No.
Traffic managment has to do better.
Traffic must keep moving. Traffic lights must be able to coordinate the flow between them to maximize flow and minimize the number of vehicles that must slow down or stop.
Each light must be it's own neural net, getting data from surrounding lights about traffic heading it's way, and figure out the best way to manage that traffic to keep it moving.
An all aluminum chassis and body? Sure, did you ever check out how expensive that would be?
Aluminum is not necessarily lighter than a comparable steel chassis car, that's because to replace high strength steel with adequate crash resistanc in aluminum, it gets heavy.
Not to mention accident repairs. The new BMW 5 series is proof of that, a small front end collision usually requires the car to be written off, due to its high tech aluminum front clip construction (and the firewall).
We already have that choice.. buy a Prius.
Diesels aren't the answer either. They produce a lot of pollutants that contribute to smog, in comparison to a gasoline engine of the same size.
Don't forget, we're not in a race for fuel economy, we are in a race for MORE POWER from smaller engines, which wipes out the fuel savings. Look at the HEMI, it makes big power from 5.7L and on the highway returns
10.7L/100km, THAT IS AMAZING!!! A Pontiac G6 uses about 10L/100 or so on the highway.Yes, I'd like a more fuel efficient car, that doesn't pollute either. Hmmm, a used Prius or Honda insight just might do the trick ;)
Well, geez.... I learned to drive in a big ol' 1967 Plymouth Fury with a
383cid big-block V8 - it got a pretty easy 20mpg, cushy ride, and plenty of power (could go through huge snowbanks, too, but that's another story). But then again, back then cars were much lighter for their size since they didn't have to deal with extra-heavy bumpers, etc. That huge car only weighed 3700lb.All-aluminum would be expensive, for sure. Maybe some of these new super-strong microfibers they are coming out with will be the answer. I'd prefer a diesel-electric hybrid, so it'd be a little quicker to merge into traffic, etc., but no extra bank of batteries please.
Dunno about the A/C. Cars nowadays get worse mileage with the window down then if you had the window up and A/C on. It would not be an issue if they'd design ventilation systems that were worth a damn (like they used to do... did I mention that the '67 Plymouth would shoot a nice strong breeze on you when you opened the vents?).
A coupla years ago there was a big push to put 42-volt electrical systems in all production cars. That way, P/S, A/C, and other accessories could be run off of the electrical system rather than the mechanical system, thereby improving economies. Whatever happened to that push??
No, there will always be a huge number of people that won't care, or will think the automakers got it right this time around, or don't have time to deal with the issues, are just plain idiots, etc., etc.
Meantime, I'll be waiting for Honda to bring its diesel CR-V stateside...
Funny, I had a 1970 and it got at best 19 MPG cruising down the interstate. Throw in some city driving and it dropped to 14-15 in a heartbeat.
Matt
Absolutely no way, anything even hinting of that will be shot down by the environmentalists, and many other folks like myself.
First of all those plastics are made from oil and we need that for fuel.
More importantly, right now we do NOT have a vehicle disposal problem in the US simply because with the price of steel being so high, it makes it cost effective for the small garage operators to go out and fetch cars. You have an old car that doesen't run anymore that you want to get rid of? There's tons of charities and small operators who will scramble to come get it if you have a title available. If your a city that has to deal with abandonded cars, then you have a ready group of towing companies who will be more than happy to pull these cars off your street and put them in their impound lots, and slap a bunch of made-up fees on them so that in a month they can get the paperwork to auction them off to the wreckers.
Back about 5 years ago when steel prices were in the toilet I remember reading Philadelphia had estimated they had about 10,000 abandonded vehicles on the street and it was going to cost them millions to get rid of them all.
Think for a minute about the lifecycle of a typical car. Most people sell them before they absolutely go kaput. And most cars end up in the hands of the illegal immigrants, or other dirt poor people who basically buy them for $300 then are happy if they can get 4 months of use out of them before they crap out. And when they do crap out these folks just walk away from them and buy another one and do the same thing to it.
If you go making the vehicles out of plastic then when the vehicle dies, it is going to cost money to dispose of. The wrecking yards will all charge money to take them so nobody will be picking up cars for free and selling them to the yards. Instead the local governments are going to end up footing the bill to dispose of these. Russia went through this and we would be stupid not to learn from that example. I have no interest in seeing my tax dollars spent on disposing cars.
It is an asininely stupid idea. The fear was all the new electronics would suck tons of power. The reality is that there's enormous demand from laptop vendors for low-power chips, so much so that companies have spent the R&D to make the newer chips lower power. This means the vehicle electronics can be lower power too, and thus it's becoming a moot issue.
The reason they were looking at 48 volt is that higher wattage devices at 12 volts draw a lot more current than at 48 volts, thus your wires have to be a lot thicker. Would you want to make up wiring harnesses out of cables the thickness of battery cables? But the electronics industry has found it easier to just design stuff to have lower power requirements.
Ted
Wait, who said anything about plastics?? Maybe I should've said carbon nanotubes instead of microfibers... e.g. -
Yes and no. It *is* a arguably a moot issue in the area of information (data, number crunching), *but* where true *physical* power (in the sense of a force thru a distance) is needed (as one example, electric steering; another example: vehicle acceleration), you can't get around the wattage = volts times amps thing which translates into size and weight of wires being dependent on voltage.
For information/data - yes - not for mechanical force x distance.
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')
But in more common urban driving for most people it's on 8 cyl and just eats gas. Yahoo shows US 17 mpg city but Consumer Reports reported 10 mpg.
The 10.7 figure isn't that great, the Globe auto site reports "Fuel Econ (hwy, l/km) : 8.8". What fiction!
See the great figures for the Toyota Avalon 3.5L V6. Almost as fast and great mileage. It doesn't even look ugly, just a bit bland though. .
Where did you get that figure. It uses less than 8L/100 as does the Impalla with the the same V6 engine.
Actually it isn't because the computational power is not what consumes the power. It's the actuation involved in electric braking, steering, valve actuation, common rail diesel injector actuation, and the other new technologies envisioned. Active electric suspension as engineered by Bose will be another huge power sink.
All the electronics in a modern car use power derived from a DC-DC switchmode supply in the assembly itself as opposed to "raw" vehicle bus power. In earlier days you needed plus and minus symmetrical supplies for analog and +5 for digital , now one board may need five power supplies.
Also, almost every chip in any vehicle electronic module is specifically sourced as automotive parts, and will not be found in a laptop, a stereo, or anything else. A few things of course will find application across categories but today almost every chip in a computer is absolutely purpose designed for PC use: automotive "computers' are actually microcontrollers and those have a whole separate line of chips. Small volume stuff will "raid the other guy's parts bins" but the higher the volume the more specialized.
Personally, I would prefer 24V electrics in cars. 24V is standard in aircraft and military vehicles, and years ago you saw a lot of 24V in marine, bus, truck and tractor applications. But the lure of volume automotive enticed the big vehicle and small boat guys back. Sad.
I have a co-worker with one, and he has been tracking the mileage, mostly highway. I don't think that car will do 8L/100, as the Matrix is just a bit better than that ;)... If you're non stop on the highway (long trip) I think you'll do ok.
I drive a 300C a lot, and it's quite decent (not excellent) considering the massive bulk it has to carry. I've been doing better than 22 mpg (US) overall with it.
But, a small car is what I need........ Yaris hatchback ;)..
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