Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

Many years ago, in the 1990s I attended a pub quiz and one of the questions was :

"What will run out in the year 2035?"

The answers were varied, the whale population, Siberian Tigers and North Sea Oil.
The quizmaster's intended correct answer was Middle East Oil.
I thought he was wrong at the time but kept quiet.
It was nonsense of course because most of the Middle East oil reserves have not even been discovered yet and huge areas of the region are deliberately left alone for future use.

One of the gifted young people in my village, after obtaining a First Class Honours BSc degree gained a Phd when only twenty three years of age on his thesis on Mathematical and Molecular Biology.
His talents were immediately recognised and competed for by the major oil producing and exploration companies and he now has a stellar worldwide career in the analysis of potential future carbon fossil fuel resources.

When I last spoke to him at any length he explained to me in terms I could understand as to how future resources can now be analysed from air samples taken by high flying aircraft.
There need be no fear of oil running out for some centuries.

But back to the title question, the choice as I see it is :

1. Battery power
2. Hydrogen power
3. Biofuels
4. Fuel cell technology
5. Evolution of current fuel use with future technology.

I am obliged to express my own opinion because I opened the topic and I think we will all have to use "5" until "2" is technologically achievable.
Hydrogen is dangerous to produce and store but I believe it may be the future.
Battery power will always be limited by capacity storage and the actual weight of the battery itself. There will be an answer one day but not soon.

Brazil's cars run on alcohol based ethanol and I believe all diesel vehicles in Thailand must run on locally produced palm oil diesel. Bit is this the future - fuel or food?

I look forward to reading your opinions.
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[ukdave2002]

I'd agree with your 5-2; Toyota already have a hydrogen powered car on sale in the UK, it's a tad pricey, however they have sold several thousand in Japan.

Many of our older cars do actually produce their own hydrogen; when the electro mechanical voltage regulation over charges the battery!

I presume hydrogen vehicles still use an electric motor to provide the drive, much in the same way the diesel trains do?

Dave

[camembert]

Interesting thread Dave and Ellis. But there are some mixed up ideas in the list.

Battery power is not a primary source of energy. It's merely a way of storing it. And a fuel cell is essentially an engine - it takes in a fuel and converts it to electrical energy. (The fuel is usually hydrogen or alcohol although it's possible to combine it with a converter which breaks down diesel into hydrogen and CO2)

Hydrogen is one way of storing energy generated by electricity. It uses electrolysis to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. It's difficult to store H2 because it has such a high volume, even when compressed to 3000 psi. But a normal petrol engine runs perfectly well on hydrogen (but with 20% less power).

So the problem facing us is where the primary energy source comes from.

Either:
Fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas)
Nuclear (the best option IMO but not everyone likes it)
Green (tidal, wind, geothermal, solar, hydro-electric) - but the environmentally friendly sources have an annoying habit of not producing energy when you need it. So that's when you need energy storage and we're back to batteries or hydrogen, neither of which is very efficient to convert.

One way or another, our grandchildren are in for a rocky ride.
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MG Magnette 1934

[emmerson]

We had a Guinness-fueled "animated discussion" on this in the pub a few weeks ago.
One of the guys is, like me, a keen caravanner and uses a wind generator to produce what he calls "energy". I argued that that which is produced is electricity, and that the wind itself is the energy.
In the same way British Gas refer to my energy use, but surely what I'm using is fuel?
So who is right?

[Penman]

Hi
Possibly they are because you are billed per kWh. rather than cubic feet of gas or Watt ever the electricity unit would be.
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[emmerson]

[peter scott]

[Peter_L]

But Watts the Potential Difference ? Please be Current with your answer to show you Ar mature.
A guy tried to explain it but I couldn't understand what the El e ment.

[ukdave2002]

Joking aside....the question really is ; what engineering will power the electric motor?

I got a taxi in MK last week, it was electrically driven and TBH a tad spooky, but did the job.

Dave