The Future of Tuning?
May 28, 2007, 11:58 PM
#31
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I agree with you 100% on this issue. That is why i posted up this thread. what do the guys that do this for a living think will happen if all cars end up going electric. every other alternate fuel source like e85 and hyrdogen seem to me as only temporary "quick fixes" if you will. as far as i know, the hydrogen for hydrogen powered cars comes from methane, which comes from oil. All of it leads back to the oil issue, which may become a resource that we may not be able to rely on anymore. I don't if any of you guys know who Nikola Tesla is, but he was an inventor back around Edisons time. Well, he was trying to figure out a way to store electrical power coming from lightning. haha imagine cars powered by that electrical charge 
might not work on a global scale but still makes you think! lol
Chris.
May 29, 2007, 05:21 AM
#32
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if you look on howstuffworks.com and look up the alternative fuel options it makes you think about alot of things. some alternates will leave you with your head cocked sideways... if nuclear power didnt have so many issues as far as safety i bet that would be number one haha!
May 29, 2007, 06:11 AM
#33
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I agree with you 100% on this issue. That is why i posted up this thread. what do the guys that do this for a living think will happen if all cars end up going electric. every other alternate fuel source like e85 and hyrdogen seem to me as only temporary "quick fixes" if you will. as far as i know, the hydrogen for hydrogen powered cars comes from methane, which comes from oil. All of it leads back to the oil issue, which may become a resource that we may not be able to rely on anymore. I don't if any of you guys know who Nikola Tesla is, but he was an inventor back around Edisons time. Well, he was trying to figure out a way to store electrical power coming from lightning. haha imagine cars powered by that electrical charge
May 29, 2007, 06:38 AM
#34
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Another promising system they are working on is actually just a car run by compressed air. I dont remember exactly how it works but you basically have an air compressor which pulls air from the atmosphere and uses it to run the car and it has some sort of way the air also turns an alternator to recharge the battery which runs the compressor. They actually produce these cars in Germany I believe.
May 29, 2007, 06:43 AM
#35
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i said most alky at present is made from oil! now im not saying that this could not change in the future. with GM crops and more work there is no dupt that we couldn't effectivly make 85% of E85 from crops (the 15% has to come from oil at the mo but that might beable to be substituted later on), but to run all the cars in the world on it you wouldn't have enough room for food!
Chris.
Chris.
15% of E85 does come from oil. thats why it is called E85, 85% ethanol, and 15% gasoline.
and the 85% of E85 that is ethanol, is produced by fermentation of crops, like corn, and sugar cane.
and just for reference, the wikipedia entry for ethanol:
Fermentation
Ethanol for use in alcoholic beverages, and the vast majority of ethanol for use as fuel, is produced by fermentation: when certain species of yeast (most importantly, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) metabolize sugar in the absence of oxygen, they produce ethanol and carbon dioxide. The overall chemical reaction conducted by the yeast may be represented by the chemical equation
C6H12O6 → 2 CH3CH2OH + 2 CO2
May 29, 2007, 04:51 PM
#36
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the new "supra" is electric and i believe 400hp... corvette is being dicussed about being a new super car, so its already begun, the fastest production car is has 1001 hp with a w 16 with quad turbos
May 29, 2007, 05:28 PM
#37
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yeah there sure are a lot of alternate fuel sources, now the only question is how to tune them
so corvette may be electric 
i'm confused by your post....
i'm confused by your post....
May 29, 2007, 05:42 PM
#38
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i was just saying how performance has just blown up, compare 1990 vette to the new one thats coming out 650 hp...so performance just evolves with time, so there wont be a problem with electric cars
May 29, 2007, 10:26 PM
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ahh yes he bugatti... that some piece of work! i dont think i could ever own one even if it was in my price range
May 30, 2007, 10:47 AM
#41
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Biodiesel is going to be huge, as long as special interest groups don't block it. There is a lot of research going into mass-producing biodiesel from algae. A small fraction of America's farmland could produce enough biodiesel to support our needs. We'll be driving efficient diesels and diesel-electric hybrids.
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel
No wonder algae is an attractive source, check out the biodiesel yields from these common crops (see it better at Wikipedia):
Yields of common crops
Crop kg oil/ha litres oil/ha lbs oil/acre US gal/acre
corn (maize) 145 172 129 18
cashew nut 148 176 132 19
oats 183 217 163 23
lupine 195 232 175 25
kenaf 230 273 205 29
calendula 256 305 229 33
cotton 273 325 244 35
hemp 305 363 272 39
soybean 375 446 335 48
coffee 386 459 345 49
linseed (flax) 402 478 359 51
hazelnuts 405 482 362 51
euphorbia 440 524 393 56
pumpkin seed 449 534 401 57
coriander 450 536 402 57
mustard seed 481 572 430 61
camelina 490 583 438 62
sesame 585 696 522 74
safflower 655 779 585 83
rice 696 828 622 88
tung oil tree 790 940 705 100
sunflowers 800 952 714 102
cocoa (cacao) 863 1,026 771 110
peanuts 890 1,059 795 113
opium poppy 978 1,163 873 124
rapeseed 1,000 1,190 893 127
olives 1,019 1,212 910 129
castor beans 1,188 1,413 1,061 151
pecan nuts 1,505 1,791 1,344 191
jojoba 1,528 1,818 1,365 194
jatropha 1,590 1,892 1,420 202
macadamia nuts 1,887 2,246 1,685 240
Brazil nuts 2,010 2,392 1,795 255
avocado 2,217 2,638 1,980 282
coconut 2,260 2,689 2,018 287
oil palm 5,000 5,950 4,465 635
Chinese tallow 5,500 6,545 4,912 699
Algae 79,832 95,000 71,226 10,000
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel
No wonder algae is an attractive source, check out the biodiesel yields from these common crops (see it better at Wikipedia):
Yields of common crops
Crop kg oil/ha litres oil/ha lbs oil/acre US gal/acre
corn (maize) 145 172 129 18
cashew nut 148 176 132 19
oats 183 217 163 23
lupine 195 232 175 25
kenaf 230 273 205 29
calendula 256 305 229 33
cotton 273 325 244 35
hemp 305 363 272 39
soybean 375 446 335 48
coffee 386 459 345 49
linseed (flax) 402 478 359 51
hazelnuts 405 482 362 51
euphorbia 440 524 393 56
pumpkin seed 449 534 401 57
coriander 450 536 402 57
mustard seed 481 572 430 61
camelina 490 583 438 62
sesame 585 696 522 74
safflower 655 779 585 83
rice 696 828 622 88
tung oil tree 790 940 705 100
sunflowers 800 952 714 102
cocoa (cacao) 863 1,026 771 110
peanuts 890 1,059 795 113
opium poppy 978 1,163 873 124
rapeseed 1,000 1,190 893 127
olives 1,019 1,212 910 129
castor beans 1,188 1,413 1,061 151
pecan nuts 1,505 1,791 1,344 191
jojoba 1,528 1,818 1,365 194
jatropha 1,590 1,892 1,420 202
macadamia nuts 1,887 2,246 1,685 240
Brazil nuts 2,010 2,392 1,795 255
avocado 2,217 2,638 1,980 282
coconut 2,260 2,689 2,018 287
oil palm 5,000 5,950 4,465 635
Chinese tallow 5,500 6,545 4,912 699
Algae 79,832 95,000 71,226 10,000
May 31, 2007, 03:42 PM
#43
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Biodiesel is going to be huge, as long as special interest groups don't block it. There is a lot of research going into mass-producing biodiesel from algae. A small fraction of America's farmland could produce enough biodiesel to support our needs. We'll be driving efficient diesels and diesel-electric hybrids.
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel
No wonder algae is an attractive source, check out the biodiesel yields from these common crops (see it better at Wikipedia):
Yields of common crops
Crop kg oil/ha litres oil/ha lbs oil/acre US gal/acre
corn (maize) 145 172 129 18
cashew nut 148 176 132 19
oats 183 217 163 23
lupine 195 232 175 25
kenaf 230 273 205 29
calendula 256 305 229 33
cotton 273 325 244 35
hemp 305 363 272 39
soybean 375 446 335 48
coffee 386 459 345 49
linseed (flax) 402 478 359 51
hazelnuts 405 482 362 51
euphorbia 440 524 393 56
pumpkin seed 449 534 401 57
coriander 450 536 402 57
mustard seed 481 572 430 61
camelina 490 583 438 62
sesame 585 696 522 74
safflower 655 779 585 83
rice 696 828 622 88
tung oil tree 790 940 705 100
sunflowers 800 952 714 102
cocoa (cacao) 863 1,026 771 110
peanuts 890 1,059 795 113
opium poppy 978 1,163 873 124
rapeseed 1,000 1,190 893 127
olives 1,019 1,212 910 129
castor beans 1,188 1,413 1,061 151
pecan nuts 1,505 1,791 1,344 191
jojoba 1,528 1,818 1,365 194
jatropha 1,590 1,892 1,420 202
macadamia nuts 1,887 2,246 1,685 240
Brazil nuts 2,010 2,392 1,795 255
avocado 2,217 2,638 1,980 282
coconut 2,260 2,689 2,018 287
oil palm 5,000 5,950 4,465 635
Chinese tallow 5,500 6,545 4,912 699
Algae 79,832 95,000 71,226 10,000
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel
No wonder algae is an attractive source, check out the biodiesel yields from these common crops (see it better at Wikipedia):
Yields of common crops
Crop kg oil/ha litres oil/ha lbs oil/acre US gal/acre
corn (maize) 145 172 129 18
cashew nut 148 176 132 19
oats 183 217 163 23
lupine 195 232 175 25
kenaf 230 273 205 29
calendula 256 305 229 33
cotton 273 325 244 35
hemp 305 363 272 39
soybean 375 446 335 48
coffee 386 459 345 49
linseed (flax) 402 478 359 51
hazelnuts 405 482 362 51
euphorbia 440 524 393 56
pumpkin seed 449 534 401 57
coriander 450 536 402 57
mustard seed 481 572 430 61
camelina 490 583 438 62
sesame 585 696 522 74
safflower 655 779 585 83
rice 696 828 622 88
tung oil tree 790 940 705 100
sunflowers 800 952 714 102
cocoa (cacao) 863 1,026 771 110
peanuts 890 1,059 795 113
opium poppy 978 1,163 873 124
rapeseed 1,000 1,190 893 127
olives 1,019 1,212 910 129
castor beans 1,188 1,413 1,061 151
pecan nuts 1,505 1,791 1,344 191
jojoba 1,528 1,818 1,365 194
jatropha 1,590 1,892 1,420 202
macadamia nuts 1,887 2,246 1,685 240
Brazil nuts 2,010 2,392 1,795 255
avocado 2,217 2,638 1,980 282
coconut 2,260 2,689 2,018 287
oil palm 5,000 5,950 4,465 635
Chinese tallow 5,500 6,545 4,912 699
Algae 79,832 95,000 71,226 10,000
nice post
May 31, 2007, 09:35 PM
#44
Electric motors are awesome. The performance is awesome. The low weight of the motor is even awesome. However, the power source, is not so awesome. We currently have no way of efficiently storing electricity in a compact and lightweight form. The batteries used to store energy weigh WAY to much for how little energy they can store. Racing these types of high performance electric motors would require SWAPPING HUGE *** batteries instead of refueling. Why is this? Per weight, we can store more energy in combustible fuel sources (alcohol, hyrdrogen, petrol, etc.) than in our current form of batteries. If we are able to somehow create a battery that is able to store more energy, in a smaller amount of space, the combustion engine will have no use except maybe as a museum exhibit. Bottom line, our battery technology still sucks, even though we have the power output (electric motors) now available.
Show me a electrically powered car with over 300 HP that can lap Tsukuba 50 times without stopping for more juice.
Show me a electrically powered car with over 300 HP that can lap Tsukuba 50 times without stopping for more juice.
I had the genius idea of using a powerful electric motor and then using a e85 powered "generator" to recharge the battery to act as an alternator. Seems like it'd work to me and you'd consume a lot less gas/oil than a hybrid or normal gasoline engine.