Diesel vs Electric vs Hybrid Cars
Author: adrianne leneige
When the glossy marketing techniques of the automobile companies make it so difficult to choose just one of the aperfecta, highly developed cars of the future, as they are presented to you in all those commercials, it's more and more difficult to weigh your choice. Let's see beyond the shiny coachwork, the comfy leather seats and the multi-tech car stereo and focus on the element that makes all the difference: the car's engine! Diesel, electric or hybrid motor, now that is the big question?
Now, let's continue climbing this pyramid of the car engine's technology and make an inventory of the pros and cos of the electric cars. This type of car seems to be any environment concerned driver's dream. Using one or two motors for propulsion, therefore converting fuel into electricity, they are the less polluting type of vehicles at the moment. That's not all. If you're a speed addicted, you will surely appreciate its second major advantage: it can launch from standstill with maximum force, where do you add that, from a mechanically point of view, is much easier to get it repaired. To lower down your enthusiasm, I will have to remind you, though, that you should schedule your driving sessions way in advance, for it will take a while till you get its batteries charged. Also, another issue is represented by the recharging stations' infrastructure, their high costs, to be more specific, which instantly increases the costs of electricity for the electric cars driven there to recharge their batteries.
We have finally retied the highest position in the hierarchy of car technology, where we can find, nicely displayed, the car of the future: the hybrid car, the one that brings together the energy of the electrical motor with the power of the gas-powered engine. Immediately a thought crosses our minds: it's the environmental friendly car we have all been expecting, with lower pollution emissions. There's more! We might be concerned about pollution and CO emission, but we cannot stop thinking about the effect a new car's purchase might have on our wallet. Luckily, its batteries do not need to be charged by an external source and hybrid cars determine a reducing of the dependency on fossil fuels. You might be thinking: since this is the closer to perfection car of our-days, what disadvantages might it present? Well, the first one would be that they are not accessible to everyone, being expensive even from the car lot. The second problem, that we've tackled when we focused our attention on Diesel cars, would have to be the engine's heavy weight. Now, one embarrassing problem and concern for manufacturers would be the high voltage accumulated in its batteries, which diminishes its safety in case of car accident.
In conclusion, dear future buyer, it's you who decides which is the most important quality from your perspective, the one should prevail in a car: safety, speed, environment safety, costs, reliability etc. There's no such thing as the perfect type of car, only the newest type of car!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/diesel-vs-electric-vs-hybrid-cars-1391639.html
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Check the facts on bio diesel. It is very close to the original fuel Diesel used to run his engine.
People think diesel is bad for the environment, but the facts are that it is a cleaner fuel than gas with the exceptions of the particle emissions, ie soot.
Diesel is the scum fuel or the first processing of crude oil to usable oil. There are many diesel electric cars in Europe, which has tougher standards for most countries that in the US.
It boils down to political. Big oil does not want you using a cheaper fuel so they can continue to make massive profits.
Bio on a train would be very useful, as well as bio for most of the big rigs. Better fuel economy, power, and emissions. But that means planting more for fuel than food, and that also is political as we sell to and feed most of the 3rd world.
Sorry its a big political sham, that’s why I am going bio this year and converting waste vegi oil.
can I produce clean water, electricity and cooling at the same time from bio-diesel or solar?
This technology is called tricogeneration, but is seem as though not even money can buy it. There seems to be many false leads on the internet or there are lots of prototypes that have not hit the market yet. I have just spent $500,000.00 U.S.D on a water treatment plant and a seperate diesel generator to run a resort. I would be willing to pay much more for a more progressive system. Can some one put the components together and sell me a system that gives you distilled water, Power generation and utilizes the waste heat to produce either refrigeration and or air conditioning? The need for a bio-Diesel or solar electric generator that produces fresh water and cooling as a biproduct is crucial in most parts of the world. I have found a solar desalination plant on the internet that they produce in India but have not yet been able to buy them due to lack of responce from the web site contact (a very common thing on the internet). They are either booked, don’t care or can’t perform.V
Excellent sustainable strategy, and yeah, it’s REALLY hard to wallow through all the BS out there if you aren’t sure what to look for.
I wish I had your budget for upgrades, lol. I don’t even know what country you are in so I don’t know if there is any govt assistance to offset the costs. And I know NOTHING of “resort finance”, so I don’t know what the acceptable ROI of green technology is for you.
There must be environmental engineering companies out there that specialize in what you want, but it would take a lot of “eclectic(?)” skills collected under one roof. It is difficult to give you definitive answers without knowing where your resort is located, i.e. a ski resort is going to have different energy needs than a beach resort. If you are looking for fresh water and AC I assume it is a beach resort.
Speaking of co-gen … great way to increase the efficiency of fossil fuel based technology, but doesn’t really replace it, it just uses the energy that would have been wasted. A good example on a large scale is the relationship between Bruce Nuclear and Bruce Energy Center. Some of the waste heat from electrical generation is used to heat acres of greenhouses. Have you considered a greenhouse as a source of AC? Or incorporating as much green as possible into interior spaces? It may not completely replace your AC compressors, but it will lighten the load. If you encorporate a water misting system into your greenery, the tiny water droplets will absorb a lot of heat as well. It takes much more energy for water to change state than to change temperature, so it is a good source of cooling. You can look up the terms “Latent heat of fusion” and “Latent heat of … vaporization(?)” to learn more about the effect. That is a natural form of AC that could reduce your power consumption.
When you say water treatment plant I’m not sure if you mean incoming potable water, or outgoing waste water. If I recall correctly there is a company in Australia (Rowater) that makes portable desalination and purification plants. Offhand, I do not know how their product compares to those of other companies. A “solar still” might be a method of water purification to be considered in your case. SolAqua in Texas makes a product, but I think it can be done better. Nature has many elegant engineering solutions to common problems which have been replaced by machines that run on oil.
Lots of ideas, but no way to know if they are applicable to YOUR situation. Basically, I am thinking that a miniature indoor rain forest would offset the energy needs of your resort. I don’t believe you need to burn bio-diesel to do it either. I have other ideas, but it comes down to if you got the money, I got the time; if you got the retainer, I got the proposal.
I can be reached through my profile.
Which would make more sense? Converting diesel electric trains to biodiesel, or?
creating steam turbines that can run on ANYTHING to power the electric generators in modern engines?
Why haven’t cars been made with the Chevy Volt concept all along, like all those diesel-electric locomotives?
Long before plug-in batteries were practical for cars like the Chevy Volt, diesel-electric trains were running on the same general concept, with the combustion engine generating electricity and not physically attached to the drive-line.
It seems very logical to have just an electric motor powering the drive-line, to reduce the complexity of transmission gearing, etc. The small gas (or diesel) generator under the hood could be less complex than a typical engine and much easier to swap out if it fails. It could be designed for a much narrower range of RPM, like a stationary generator.
Since the Volt can get about 37 MPG in “generator mode” (after the battery charge fades), was such a system (minus the main plug-in battery) practical long ago? Or was there some breakthrough in making a super efficient gas generator that’s part of the Volt package?
anon a: I don’t think you read the gist of my question. There would be no need for a “drive battery” just an onboard generator powering the electric motor vs. powering the wheels itself.
You can buy public address amplifiers that run off a car battery (12 volt). You can buy a solar powered battery charger, I’m pretty sure. That should be all you need, and because of the battery you will be able to play at night!
Diesel electric boat, efficiency?
I have a diesel engine with two etek (48v ish/ 8hp) motors as generators and two etek motors as motors hooked up to two propellers on a catamaran.
The problem:
There is a variable load for a given speed. i.e. as the boat goes uphill the load will increase to a theoretical maximum and down again as the boat goes down the other side of an ocean swell, swells can be large 50ft + so this is important.
What is the most efficient way to control this setup, taking into consideration a variable load.
I have looked at various systems:
Using a variable, constant speed governor actuator controller. i.e. controls the amount of fuel to the engine to maintain a specified speed (typically for AC generators). And two three way contactors for forward, reverse and off.
Using a controller for each motor as opposed to the contactors. I assume the voltage output of the controllers is proportional to input voltage as controlled by the governor controller.
Or simply two contactors and just vary voltage using the standard engine speed control.
Another question if you have time is how to take off any excess power, for example if there is excess power produced by the engine to take this off to the water maker or water heater. I was looking at some of the 48v solar charge controllers that have a diversion function.
Efficiency is paramount as the amount of fuel that can be carried is limited and this is for long range application.
An old bit of technology that was used for turbo electric drive ships in WW2 was the use of a “Rototrol” (Ward Leonard) control system. This was a close coupled motor generator(MG) set that was used to control field excitation to the DC propulsion generator. This excitation voltage was producted by applying voltage and current from the motor in such away that the MG excitation was adjusted which in turn adjusted the MG set output which then adjusted the Main Generator output. In essence the MG set controlled the output of the Main DC generator based upon the motor load and applied power. This was a simple and robust electro mechanical speed regulator that worked quite well to minimize RPM and power fluxuations in rough seas.
Now a days you could do the same thing with an electronic speed control. Same concepts, monitor voltage and current to the motor then adjust field excitation to the generator accordingly. Control of field excitation is the quickest way to control generator output and motor speed in response to rough seas. The governor of the prime mover will act as a courser load limit and will react to load changes but in a slower fashon.
Freshwater distillation can be done with waste heat from the engine jacket water and the use of ships electrical power to operate pumps and controls. Large ships can use a shaft generator to provide some electrical power. This is done when teh ship will be crusing at a constant speed for an expected duration. This is done to increase efficiency as a less efficient ships generator can be stopped while the shaft gen is in operation as extrat load on the more efficient main propulsion motor.
The power system in TopGear’s ‘Geoff’ or ‘Eagleray Hammerhead-i’ was similar to an electric-diesel locomotive, as James May knows his trains.
He stuck a small diesel generator in the car which made energy for the batteries to power the slightly rubbish electric motor.
I think the problem with using the Volt’s concept in cars of the past is simply due to the added cost of having to engineer brand-new state of the art (Almost experimental) parts to power a car which has no guarantee of even working…
I was wondering if anyone else plays an electric instrument off grid?
My family and I live in an ex-Amish house. It is not equipped with wires or hydro so we use a diesel generator. I have an electric guitar but haven’t played it because of our situation. I was wondering if anyone else uses solar panels for their instruments.. or how do I do that? Thank you.