VIDEO: Top Gear looks at alternative fuels in 1990
As difficult as it may be to believe, interest in alternative fuel vehicles actually pre-dates the launch of AutoblogGreen a little more than two years ago. Another fact that may be tough to swallow is that the BBC's Top Gear was not always the hour of silliness we see today with Clarkson, Hammond and May. In fact Top Gear's current format only began in 2002. Going back in time it had a more staid magazine style format with hosts such as William Woollard. Way back in 1990, Woollard did a pair of segments on alternative fuels and the threat of Global Warming from increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Watching these 18 year old segments, it seems not a lot has changed. Woollard looked at hydrogen with an early prototype of the BMW Hydrogen 7, methanol, CNG, solar powered EVs and even hybrids. The GM Impact, the precursor to the EV1, even makes a brief appearance while discussing battery electric vehicles. In that pre-lithium ion era, sodium sulfur batteries seemed to be one possible solution to range and weight problem of storing electrons. Although such batteries were tested by automakers, the high operating temperatures (up to 350 °C) limited their usefulness. Nonetheless, the similar Zebra batteries are still being evaluated today and used in some applications. Check out the videos after the jump. Thanks to Joseph for the tip!
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GoodCheer 1:11PM (7/03/2008)
Wow, good find.
It's a bit depressing that we're still saying "maybe in a few years" when all that was being discussed (on Top Gear no less) 18 years ago.
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Tman 3:27PM (7/03/2008)
The Audi duo and VW golf parallel hybrid. These show that all the car makers had a fair bit of research into hybrids, but Toyota and Honda which started their hybrid programs much later are the ones that took advantage of the opportunity. This video is ultra depressing, all this years and we are still where at the same location. Lets hope this time people would wake up and car makers would move quickly.
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Joseph 4:52PM (7/03/2008)
Ford put quite a bit of research into high-temperature batteries. After a fire or two, they gave up.
I think it's hilarious how the announcer says that EVs were small, slow, and even noisy! A far cry from today's Tesla Roadster.
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fadetoblack51 6:07PM (7/03/2008)
Why is the volt only going to have a 40 mile range when lead acid evs can typically get over 50? I realize its a function of how many batterys you want to stow in it, but with the lithium batteries gm is using, they should be able to get at least 100 I should think.
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CM 3:30AM (7/04/2008)
It's a matter of costs. A smaller 40 mile range battery is less than half the size and half the cost of a 100 mile range battery. Since most daily trips for most drivers are less than 40 miles, it would cover most every-day driving. There is an additional 600 miles available in the petrol tank for those rare instances when the driver needed to go more than 40 miles in a day.
Tman 12:44AM (7/04/2008)
The funny part in the videos is the tald of optional catalytic converter. Its crazy to think that those things were once in the same category as satnav
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