tesla?