Cars

[Andy_1984]

from the steam powered cars of the 1880's to todays cars, where will they be in another 100+ years

 

i have been noticing cars a lot more than i have in the past due to realy trying my hardest to get my self road worthy. since then i have seen so many diffrent kinds of cars and their workings running on electric, diesel, petrol, LPG, Water and so many diffrent varations of the cars body work, from the 1880's they have advanced an emormous amount in the ways of aerodynamics, from being a total box or as clunky and as esteticly pleasing as an elephant to Elegant looking cars of the 1930's and today more futuristic looking road cars like a Lotus Elise R, Buggati Veyron all weird shapes and contours for a reason, main being road handling and down force.

 

so what are your predictions for the future, will we be sing more and more crazy looking concept cars hovering down the road, just how far can it go ? ( apart from the obvious being hover cars )

 

lotus elise r

[jabee]

from the steam powered cars of the 1880's to todays cars, where will they be in another 100+ years

 

i have been noticing cars a lot more than i have in the past due to realy trying my hardest to get my self road worthy. since then i have seen so many diffrent kinds of cars and their workings running on electric, diesel, petrol, LPG, Water and so many diffrent varations of the cars body work, from the 1880's they have advanced an emormous amount in the ways of aerodynamics, from being a total box or as clunky and as esteticly pleasing as an elephant to Elegant looking cars of the 1930's and today more futuristic looking road cars like a Lotus Elise R, Buggati Veyron all weird shapes and contours for a reason, main being road handling and down force.

 

so what are your predictions for the future, will we be sing more and more crazy looking concept cars hovering down the road, just how far can it go ? ( apart from the obvious being hover cars )

 

lotus elise r

 

According to Jeremy Clarkson, the Austin Allegro (yuk) was more aerodynamic in reverse, than it was going forward.......

[poledark]

Ah yes, that may be so, but will down force and road holding and the ability to corner fast be an issue in 100 years time? Most of the force used by a car is in getting from rest to about 30mph, after that it is about overcoming the wind resistance, and with fuel being at a severe premium, or power being very limited, then cars will almost certainly be driven much slower, people allowing more time for their journey to conserve energy.

 

Some form of nuclear powered conversion propulsion unit, driving a low speed lightweight vehicle will probably be accepted as the norm.

 

Den

[Guest Ferret1959]

Well I'm not bothered about cars in the distant future cos within the next couple of weeks I'll be driving a brand spanking new Piccasso.

Top of the range derv powered. :D

 

Need a bigger motor for my rods, fed up losing the front seat space. :D

[Vagabond]

Some form of nuclear powered conversion propulsion unit, driving a low speed lightweight vehicle will probably be accepted as the norm.

 

Den, is that a hint that you are already working on upgrading your tackle trolley ?

[hembo]

in a 100 yrs you could find that fuel will cost more than ye olde petrol cars.

 

i think cars will have joint power a new govt directive that pedal power be used for starting and solar panels as norm.

 

or they will be ran on soylent green*sorry ziggy*

[Yogi]

Well I love cars and stuff but I won't be around in 100 yrs so do I look bovvered.

 

Yogi.

[Andy_1984]

Well I love cars and stuff but I won't be around in 100 yrs so do I look bovvered.

 

Yogi.

 

 

going by the rate of new cars with new technologies we could see a huge leap forward in cars within our lifetimes. the first one will be the type of fuel, there are tons of green fuels out their, who knows why they are not on the road ? to name a few

 

WATER, yes who would have thought it a car can actualy run on water. by running an electric charge through water you can produce hydrogen gas ! why are these not on the road ?

 

the simplicity of this is unbelievable, i once watch scrap heap challange where one of the teams converted a diesel engine into a hydrogen one by adding a cylinder full of water with 2 elements going through the cylinder into the center of it, he done this in about 4 hours. and it actualy worked

 

sun flower oil, WHAT! again here is a RENEWABLE energy source one you can make yourself unlike fossil fuels

 

LPG, this is on the road already but why not so many, its obviously cleaner than petrol and diesel and best of all cheaper. so why is it not being used more.

 

 

so i think that the first huge leap forward is a clean fuel for cars rather than a leap forward in body work.

[Guest Ferret1959]

So with all these cheap alternative fuels about why are the not being used?

I'll tell you.

As soon as you start using them there will be an 80% tax for road duty stuffed on top.

Not such an attractive option then is it?

 

I used to run my S3 on 50/50 derv/rapeseed oil, I didn't pay the duty on the r/s/o and ran the risk of getting done for it.

 

Tell me this one.

Street lights, why have them running all night wasting fuel?????????????

Just think how much could be saved by switching off, after all we are encouraged to do it in our home to save energy.

 

I remember as a lad how dark the skys were, not now with all the town and road lighting on.

[Steve Walker]

WATER, yes who would have thought it a car can actualy run on water. by running an electric charge through water you can produce hydrogen gas ! why are these not on the road ?

 

Problem is, you have to generate the electricity to make the hydrogen, and at the moment most of our electricity comes from burning oil, coal or gas. So back to square one regarding carbon emissions or fossil fuel shortages. If we could generate enough power using renewables (or if the Green lobby hadn't managed to cripple nuclear energy before the carbon bogeyman replaced the atomic bogeyman as threat du jour) it might make sense, but at the moment, burning oil to make hydrogen to fuel cars is pointless. Norway is currently experimenting with tax breaks for hydrogen powered cars, but they aren't even using electrolysis to get the hydrogen, they are getting it by cracking oil. Mad. Hydrogen isn't even a very good way of transporting energy, compared to petrol. It's difficult and inefficient to store, compared to a tank of petrol or diesel.

 

Personally, I think biofuels are the way forwards, though perhaps not using current agricultural technology. It would be nice to see sub-Saharan Africa earning with biofuels some of the kind of foreign currency flows that the Gulf oil states have been guzzling.