http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120114p2a00m0na013000c.html

 

Osaka students build eco-friendly hydrogen fuel cell car

 

A group of students at Osaka Sangyo University have built a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, and unveiled it to the public in Tokyo on Jan. 13.

 

This is the first successful fuel cell electric vehicle project in Japan not backed by a major car company.

 

The vehicle was built as part of Osaka Sangyo University's ongoing research on fuel cells and hydrogen fuel as a potential power source for future generations of automobiles. The students assembled the car in their spare time using parts they bought on the open market.

 

The vehicle is a sporty two-person car with a battery output of only 7.5 kilowatts -- about one-tenth that of commercial electric vehicles. However, it has a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour. The car has also been designed to generate electricity at the same time the power is being used.

 

"We have worked on this project even during school breaks, so I was thrilled when it moved," says one of the students.

 

The vehicle, which has already obtained a license plate to run on public roads, was unveiled to the public in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Jan. 13. Former Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Masaharu Nakagawa also attended the event.

 

(Mainichi Japan) January 14, 2012

I LOVE green cars!! Though I'm much more into sparkly emerald green over Dom Pant's Green when it comes to cars. ;)

:rolleyes::thinking: Dare I wonder what that is in reference to?:)

>Nice to see the student group at Osaka Sangyo University succeed in producing a small, light EV powered by hydrogen - oxygen fuel cells!! The future is coming fast, and hydrogen as an energy carrier is a viable contender, good to see them honing their skills at using fuel cells in vehicles!

I took a gander at the CODA website, linked for all to see: CODA Electric Vehicle, Electric Cars, Zero Emissions EV Car, Electric Vehicles | CODA Automotive

This car was named best green vehicle at a San Diego auto show! Achieving from 125-150 miles per charge, it sounds like a good option with enough extra energy to spare in case your commute it a little longer than expected, the weather is cold, there's a lot of traffic, hills to climb, and the like.

http://www.care2.com/causes/increasing-fuel-economy-standards-would-be-a-giant-leap-forward.html

 

Increasing Fuel Economy Standards Would Be a Giant Leap Forward

 

by Gina-Marie Cheeseman January 19, 2012 10:00 am

 

The Obama administration’s proposed fuel economy standards for 2017 to 2025 passenger vehicles are a “giant step forward,” according to Luke Tonachel, a senior analyst in the Energy and Transportation program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

 

Tonachel testified about the proposed standards, which would require passenger vehicles for 2017 to 2025 to achieve 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg), during a public hearing in Detroit on January 17, the first of three hearings on the standards held this month. The proposed standards are expected to be put in place by next summer.

 

“Without the standards, we will unnecessarily send $350 billion overseas to OPEC and other oil producing countries. We will also pad the revenues of the oil industry by another $150 billion,” Tonachel pointed out. The proposed standards means that the $500 billion will be invested “back into our economy and create almost 500,000 new jobs while cutting carbon pollution by the equivalent of 76 coal power plants.”

 

Hillary Sinnamon of the EDF testified at the Detroit hearing that increasing passenger vehicle standards “is one of the most effective things we can do to reduce our dependence on oil, and will likely be one of President Obama’s greatest climate and energy security legacies.”

 

UAW President Bob King said at the hearing, “Adopting the proposed rules will give an additional boost to the revival of the auto industry.”

 

The proposed standards, combined with the standards for 2012 to 2016 model year (35.4 mpg) vehicles finalized in 2010, would reduce oil consumption by an estimated 12 billion barrels, reduce carbon emissions by more than six billion metric tons, and provide $1.7 trillion in national fuel savings, and would save consumers more than $4,000 over the life of their vehicle, according to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

 

A joint report by the NRDC, United Auto Workers (UAW) and the National Wildlife Federation released last August stated that the proposed standards would reduce oil dependence in the U.S. and create jobs.

 

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/increasing-fuel-economy-standards-would-be-a-giant-leap-forward.html#ixzz1k05qpv9q

54.5 MPG?

 

I guess that will kill of the idiotic super-cars which has miles per gallon figures in single figures

Like the super-bee?:thinking: ...When fuel was 10 cents a gallon, driving was reckless, and seatbelts were optional!:laugh3:

>It's good to keep one's options open. I found it interesting, here's an inventor working on a motorcycle and future car that can run on almost any type of fuel - hybrid design makes it possible, and sterling cycle engines. Dean Kamen developing eco hybrid that will run on anything that burns

> And an all-electric back-to-the-future motorcycle! All-electric Tron Lightcycle hits the streets - Image 1 of 6

retro sci-fi :cool:

Of course there are a lot of simple things that can help solve the problem as well. Like better coordination of stops, to reduce the number of trips, and buying locally, which reduces transportation energy for both consumers and producers..:daisy: bee green.

Is the foldable car in your future? The Foldable Car: Coming to a Parking Spot Near You | Hybrid Reality | Big Think

When you're leaving work, heading home to the neighborhood, a thousand houses long, finding the transportation solution that offers commutability to and from the rail passenger boarding zones is a must - and thus, the self-folding compact may play a leading role in our future!

sorry to put my 2 cents into the thread, but I'm going to try to get a car in the next month probably a honda civic. I hear they're good on gas mileage and really safe. I'd eventually get a hybrid, but I'd rather wait a few years or a decade to see how they are overall (like the battery).

A thread for green cars? Yeeey

 

 

probably someone has alredy made this joke btw...

This cold weather is hitting my MPG rather badly, dropped from 60 to 55 in the past 2 weeks :(

advice and tire inflation

 

sorry to put my 2 cents into the thread, but I'm going to try to get a car in the next month probably a honda civic. I hear they're good on gas mileage and really safe. I'd eventually get a hybrid, but I'd rather wait a few years or a decade to see how they are overall (like the battery).

> hm, sounds logical, the mpg for the civic sedan is on the order of 47 mpg Imperial / 39 mpg U.S. on the highway, which is pretty good! I'm still confused though as to why it's taken so long to get the MPG ratings up - definitely foot dragging by the automotive industry.

I would imagine that if you did buy a Honda hybrid, given the company's reputation for reliability and durability, it would be a good choice too, and the mpg jumps to 53 UK / 44 U.S both city and highway driving. I wonder why they don't use more capacitors in the hybrids, since there's less loss and less cycling issues, faster response time, and great longevity? Perhaps it's just one more component, which adds a little more complexity, and a little more cost..

Better yet, why not try out the new Honda Electric Fuel Cell Car?! Runs on a combination of Lithium Ion batteries and Hydrogen visa vi a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell, making this car incredibly advanced for a production model!

Honda FCX Clarity - How FCX Works - Official Web Site

This cold weather is hitting my MPG rather badly, dropped from 60 to 55 in the past 2 weeks :(

>> Winter cold tends to do that, but you'll get some of that back in the summer! And 55 is still excellent mpg!! :) I think the real answer is in the engineering department and implementing what already exists in prototypes is a matter of the markets - we each do our part, but the larger lever at the top is what needs to be pulled; better governance makes all the difference in that regard.

High efficiency was the aim in 1893, when the first U.S. production automobile was designed by the Duryea Brothers in Springfield, Mass.The Project Gutenberg eBook of The 1893 Duryea Automobile In the Museum of History and Technology, by Don H. Berkebile. Incorporating an engine based on the Atkinson cycle was their first wish, but with an untested design in their first engine, in order to meet their production goals and get their car company off the ground, they had to settle on adapting the engine design of Maybach and Benz's, which had all the reliability problems solved. Still, in that first attempt at a production automobile in America, there was the spark of innovation at work, trying to improve upon the efficiency and power density of the automobile engine, and today we have come full circle; many makes utilize a virtual Atkinson cycle to improve efficiency, and there is the real possibility that this once-innovative design, the product of the mind of British engineer Atkinson, will become a real contender not just in the virtual sense, but perhaps in the real sense as well.

Four leaf clovers get overlooked in this world, so don't be afraid to look in the past for answers about the future. ;)

I just read in the January Edition of Top Gear about the Fisker Karma,looks like a supercar,and apparently goes like one,but runs on batteries. Looks pretty cool,also Leonardo Dicaprio has one!

 

Maybe the future of cars is battery power!

I just read in the January Edition of Top Gear about the Fisker Karma,looks like a supercar,and apparently goes like one,but runs on batteries. Looks pretty cool,also Leonardo Dicaprio has one!

 

Maybe the future of cars is battery power!

It's a sweet car - good Karma, looks like a Shelby Cobra! Well of course, it's probably priced for those who can afford electric supercars, no doubt the best directors are all getting one soon. I think it could well be that electrics will be strong contenders for the future, but I think the future will be a mix, for a while at least.

There's a Lightning GT now from Britain, the race for sporty electrics heats up!

 

The Lightning GT: Britain’s answer to the Tesla Model S and Fisker Karma?

 

Good to see them testing the limits of what's possible.;)

I see Nissan are releasing a cut-price version of the Leaf with some stuff taken off it

I see Nissan are releasing a cut-price version of the Leaf with some stuff taken off it

I hope it still has chloroplasts!:P And leaves do need their waxy coats to keep them shiny and to maintain the moisture within.. best to cut them gently! ;)

Yea! That sounds great to me - I might take a serious look at one, since my antique car is returning to the hematite from which it was born. It's getting a little bit too earthy..:laugh3:

I chatted on-line with a leaf rep, and the one thing holding me back is the range - I would leap at a leaf if I lived in a city, but here is the sticks, leafs would need to have a little more windedness to make it to places and back. He did take note of my suggestion to add an optional range-extender battery pack in back, like many other makers of electric car makers are doing. Come to think of it, that was the issue with the early electrics, there are a couple of early Baker electrics running around Menominee - they were & still are excellent for buzzing around town in, picking up groceries and all that, but are limited to a range of maybe 25 miles tops (pretty good for the early 1920's). Leafs go up to 100 miles with fresh batteries, which is great for most commutes, but I'd be limping home on the last drops of juice in the batteries! So maybe the optional battery pack is in the offing soon!!:)

They go up to 100 miles in optimal conditions, which will properly be with the motor going at a constant speed and nothing else draining the battery (ie AC/Stereo).

They go up to 100 miles in optimal conditions, which will properly be with the motor going at a constant speed and nothing else draining the battery (ie AC/Stereo).

> Yes, driving with a feather pedal as they say, whistling a tune!:whistle: << kind of a snarky smiley though!:laugh3: Not quite what I intended..

>Or maybe with a solar-powered, wind-up-optional radio in the car. I think the better option is to get some added batteries, which is preferable since deep-cycling is usually deleterious to battery life, and one has to consider surprises, like construction detours, strong headwinds, add weight of hitchhikers from another galaxy, etc.;)

Adding 20 - 50 more miles works for me. Is a leaf in your future?

 

I would like to recommend some Green websites I ahve recently found since starting a new year resolution to live a greener life. I found a great list of these websites on the Guardian, an English newspaper! These sites have everything from how to live greener by changing household products to compeletely changing your life with a new house and car to help the enviroment. Treehuger It's another US-based site with appeal for green people! Freecycle - help others and do your bit for the environment by 'recycling' anything from left over knitting wool to an old washing machine". Offer sites as Groupon are perfect for one time deals on green products!

 

I will let you know how my greener life is getting on, so far I ahve changed most of my househodl products to bio friendly ones, the next step is perhaps the car.

Hello Sarah!

Glad you're going green!! It can be a challenge, but like climbing a mountain, one step at a time + worth it for the strength it builds, the view it offers. I love those sites!! I'm trying some simple experiments in being greener as well, tumbling broken drinking glasses in a cement mixer to polish them into smooth friendly pebbles, since they otherwise just get broken further and buried in landfills here. Something from my childhood, I always enjoyed walking on the beach, picking up all the bits of glass tumbled and polished by the waves into little smooth rounded 'gemstones', I think nature knows best. :)

In an almost completely unrelated topic, I discovered this neat site, devoted to creating glass window artwork from recycled glass objects - really neat!.

Recycled Glass Bottles

How about a car that delivers Green Power!

Portable Quiet Solar Backup Generator

> Yes, driving with a feather pedal as they say, whistling a tune!:whistle: << kind of a snarky smiley though!:laugh3: Not quite what I intended..

>Or maybe with a solar-powered, wind-up-optional radio in the car. I think the better option is to get some added batteries, which is preferable since deep-cycling is usually deleterious to battery life, and one has to consider surprises, like construction detours, strong headwinds, add weight of hitchhikers from another galaxy, etc.;)

Adding 20 - 50 more miles works for me. Is a leaf in your future?

 

 

Not a leaf, but I've been looking at a Hyundai i20 Blue as my next car. 70s mpg and a co2 figure of 98 (meaning free road-tax in the uk at the moment :))