The future of motoring

[Frikkin Evil]

I was just pondering what the latest hybrid tech offerings from the likes of Porsche, BMW and Lexus will mean for the future of the motor car. It's actually quite difficult to predict what way the car market will aim in the future when it comes to power sources... there are so many ideas such as fuel-cell, hybrid, hydrogen, gas, bio-fuel, steam, solar...

I wondered what people's visions of the future are for the car industry. It's clear that diesel and petrol power is having to become more and more efficient, and oil resources will eventually become scarce. So what will this mean for cars, and in particular... Sports cars? Will fast cars become the preserve of the rich? Or will we all be doing an electrically powered 0-60 in under 2 secs?

And what place does that leave for our beloved gas-guzzlers from the 20th century?

Apologies if this is a little deep for a thursday lunchtime! 

[Wiggy]

Great topc and once I think about quite a lot (especially when stood at the pump)

Its hard to say where we are going. There will always be some petrol/diesel around but it will as you say become more and more expensive as oil reserves vanish.
I guess electric will be the next thing, its already here after all and its getting better every year. Electric motors are super powerful and offer huge torque, its just getting them more efficient in operation I guess as batteries are heavy don't last.
I recon there are things being done as I type by people such as Honda/Toyota where you can run a sporty car for about 600 miles on one charge....

We'll have to wait and see I guess.... 

[calam]

from the looks of things like the motor shows etc, it looks like we'll be driving round in electric boxes in the near future, leaving the gas guzzling for trackdays or limited mileage deals.
So i suppose we will become even more of an exclusive club, although, parts may become a bit of an issue.

Surely electric has to come from somewhere though? So not really the most economical. I cant see everyone moving to electric when they will have make bigger power stations creating more damage to the atmosphere. Hydrogen power is probably where it will be at.

A question for the short term...my cars 20yrs old this August. Are these cars still eligible for free tax after 25 years or have the goal posts changed yet again?

[Wiggy]

the cut off for the free tax was pre 1973, sorry dude...

[calam]

Thanks for that lol 
i thought the reason for being tax free was because your car had paid for itself over the years from all the road tax we pay each year.. Whats the difference between 25 years worth of payments pre 1973 and post 1973?


Scheming bunch of W******s!

rant over lol

[Wiggy]

I think the 25 years was when it was 25 years past 1973 (1998) anything beyond that year isn't included 

Bummer coz I'm on 22 

[Frikkin Evil]

Let's face it, there's no chance the government is going to stop milking that cash cow. They have zero incentive to let anyone else get away with paying road tax.

If methane energy could be harnessed effectively, then the houses of parliament would be the only power station we'd need!

In terms of technology, I can't help but feel that hybrids are a half-way tech, which will keep us going til some real leap is made in battery design or fuel-cells.

[Chris_de_Bear]

I think KERS is probably the next piece of technology to move from F1 to road cars. (Kinetic energy recycling).

This has huge benefit with stop - start motoring in that braking energy is stored and pumped back out to get you started again, rather than the current system where fuel is burned getting you up to speed, then that energy is converted to heat and brake wear.

Electric cars have the huge benefit that they are already half way to having what's needed for KERS, with the battery and electric motor. In the case of some motors, they can already act as generators as well.

A bonus of KERS for us enthusiats is that the economy loss with 'spirited driving' is much less, therefore the powers that be will be less inclined to restrict power outputs.

[Coyoteboy]

Interesting topic, I've heard a few lectures from high-end motor manufacturers so far on the matter, their opinion is becoming fairly clear after a decade of prototyping;

Most suggest all-elec is not the way forward except for city driving. Motors are massively more efficient than petrol engines and easier to control, but charging and discharging batteries isnt 100% effiient, and battery power/weight ratio is orders of magnitude smaller than that of petrol - it's simply not viable for anything other than very short range without a monumental leap in battery/storage technology.

KERS, or its electrical counterpart, is already in place in just about every hybrid out there - they regenerate on braking, supping the momentum of the car to charge the battery pack or next accel.

Expect to see hybrid everything eventually, making use of the torque from 0rpm that motors have for accel, but gathering the power from ever decreasing quantities of petrol/D through an engine.