oilhammer
Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Yeah, they were made of carbon fiber... and a 'few hundred' would hardly constitute "production" to me. The Veyron was in the 'few hundred' range, too.
Ok, I read up some more. It seems that there are numerous ways of generating the plasma, including lasers, corona discharge, and microwaves among others. The lab results I saw indicated up to a 20% increase in fuel efficiency. That's pretty good. But it comes by burning a leaner fuel mixture that in turn creates less CO2, CO, and hydrocarbons, but more NOx. I guess there's no free lunch in internal combustion.I didn't mean to degrade the XL1 as a production car, was more pointing out that it is intact practical to most people which is why there was limited success... whereas this has application possibilities to existing vehicle stock
Supposedly the plasma thing has been around a long time and proven but they've never been able to make them smaller than a fridge and they were super expensive. The point of this is the guy has shrunk the process, it's cheap, and reliable. I'd read more about it if I were you.
Limited production for sure. I'm not aware of any manufacturers that made a run of 250 concept vehicles and sold them to the general public.Yeah, they were made of carbon fiber... and a 'few hundred' would hardly constitute "production" to me. The Veyron was in the 'few hundred' range, too.
I took my teenage sons (and usually a friend of theirs) on countless snowboarding trips in my MKIV Jetta Wagon with a Thule box on the roof. Yes, the back seat is tight, but if the front seat occupants cooperate it's OK. And it helps that I'm short. If one of them mentioned the lack of space, my answer was that the car's FE allowed us to afford snowboarding trips.Honestly I can understand that to an extent, I love my tdi, but 2adults 2 kids and 2 dogs gets real cramped real quick. Easier to take the expedition or her escape and the escape is tight on room with the dogs.
I agree. One of the reasons I started looking for another car after we sold my wife's focus. Driving one of the trucks or the expedition doesn't make sense financially for me. Better the have a smaller efficient vehicle for the day to day commute. What I spend in a month on diesel( or gas in the case of the focus) wad about 8 days worth in the truck and 10 days worth in the expedition. Saves a ton of money in a month. And everything is cheap for the car so saves in maintenance costs as well.Agreed, but look around and observe traffic. The VAST majority of cars on the road have the driver in them, and nobody else.
My daily drivers have been: '73 Beetle, '79 Rabbit, '91 Jetta, '00 Golf.
Can't put 2 golden retrievers on the roof, possibly the kids.... lol. But yeah, it's fine for my daily stuff till "the whole family" has to go somewhere. Wasn't such an issue when we just had our Sheppard. The kids arnt crazy about the dogs sitting on their lap. I have a feeling a wagon will be in the future...I took my teenage sons (and usually a friend of theirs) on countless snowboarding trips in my MKIV Jetta Wagon with a Thule box on the roof. Yes, the back seat is tight, but if the front seat occupants cooperate it's OK. And it helps that I'm short. If one of them mentioned the lack of space, my answer was that the car's FE allowed us to afford snowboarding trips.
How much heavier is a 500hp elec motor vs a 100hp? And what percentage of the vehicle weight is the motor?the ev stuff. Why do they have such high hp? There's is really no need for it, makes the vehicles heavier
I think it definitely depends on locale, too. When I visit CA, it's mostly EVs, hybrids, small SUVs and compact cars. Some trucks, but nowhere near as plentiful as TX, OK, NM, etc.Agreed, but look around and observe traffic. The VAST majority of cars on the road have the driver in them, and nobody else.
My daily drivers have been: '73 Beetle, '79 Rabbit, '91 Jetta, '00 Golf.
What's the scoop with crazy large tires anyways? Do they offer better handling, or is it more for appearance? I personally prefer 16 and 17" on my TDIs (and truck). 15's for me get relegated to my trailers. I don't see the point in anything larger than an 18, but like I said, I don't know if they handle better or if it's simply aesthetics.I drove down to NYC on Sunday and Routes 95 and 278 near the city are rough enough that I was grateful for my 65 series tires. Anything much lower profile probably would have resulted in a bent wheel or two. 21s? No thank you, at least as long as I continue to drive in the real world.
Limited use: We've got 9,900 miles on ours since January and we use it for almost all driving. Just did a 720 mile road trip last weekend and another 180 miles today and both were easy. The only thing I'm not going to use it for yet is towing. Will use the Golf for that for now (not so much because of range but haven't done a lot of reading on which hitch to buy and the whether it would affect the car's warranty).Exactly. Plus, it makes it easier to look past the eye-watering cost and limited use if it has Corvette-punishing performance and lets you brag to your rich friends at the country club.![]()
Nice on the solar panels. I'd love to do the same if it made financial sense for me.Limited use: We've got 9,900 miles on ours since January and we use it for almost all driving. Just did a 720 mile road trip last weekend and another 180 miles today and both were easy. The only thing I'm not going to use it for yet is towing. Will use the Golf for that for now (not so much because of range but haven't done a lot of reading on which hitch to buy and the whether it would affect the car's warranty).
Unrelated (well, kind of related): Finally got our solar panels (15 x 400w) installed a couple weeks ago and on Monday got permission from the power company to turn them on. 64 kWh generated so far this week.
It's quite a big difference in size, weight and all the wiring/ control system needed to make up the difference. I have no idea, what percentage of the car they make up, but I can make an inference from the vfd drive we use at work that it's quite a bit more for the larger motor.How much heavier is a 500hp elec motor vs a 100hp? And what percentage of the vehicle weight is the motor?
Actually comparing diesels to diesel is pretty much apples to apples in Indiatrial vs automotive. They are used in both in most cases, typically Industrial will have a continuous and intermittent rating.Yeah, comparing industrial motors/engines to consumer grade isn't super useful. An industrial 400 hp Caterpillar diesel is much heavier than a 6.7 Ford, for instance. A 300+ HP Tesla motor weighs just under 100 lbs. The rest of the drive unit/transaxle is heavier, but not too bad. The batteries are where the weight is.
you're so far off base it's not even funny. All the ih and cummins engines were in fact industrial engines that were shoved into vehicles. Gm introduced theirs as automotive engines that ended up being used in a few industrial settings. Of the current diesel engines offered by the big 3, with the possible exception of the Ford 6.7l the cummins and duramax have both been fielded in a heavy duty and Industrial setting. To further clarify, cats own 7l is right at the same power levels as the cummins, duramax, And powrstroke. Comparing any of them to a 15l engine is stupid.There's some crossover depending on how loosely you want to define an industrial diesel, but a truly industrial 400-500 HP diesel like a Cat 3406 weighs 3x as much as a Ford 6.7. And is a torque monster in comparison- not that the 6.7 is a 98 lb weakling.