Zerocarbonista releases last latest video on wind-powered sports car
The wind-powered, Exige-based electric sports car is coming along. Dale Vince, the man with the plan, has just posted the sixth in what was supposed to be a series of six videos (there will be more, though) that describes the updates to the car and other news from the Norfolk, UK idea lab. Vince doesn't like the original Exige front end so that is being changed. As for the naming issue, it looks like Ecotricity Mojo is the current top contender, but Vince isn't ready to commit quite yet.
What he and the other guys are willing to say (as they have before) is that electricity beats hydrogen cars, no way around it. They call the recent Top Gear program on hydrogen cars "a little misleading," and Vince adds:
"Just because it's on Top Gear, some people might think that makes it real. But that doesn't make it real. Hydrogen suffers from so many drawbacks that it just can't be made to work. It's in a race it can't win. The fundamental problem is one of efficiency, so for any unit of energy that you put in [...] you can do three times as many miles in the electric system than you can using the hydrogen system."I guess if you're done baiting Tesla, you have to say something to get attention, right?
[Source: Zero Carbonista]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hydrogen is a fail 9:42PM (2/17/2009)
The hydrogen push for use in vehicles faces immense obstacles that make it less and less attractive as battery technologies advance. There are of course situations where fuel cells are much better suited but these will most likely involve large stationary applications.
Having studied fuel cells extensively during my engineering studies, I have come to the realisation that fuel cells and a hydrogen based infrastructure is inherently much less efficient than a completely electric one. It all comes down to efficiency and cost, and in those two areas, a purely electric model is superior. Advances in battery tech will only further that gap, no matter what progress is made in the fuel cell field.
Top gear backed the wrong technology there.
Hopefully political leaders around the world aren't led in the wrong direction and invest in EV tech and renewable technologies to power them.
One can only hope we don't have idiots running our countries. (too much?)
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noz 2:47AM (2/18/2009)
It also comes down to environmental intrusion. A factor that is almost never factored into cost.
jharlan 12:09AM (2/18/2009)
Did they say a wind powered car? What am I missing here. Is this another one of those perpetual motion scams?
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Chris M 1:50AM (2/18/2009)
Not quite. It is a battery electric car, and the plan is to use a wind powered generator to provide electricity to recharge the batteries. The wind generator is mounted on top of a tower in a windy location, not on the car.
Aureon Kwolek 1:33AM (2/18/2009)
Efficiency is not the bottom line. Practicality is. For driving long distances or driving off the main roads, electric vehicles are not ready for prime time. EEStore, if they come through with their ultracapacitor, might change things. That could mean 200 to 300 miles per charge, a rough estimate. I want to be able to go anywhere and have a place to re-fuel. You won’t be able to do that, until the recharging infrastructure is universal. That may be 15 to 20 years. Go ahead and enjoy your electric vehicle. There will be times when you run out of juice with no plug for miles. For now, electric vehicles will be great for around town, but I won’t be buying one, no matter how efficient they are. I would buy a plug-in hybrid that has the option of using conventional fuel as a back-up, because it is more practical than a vehicle that runs exclusively on electric power.
Fuel cells don’t have to run on hydrogen as such. They can run on 65% ethanol 35% water reformed into hydrogen onboard the vehicle. This would be “undistilled” ethanol with most of the water left in it. This cuts the distillation cost of ethanol in half, and the fuel is diluted with water. Hence cheaper fuel. The reforming process also strips half the hydrogen from the water as a bonus. This fuel cell technology is based on safe domestic ethanol-water dispensed from blender pumps. Again, practicality is the key. Cheap, domestic liquid fuel that could be integrated into our existing liquid fuel infrastructure.
A plug-in hybrid equipped with an ethanol-water fuel cell would be my first choice, over an electric vehicle with limited range, that would be powered primarily with coal. So we have numerous emerging technologies, and we get to buy into the one(s) we like the best.
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bvz 2:33PM (2/18/2009)
Aureon,
I agree. Plug in Hybrids seem to be the ideal "bridge" vehicle for the time being. I would suggest that they be along the lines of the volt vs. prius. Basically an electric car with as advanced a battery system as we know how to make at the moment, but backed up with an on-board electricity generator run on some sort of "standard" fuel (gas, diesel, bio-diesel, etc...). As electrical storage technologies improve, the need for the generator lessens until someday it becomes more economical and practical to just abandon the generator altogether.
jharlan 10:34AM (2/18/2009)
When the infrastructure is in place to recharge EVs anyplace, who will own these "E service stations" and how do you think they will price this service? My guess is to be economically viable most of the charging had better be done at home.
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Doug 8:35PM (2/20/2009)
They didn't bother talking much about it, but I appreciated this video since it shows (albeit briefly) some of the drivetrain components.
I have some screen shots here:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/electric-conversions/1173-electric-exige-dale-vince-wind-car-post21415.html#post21415
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