The car of the future?

I looove Top Gear, best car show on TV, although not available in the US, only on YouTube. They should really distribute it here. It's great. (you can buy region 2 dvds on ebay and they do play on laptops)

About the Hydrogen car. It's cool, but the issue with the hydrogen power is the highly exposive and dangerous nature of transporting, and refilling the hydrogen tank and the risk of accidents with it. It pretty much means instant-death with how explosive it is. I think they have to work on the saftey stuff and the cost reduction of offering this technology before it will impact our lives.

Research and development of this kind of thing is still cool though and I hope the new developments keep on coming.

As a former Detroiter, I know that GM will never bring that car to market. They do this kind of stuff to convince congress they are investing in alternative fuels and so they deserve a break on fuel efficiency requirements on the current crop of guzzlers. Its a dog and pony show.

Toyota is eating their lunch and will eventually get around to their breakfast and dinner too if they don't wise up.

Great comment, Karim. Yep, it may be Toyota bringing us that Hy-Wire car, as GM struggles to make changes to its existing plants.

True, this is an old video. But it's significant that it has to appear on YouTube via a feed to generate any buzz...

Pushing a button to make a car move isn't a new idea at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD4Zpq7L6sY&...

The host makes a SARS joke. That made me do a double take!

Oh sure, the future is hydrogen. I read some guy's theory somewhere about hydrogen. He basically says there's a natural progression of fuels, so that, over time, mankind burns fuels with less and less carbon:

Wood (10:1 carbon to hydrogen)
Coal (2:1 carbon to hydrogen)
Oil (1:2 carbon to hydrogen)

I think the guy who came up with this is Jesse Ausubel:

http://phe.rockefeller.edu/AustinDecarbonization/

The prediction is that we move next to methane/CNG/LNG (1:4 carbon to hydrogen) and then, inevitably, to just hydrogen (0 carbon). I don't know if that's true, but a lot of buses around here now run on natural gas instead of diesel. And none of them did when I was a kid.

This has interesting implications for Russia, as they have massive natural gas reserves. GM makes those transit buses that run on CNG. So where is the CNG Hummer? Why is this not on the radar? Interesting question. Maybe we don't want to turn Russia into the next Saudia Arabia? (Note to self: Write sequel to Syriana...)

The future is also very probably drive-by-wire, too. That change is happening slowly, but if you look, it's happening: cruise control, antilock brakes, traction control, electronic throttle controls. We're starting to see cars that can apply their own brakes, cars that can park themselves. The day will come when a direct, mechanical linkage will be considered quaint.

I think the question is not whether we are ready for a car like that, but whether GM is ready for a car like that.

The Hy-Wire is the fantasy GM wants to sell you to convince you that they're still relevant. It's so much marketing. "See how wonderful it's gonna be someday?"

The reality is that GM is cranking out Chevy Tahoes & Suburbans, Lincoln Navigators, Cadillac Escalades, and GMC Yukons. And, um, Hummers.

I think this is a sign GM will be a victim of the "Innovator's Dilemma." You'll drive a car like the Hy-Wire some day. But it will be made by some other company.

Sarah :

Hyrdogen disperses very quickly. It's dangerous to transport in bulk, but the average car will have less energy in hydrogen than it would in a gasoline version (due to much higher efficiency of chemical energy to mechanical conversion). They're not insanely safe - being in the gas plume from a puncture of the tank would be bad - but they're not going to turn into craters randomly.

Range :

Biodiesel is really nasty for the environment. To give an example, Brazil runs at one third biodiesel, and to sustain that, chomps down acres of rainforest so fast that they'll be out by 2060. It tends to burn no more efficiently - and thus produces pollutants at the same rate as or more than - gasoline and diesel.
Growing the fuel ourselves would be significantly ugly as well. Remember, a lot of the fertilizer the United States and most of Europe uses is based on oil products.

Nice find Met! Now to start saving some money...

Jason Cox : You might be interested in this :)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-13115...

Top Gear rules!
Thank God for BBC International so I can watch in Perú...

I think the way to go is biodiesel. However, I'm not sure about how green it is. I've heard reports that it is pretty green.

When I was a child, the forecast was for little microcars running on electricity by 2000. What did we get? The Hummer. I remain a sceptic, not because the demand isn’t there, but because car companies like GM tend to drag their heels because of the capital investment already made in existing infrastructure.

Looks cool, though I wonder if I could swap out the steering wheel for a throttle and a joystick...

For e.g the drive by wire for throttle, transmission and brakes is available on the prius. Not to mention that this technology came from aeroplanes :)

Almost all the technology that is/was showcased in that concept is available on cars of today.
For e.g the drive by wire for throttle, transmission and brakes.


I've not seen its drive technology from the motors on the 4 wheels anywhere else. I believe the same motors can be used to charge the batteries during braking, downhill, etc.

More info here:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hy-wire3.htm


and this was showcased in the 2002 september edition of Automotive Engineering. http://www.sae.org/automag/globalvehicles/09-2002/

It will be sad when fuel does run out because I like the roar of a good cars engine...electric cars just don't have the same sparkle about them.

"Sort of like driving a patio" That winshield would be great for recording video when traveling :)

It's funny, only on thursday I was in a car with three american guys and we were talking cars. The conversation turned to top gear, and I didn't even know you guys have it out here in the US. It seems as though it is as big a phenomenon out here as it is in the UK. No one else seems to be able to do as good a job as Clarkson and Richard "The Hampster"! Hammond.

The conversation of hydrogen fuel cell cars came up and comments such as what happens in an accident? Wouldn't it cause a massive explosion? Oh look they would have to replace sections of road where the accident took place... nice one ;) And things like that... but that is not to say that we do definately need an alternative to petrol and diesel. The sooner the better if you ask me!

BTW are you going to Comic Con ;)

The trailer for that movie on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJAlrYjGz8

That's what I was going to say, Brian. From the stats I've read, the hybrids aren't as economical as, let's say a Toyota Yaris, or any small super mini.

Jeremy Clarkson and the lads from Top Gear kick ass!

It's the best car show on TV. Anywhere! And I'm not even in the UK, I'm in Canada. In Quebec of all places!

No, seriously, if you like cars, you'll love Top Gear, the interaction between the hosts is pretty funny.

Car of the future, but gosh, still old old news by now. Keep up with da Breaking News. ;)

Timing of appearance of this information is curious given the juxtaposition with this movie:

Who killed the electric car?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489037/trailers-sc...

Both these cars could I suppose change the economics of oil but will not reduce the need for massive amounts of energy/fuel of some kind (something has to produce the electricity or the hydrogen necessary to run these cars and there would still be a logistics problem getting the hydrogen or electricity from where it is produce to where the people and cars are).

Old or new it doesn't matter it's going to revolutionize our need for oil...and we need that now. 10-20 years seems so far away.

That was pretty cool, lets say back in 2002.

http://www.autointell.com/nao_companies/general...

Heck that "new" RX-8 should have been the give away to how old this video is.

Where have you been, Scoble ? It's been on every science program for a year!

Holy cow, great find, and what a great bit of publicity for GM. I bet that is watched more that the latest "bold moves" episode :-)

Karl