Edmunds article about the future of the ICE

[hybridbear]

Here is an article from Edmunds about the future of the ICE and EVs. It is very heavily biased in favor of gasoline.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/why-the-internal-combustion-engine-is-the-future.html

 

This link is a critique of the Edmunds article by Green Car Reports.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1083696_yes-combustion-engines-will-be-with-us-for-decades-howeve

[lolder]

Edmunds people are Gear Heads. They bemoan automatic transmissions and the mpg they get in their long term hybrid test cars is worse than anybody else. A. J. Foyt would get better mileage than them.

[vkri2]

Well, the Edmunds article *did* admit (albeit, at the end) that hybrids will win. That's a rather positive sign. Evolution is a relatively slow process and I don't think we can make the jump from ICE to Electric in one fell swoop. Once hybrids are between 50%-60% of car sales, electrics will start to catch up (they'll, in essence be to hybrids what hybrids are to ICE. IMHO, that is).

[acdii]

Electrics are a good concept, but range in them will deter a lot of sales. Those of us who drive at least 100 miles a day with no means to recharge will not get them. PHEV cars though will be the most practical, but none will be able to replace a vehicle used for hauling more than a couple kids and a few bags of groceries.

 

When Supercell technology finally happens where the energy storage capacity can supply enough current and range for an SUV sized vehicle, Then they will become main stream, and so far thats all a pipe dream. For a Supercell to be viable it needs to be compact, lightweight, and most important, safe. They are getting there with Lithium. The Lipo batteries do provide good current and capacity, are lightweight, but are very fragile. If the cover gets damaged where air gets to the medium, they explode into a nasty ball of fire. If they are over charged, or over discharged, they puff up and depending on what capacity was still in them, also blow into a ball of fire. and a very hot one too.

 

LiFe batteries are similar, but not as volatile, but dont have the same current capacity as Lipo. They are slower discharge rate cells, and could not be used to drive an electric motor. The safest so far are the Lion batteries being used now.

 

What would be a good alternative though is algae based bio fuels. I saw somewhere they setup an algae farm that feeds off the exhaust gasses of a NG power plant, converting CO2 to O2, and then harvested to produce, Bio diesel, Ethanol, and fertilizer. Seems simple enough, seems like when managed properly can be profitable too, and can be used at just about any fossil fuel based power plant when setup correctly to match the type of environment, the drawback being the amount of space required for it to be viable.

[hybridbear]

PHEV cars though will be the most practical, but none will be able to replace a vehicle used for hauling more than a couple kids and a few bags of groceries.

I agree that PHEVs are the most practical, thus why I've been encouraging my parents to look at a C-Max Energi to replace their Chrysler 300M. But I disagree about PHEVs not being able to replace larger vehicles. With the inherent inefficiency of the ICE there is an advantage to electrification in all passenger vehicles. Even in pickup trucks there is a benefit to going with the efficiency of an electric motor. The problem is that consumers aren't ready for that. And a big reason that they aren't ready is because the automakers don't advertise alt fuel vehicles.

[acdii]

The problem with trying to use electric in a tow vehicle is the weight of the batteries cuts into the GVWR, which in turn reduces the towing capacity in general. Example would be my Flex, it is rated at 4500# which works fine right now, but add in 600 or so pounds of batteries, and that reduces the towing down to 3900#, no longer practical. There's no doubt that electric provides great torque for hauling, but the resources required to provied it currently outweigh the advantages. Maybe some day when they are able to make external power pickup available, I can see it be viable.