Hybrids and the like - why?
Discussion
What's the rational and reason for so many hyper and supercar makers to be exploiting/developing this technology, or rather wasting money on it?
Thinking about it, most hyper cars are hugely expensive to buy. Thus they are for the large part only toys, however any person who can spend £120,000-1,000,000 on a toy evidently doesn't need to worry about mpg or fuel costs, or even road tax for such a car, as these costs are tiny compared to purchase and maintenance costs.
It's also reasonable to assume that due to the inherent nature of a super/hyper car and the fact many are toys, few will actually do many miles per year. This means any potential fuel savings there might be are too tiny to even bother working out and any emissions reduction on a National or global scale are infinitesimal to be of any concern to anyone.
I'm not sure I can even thing of any real R&D reasons either. As many hypercar makers are not large multinational corporations, but much smaller organisations with likely much smaller R&D budgets than Ford spend on developing the next gen hatchback. So I don't see that this is a cheaper way of delveloping hybrid technology. Not overall.
Ok I can sort of see a marketing angle from maybe Fiat or VAG to have their hypercar brands spearheading new tech to make a statement about the entire group. But even this would seem tentative.
Surely a hypercar is about speed, fun, styling and ludicrous compromises? Anyone else know the reason why some hypercar makers seem to be ploughing money into something that is really pretty pointless for their actual product and chosen market segment?
Thinking about it, most hyper cars are hugely expensive to buy. Thus they are for the large part only toys, however any person who can spend £120,000-1,000,000 on a toy evidently doesn't need to worry about mpg or fuel costs, or even road tax for such a car, as these costs are tiny compared to purchase and maintenance costs.
It's also reasonable to assume that due to the inherent nature of a super/hyper car and the fact many are toys, few will actually do many miles per year. This means any potential fuel savings there might be are too tiny to even bother working out and any emissions reduction on a National or global scale are infinitesimal to be of any concern to anyone.
I'm not sure I can even thing of any real R&D reasons either. As many hypercar makers are not large multinational corporations, but much smaller organisations with likely much smaller R&D budgets than Ford spend on developing the next gen hatchback. So I don't see that this is a cheaper way of delveloping hybrid technology. Not overall.
Ok I can sort of see a marketing angle from maybe Fiat or VAG to have their hypercar brands spearheading new tech to make a statement about the entire group. But even this would seem tentative.
Surely a hypercar is about speed, fun, styling and ludicrous compromises? Anyone else know the reason why some hypercar makers seem to be ploughing money into something that is really pretty pointless for their actual product and chosen market segment?
Mercedes do an E class hybrid.
It's very clever but personally I don't think it's worth the extra money and certainly won't achieve the MPG Merc state. It's supposed to cruise on battery whilst on the motorway but when I drove it it only came on once. We were four up but that's what I wanted to test it as a chauffeur car.
The technology is interesting though.
It's very clever but personally I don't think it's worth the extra money and certainly won't achieve the MPG Merc state. It's supposed to cruise on battery whilst on the motorway but when I drove it it only came on once. We were four up but that's what I wanted to test it as a chauffeur car.
The technology is interesting though.
Horse Pop said:
Because the car is supposed to be a technological showcase?
This - it's about the manufacturers flexing their engineering muscles to say "We're the b
ks". As the perennial example look at the McLaren F1 - first production car with a carbon-monocoque chassis, an engine with so much trickery for the time (VVT, 12 throttle bodies, magnesium bits etc etc), innovative and lightweight design etc. A tour-de-force for its time that firmly established them as a giant of engineering skill.
Surely using a coal fired power station to power an electric car is bordering on insanity at worst, a great big green lie at best?
If the elecricity generating mechanism is on board, then unless the battery is weightless, an IC engine will always outperform it?
If the hybrid were to generate direct power without a battery, then the elecrtic motors and driveline need to be lighter than a conventional drivetrain?
Just how renewable or recyclable is the battery and drivetrain of a hybrid?
For a vehicle to be truly efficient, it needs to cost a minimal amount to make, be entirely recyclable, and involve no dirty processes in it's construction?
If the elecricity generating mechanism is on board, then unless the battery is weightless, an IC engine will always outperform it?
If the hybrid were to generate direct power without a battery, then the elecrtic motors and driveline need to be lighter than a conventional drivetrain?
Just how renewable or recyclable is the battery and drivetrain of a hybrid?
For a vehicle to be truly efficient, it needs to cost a minimal amount to make, be entirely recyclable, and involve no dirty processes in it's construction?
300bhp/ton said:
What's the rational and reason for so many hyper and supercar makers to be exploiting/developing this technology, or rather wasting money on it?
There was an article about this in Autocar the other week saying the hybrid supercars are either being canned or postoned (example: the order book for the Porsche 918 is not encouraging), while traditional supercars are doing well. Example given was the Aventador, which is selling like hot cakes. Which doesn't answer your question...
CurvaParabolica said:
People were making the same argument against mainstream diesel cars around 15 years ago, look where we are with them now.
Where they?? Don't recall that at all tbh, nothing even close. And since when has any mass produced diesel car such as a hatchback, been bought as a millionaires play thing?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff