RE: Lotus goes hybrid
Discussion
boobles said:
thewheelman said:
boobles said:
Mannginger said:
A £30k supermini?
Presume that's like Aston's Cygnet? A sop to the EU manufacturer emissions rather than a serious vehicle?
Presume that's like Aston's Cygnet? A sop to the EU manufacturer emissions rather than a serious vehicle?
This is correct. Aston Martin have done it aswel.
Edited by boobles on Tuesday 13th December 10:47
Pierscoe1 said:
the good bit about it is the fact that the car can be re-fuelled at a conventional petrol station (more-or-less)... which there is already the infastructure for, and that ranges (on the one I heard about, admittedly a while back) are comparable... meaning you could drive, re-fuel, drive again in the same way everyone does currently...
Okay maybe i'm weird but i don't drive, re-fuel, drive again, re-fuel etc and so onI drive 20 miles to work park for 9 hours, drive 20 miles home park for 14 hours, drive 20 miles to work park for 4 hours drive 2 miles to the shop park for 30 minutes, drive 2 miles back to work, park for 4 hours, drive 20 miles home, park for a hour, drive 5 miles to the chip shop, park for 20 minutes, drive 5 miles home, park for 12 hours etc and so on for most of the week then at some point it is refuel, drive home and park for 14 hours
The vast majority of cars spend far more time parked then they do driving so the 8 hour recharge time isn't a huge issue. Unless you do a large amount of miles then buy a diesel car.
If you want a toy then buy a light petrol one
If you want to show how rich you are then buy a heavy petrol one.
Pierscoe1 said:
battery-electric cars currently are utterly useless becasue if I want to go visit family at the other side/end of the country, I have to stop overnight half-way, just to re-fuel. fuel-cell cars wouldn't suffer from this... although they obviously have plenty of other problems from what you've said....
The nissian leaf can recharge to 80% full in 30 minutesWhy do you have to stop overnight for a 30 minute charge
thinfourth2 said:
The nissian leaf can recharge to 80% full in 30 minutes
Why do you have to stop overnight for a 30 minute charge
Not from a 13amp socket it doesn't.Why do you have to stop overnight for a 30 minute charge
Most people do sometimes want to make longer journeys and unless they can afford to have two cars then pure EV is no good to them.
Maybe a plug-in petrol/electric would suit more poeple?
Lotus have certainly got their green credentials ar*e about face! The UK may not be the centre of automotive salvation in context of the world market, and really we are being bombarded with green messages from our goverment but our economy simply cannot cope with its introduction just yet, just leave it to the Chinese and Japan to have it over there.
I personally think Ford are on the right track with their new smaller more frugal 1litre 3 cyl turbo engines that will be coming in soon, rather than putting all your eggs into the 'electric' revolution.
I personally think Ford are on the right track with their new smaller more frugal 1litre 3 cyl turbo engines that will be coming in soon, rather than putting all your eggs into the 'electric' revolution.
cheesyblob said:
boobles said:
thewheelman said:
boobles said:
Mannginger said:
A £30k supermini?
Presume that's like Aston's Cygnet? A sop to the EU manufacturer emissions rather than a serious vehicle?
Presume that's like Aston's Cygnet? A sop to the EU manufacturer emissions rather than a serious vehicle?
This is correct. Aston Martin have done it aswel.
Edited by boobles on Tuesday 13th December 10:47
Regarding the Hydrogen thing, it's uneconomical to extract, but if you pair it up with the other stupid science of widescale wind turbines, it suddenly becomes a lot more sensible; the power the wind turbines create when nobody needs it is used to produce hydrogen. When I get to be a dictator of a small island nation that's what I'm going to do anyway. 
It's much more sensible to use the excess wind power to pump water up a hill to store in a reservoir. When you need electricity and there is not much wind you let some water flow down through a turbine.
supersingle said:
Not from a 13amp socket it doesn't.
Nope, but I bet there are more 3 phases charging points than hydrogen filling stations.The stone age did not end because they ran out of stones.
Iron was better.
If they engineer something that outdoes the current crop of petrol & diesel vehicles, in all areas, then we will see real fleet turnover. The longer they don't manage this, the (insert your own word) (braver) the ecovehicle pioneers will appear.
Iron was better.
If they engineer something that outdoes the current crop of petrol & diesel vehicles, in all areas, then we will see real fleet turnover. The longer they don't manage this, the (insert your own word) (braver) the ecovehicle pioneers will appear.
Every day the world consumes 91 million barrels of crude oil (210 litres/barrel) each year that goes up by another 2 million barrels a day and is accelerating in consumption. Oil is a finite substance that took billions of years to accumulate, increasingly hard to find.
http://omrpublic.iea.org/
As stocks get depleted / extraction gets far more expensive and at the same time world population has tripled in the last 60 years the price of oil will continue to climb steeply.
If you think petrol and diesel are expensive now, in 10 years time 2011 prices will look ridiculously cheap, at the same time your standard of living is very likely to have been reduced from now, and of course it will in time run out altogether.
Other forms of propulsion may not sound appealing, there may be no alternative.
http://omrpublic.iea.org/
As stocks get depleted / extraction gets far more expensive and at the same time world population has tripled in the last 60 years the price of oil will continue to climb steeply.
If you think petrol and diesel are expensive now, in 10 years time 2011 prices will look ridiculously cheap, at the same time your standard of living is very likely to have been reduced from now, and of course it will in time run out altogether.
Other forms of propulsion may not sound appealing, there may be no alternative.
Bioethanol can replace fossil petrol, although grain is required. (Ensus plant mothballed). There will always be competition for the world's resources. Hopefully, money remains the means of exchange, as the alternatives are really few.
Luckily, oil consumption in the developing world is largely discretionary.
Luckily, oil consumption in the developing world is largely discretionary.
Edited by 1point7bar on Monday 19th December 20:00
the ronin said:
Airbags and emmisions are among the reasons.... The hyped unproven HP is another...... As I said taking orders on five cars in the US that aren't road legal in the US is a joke...
This Lotus have nothing the US buyer wants at this time ...can they pawn off the rest of their production to China and survive ?
Are Lotus going to sell the Exige V6 in the US?This Lotus have nothing the US buyer wants at this time ...can they pawn off the rest of their production to China and survive ?
I wonder, do you speak for the entire American motoring population? Lotus don't have to sell that many cars compared to other manufacturers to stay solvent. The market is there for companies to exploit and why should Lotus not have a go? Why do you think their marketing is so wrong?
As for hybrids, Toyota sold quite a few Prius' after all and they're dull as ditchwater!
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