Fancy one of these?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/volkswagen/8293372/Volkswagen-XL1-review.html

Why do concept cars always have to be so ugly?

Interesting read!

More pix.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/8316317/VW-XL1-in-pictures.html

Nice doors!

Gull wing or suicide?

And they put the steering wheel on the wrong side!

The ultimate hybrid, in a Walmart near you soon! [Not] :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...e-develops-electric-car.html#dsq-content

I wonder if it can keep the windows clear in the winter.

It comes with a liveried footman installed in a bijou apartment in the trunk.

Here he is, -

...And now for something completely different, specially for the weekend! Here's the new Morgan 2 seater x 3-wheeler, making a welcome return after 72 years in hibernation! Distinctly not electric, but since it has a glorious American-built 1.917 litre [117 cu. inch] S&S Vee-Twin engine made in Wisconsin, I hope you will let me off just this once!

Morgan is one of Englands's last independant motor-car makers. They still use traditional methods like ash-framing and each car is hand-built to order on carpenter's saw horses!

On an historical note, this car's stable 3-wheel layout is the same as the gold-medal winning 9hp model made way back in 1910, which at 90bhp per ton was the fastest-accelerating British car of it's day. Complete with RAF roundels & WWII USAF Mustang Teeth, this antique is your's for only $45,000! Yeh-harrrr!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/8347272/Morgan-three-wheeler-in-pictures.html


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XnBlMBUqjM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bju888FOq0w&feature=related

One of my high school buddies had a 56 Morgan convertible he found buried in a garage and was trying to restore. There was a little back seat you could almost get 2 guys in.
It was a fun car when it was running.

Question:Why don't British cars have windshield wipers?
Answer: They won't run in the rain

Rolls Royce PEE at Geneva 2011.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...ectric-Phantom-details-and-pictures.html

Also at Geneva, the Morgan 3 wheeler, finally off the production line ..er saw horses. With that 2 liter motor, it will go like stink and I want one!!
$40,650 + taxes. Being so light, this would be an ideal candidate for a battery pack and an electric motor.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/8354805/The-three-wheeler-motor-from-Morgan.html

LOL Alan,
I would have thought 3 wheels cars would never have made a come-back after the Reliant Robin version of them.
I'd hate to be driving one in a stiff side-wind.

... or a Messerschmitt.

I want an Isetta.
With that miniscule engine they probably got incredible gas mileage.

US readers may not be familiar with the much-loved Reliant Robin motor car, [also available as a light van]. This 'car' used to be very popular in the UK, because it was officially a motorcycle and thus attracted much lower road taxes and insurance costs. A one-piece rust-free molded fiberglass shell had 2 wheels lightly nailed on the back. A 600cc 4-cylinder engine drove the single front wheel, which was also rumored to 'steer' and enable the Robin to attempt modest curves. There were ..er.. slight stabilty issues, yes, but nothing that an average Brit would ever complain about. See how many Robins you can see here demonstating their versatility and aerobatics- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=130OVZcMEcA

The Morgan is a lot more stable and first hit the tarmac over 100 years ago. Its single wheel is at the rear. The c. of g. is thus in front of the center of drag, unlike the Robin, whose layout was all based on the cost of manufacture. Wind is no more a problem than with any car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiZU6DvQb-g

It can be raced with verve! See one drifting through a bend at speed at 0.39: clap:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMHmT8SDnyI&feature=related
Original engines were usually vee twins of about a liter, although a 4 cyl. side-valve E93A from the Ford Popular was used in the late 30's-
http://morgan3w.de/engines/engine.htm

They used to sell 3 wheel golf carts here until the CPSC made them stop.

Correction. Sorry, I of course got the Robin mixed up with the Bond, of which the least said the better. The Robin was actually rear-wheel driven via a diff and had an uprated 750cc unit fitted quite early on. While Americans were cruisin' the fifties in splendidly finned giant V8's, us eccentric Brits toodled round in this front-drive, front-steer barking lunacy, reversed [I kid you not] by by running the engine backwards! To start it, you actually got INTO the engine bay to access the kick starter! - all 197cc of 2 stroke lawn-mower engine provided the grunt direct to the front wheel - and the first ones had only 122cc!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_Cars
Needless to say they rolled over with ease.

Arrgghh! Here comes another one!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/renault/8466548/Renault-Twizy-review.html

Alan:
Nice car...
I guess it runs about $ 12K in US dollars?

I thought the Mercedes Smart car was funny.

About that, John, depending on the ROE and the dealer's mark. US customers always pay less than us because of the high Eu sales and other taxes, presently + 20%. Leasing the battery is an interesting concept, taking the sting out of the replacement event-horizon. I hope they don't sell many here. We are plagued by 'invalid carriages' [ho! ho!], equipped with a diesel lawnmower engine, usually aimed [?] by a guy who has shrunk with age and whose beret's brim now rests on the wheel - and which need no drivers license! Great for convicted drunk drivers and the blind!! Top speed 30mph- let's call that 20 shall we?
Here's one of the pesky snail-chasers, parked on top of a gendarme on a pedestrian crossing :-

http://parisatacertainage.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/16/no_license_car2.jpg

I only have a 7% sales tax here (NJ); and a $1.50 each 'tire tax' both are state taxes. Motor Vehicle fees (tags and documents) runs around $300/$400 via the dealership.

People here would be screaming at a 20% tax levy.

I guess all of us are going to have to face the fact of the oil market, and pay $$$ for gas & diesel, or opt for electric cars. Gasoline was $379/gal. this AM for regular & diesel is $4.09/gal., both of which are bargain prices compared to europe I believe.

John., it will not be very long now due I am allready pay about 1.52€/ liter on diesel fuel AFAIK for gaz I think they are at 1.65€/ liter.

So 1.52 Euros X3.8liter to US gallon = 5.78 { apx }Euros per gallon then add our exchange rate that will kick it higher.

So it will be about 8.48 a gallon { with current exchange rate { 1.45 or so I have to double check to make sure it is correct }

Merci,
Marc

I have to add a few things. The tax I referenced above is state sales tax on normal cars. In the event we are talking about high end luxury cars there are other taxes in addition. "Gas guzzler tax" based on the factory EPA MPG, "Luxury Tax" which I believe may be Federal, which both can add substantial $$$.

There are also some 'Rebates' on some hybrid cars, mostly from the Federal Gov., although some may be in the waning moments of their life.

Marc: Thanks for the fuel costs!

Oh no! Here's a whole bunch of 'em!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/8463532/In-pictures-electric-cars.html

Look on the bright side. Someone's gonna be busy wiring up the millions of charging posts needed.

Dodgy extension cords draped across driveways, hanging from lamp posts, tied to trees, cheap kludgy adapters made to plug in all sorts of wall receptacles. Followed by custom jumper cables and fast charge adapters so people can directly charge the battery pack in 5 minutes without those pesky safety devices limiting currents and temperatures. Not to mention the modified UPS systems so people can hook up to the drive batteries to power their houses for a week.

It is going to be an exciting new world for sparkies and handymen everywhere.

The HUGE problem with EVs is that they can't tolerate really bad weather; like the stuff that hits every winter.

They're terrific for the Virgin Islands, though.

If the weather is nasty humid -- they can't power air conditioning.

Larry.,

The new EV are much better with protection than the old school EV were and there are quite few safeguards in there so the handydolts can not mess it up by tapping to the battery supply to run the inverter { due most modern EV battery voltage is 300 or more so it will not take much to make a heckva a bang if not heed with warning. }

As far for charger most new EV will have main charger controller in the EV as part of the vechile so there is a very small chance someone will find a way with it and they also designed they can take incomming " shore " power but no outgoing power back to the system at all.

For the charging station I know more and more are start to show up more places and that may cause some issue with the POCO network when the EV get more common I am not too suprised that you may end up useing triphase system for quick charging system.

Merci,
Marc

I once had a car that got 50 MPG. It was great, except in the winter. I had to carry an ice scraper to keep the inside of the windows clear. I wonder how far the batteries would last if they also need to defrost the windows. Maybe if everyone in warm climates drove an electric car, there would be enough gas left for the rest of us.

Mark, the pocos might welcome an increase in night baseload to offset all the demand reductions coming from cfls etc. For really fast home-charging you need an upgrade. More work!

A one hundred and eleven year old twin-engined wheel-motor hybrid hits the streets again at the same time as Chrysler's Volt!

This repro 1900 Lohner-Porsche has been lovingly recreated from original drawings and photos.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring.../8467153/Lohner-Semper-Vivus-review.html

Not Chrysler, Chevrolet Volt. (A Goverment Motors, GM, division).

Whoops-a-daisy!

Here's a couple more: From the sublime @ $10,000 -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...Money-the-electric-car-worth-buying.html

- to the ridiculous @ $1,000,000- [this one is pencilled-in to have either two mini gas-turbines or a Williams F1 racing engine running the generation.] -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...ph-Jaguar-hybrid-supercar-confirmed.html

Alan:
My friend, you are outdoing yourself!

Hmmm....$10K for a Renault, or...$1Mil for a Jaguar?? tough decission!!

I'll wait until my friendly Jaguar dealer gets one! The owner is a extreemly avid collector, but this may be over his budget?

OT, but I couldn't resist showing you this car, Sir Ernest Eldridge's mighty 1924 Fiat 'Mephistopheles', - finally coming back to Blighty after 87 years:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...1-the-mighty-Mephistopheles-returns.html

Alan:
Interesting link. I like the Packard engine Bently video that is available on the link also.

There's radio commercials here (NJ) about Fiat returning to our market, with the '500'. Of course, we also hear the line "Fix It Again, Tony".

Thanks for the link!!

Here's a few more electric/hybrid autos for the shopping list.
Does Peugeot's EX1 look a bit like that Batmobile that squidged everything in its path to you? ....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...the-Goodwood-Festival-of-Speed-2011.html

Alan:
Yes, 'Batmobile' for sure!

The Rolls was recently featured in Motor Trend magazine. Price is shocking!!!

Thanks for the link!

World's most efficient electric car...or just another lemon?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...-worlds-most-efficient-electric-car.html

GM wades in with a Segway- based 2 seater. Reminds me of a giant bowling ball -

[ Emergency stop - STRIKE! ]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...Money-driving-the-car-of-the-future.html

Personally I'd prefer an electric 2 seater looking similar to this- good visibility and driving position, simple construction- with modern materials, the weight could be easily better than halved. This layout would never date, [we seem incapable today of boning down stuff to the essentials]:

FORD, [prototytpe], year 1896, 1050cc [64 cu. in] 2-cylinder gasoline/alcohol engine, 'hit and miss' governor, 3 BHP, 2-speed, rear-engine and drive to both rear wheels, leather-belt clutch. No weather protection, but neither has a bicycle. Weight 500lb, max speed 20mph, [fast enough for most cities]. Faults: No brakes, no reverse gear! Sales: 3, Cost new: $200
Surviving machine, 1 : Ford Museum, Dearborn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MGLGQYonsg&feature=related

[This is a replica.]

Alan:

Thanks again for the interesting links.

OT, but to touch on a recent post about 'getting your hands dirty', here's a non-electrical but 'green' vehicle solution, running with my favorite stuff- wood! Which we have a lot of in France and the US, I'm told. All intrinsically untaxable!

So, Back to the Future, Forward to the Past with Georges Imbert's [1922] and very efficient 'Gazogene' wood gas generator, which ran most of the private cars, tractors and trucks during WWII in occupied France.

Chevriolet truck: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BkqyyW70dQ

Citroen traction avant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_d7Xb3L5Jo&NR=1

At back, the generator. Up front, the gas filter and chiller. On top, the spare fuel . BTW, the filter was wine corks. When it got dirty, you burned it for fuel!

Here's a couple of interesting videos of the technique of gasifying wood or other bio-wastes to create electricity. The method is an offshoot of a design sponsored by the US Government during the oil crisis of the early 70's: a simpler downdraft version of Georges Imbert's machine, coupled to computer control. The third film shows my idea of fun - ol' boys making stuff out of scrap with dirty hands out in th' woods! [The tune in this is Wild Wood Flower, if anyone out there remembers Maybelle Carter in those 50's flour ads with Flatt and Scruggs.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrRH...DA7B5FD94A0CE&index=1&playnext=4

Here's a reprint of the report on downdraft gasifiers by the Federal Energy Management Agency, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. TN. [ US Department of Energy ] , for reference.

http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/fema.woodgas.pdf

GlidArc®.

Plasma arcs used to reform vegetable oil to syngas.

This is a French patented reactor, claimed to be able to crack VO into syngas, with no coking, tar or soot. It operates at atmospheric pressure with no metallic catalysts. The VO is injected with a small amount of air, which supplies oxygen, [the prof calls it a ‘catalyst’], for the carbon > carbon monoxide reaction that oxidises coke and tars to a combustible gas. The reformation of the bulk of the VO seems to be by exothermic thermal cracking.

A series of 3-phase arcs are struck over 3 equally spaced diverging electrodes, contained in a closed vertical tube reactor. The VO+ air, [at a ratio of about 100 litres of free air per minute to 30 ml/minute of VO], is injected by a gear pump and compressor[?], into the cone formed by the 3 arcs through a 4mm [5/32”] diameter tube. At the above parameters, the device will produce about 13kw [44,000 btu] of gas value from a one litre reactor. This implies some sort of injection spray nozzle? The arcs glide down/up[?] the electrodes and are extinguished at the tips, and then reform at the electrode roots, producing a continuous cone of plasma, [superheated ions], a similar effect to arc breaker horns seen on transmission lines. The arcs are running at about 10,000volts peak at less than 0.1 amperes, and are claimed to consume < 2% of the electrical power of the calorific value of the VO processed. There are no other heating devices, but the assembly is insulated. The syngas produced contains hydrogen, CO, and other combustible gasses, as well as a small % of nitrogen, steam and CO2. Overall [since some of the VO is ‘burned’ in the reactor to provide heat for the exothermic process] the percentage conversion is claimed to be about 70%, which is on a par with Georges Imbert’s Gazogene devices converting wood to syngas. The researchers claim that the VO does not need to be particularly clean – indeed they also claim that the machine can be run on biomass as diverse as powdered bagasse, wood, gycerol or grass clippings in other reports.

The device as described in the literature has a long warm up period of over 30 minutes, limiting it to commercial gas production rather than domestic heating or automobile fuel, but this could be addressed. For automobile use, such a device with rapid startup could be very compact and light- and with VO as the primary fuel, not only 'green and clean' but with a far better range than batteries will ever achieve.

http://albin.czernichowski.pagesperso-orange.fr/ECP/CP1%2067%20Rapeseed%20paper.pdf

Google 'GlidArc', I can't get the flaming links to work!

Alan

The economic logic of the process would dictate that the gadget be scaled up and made a part of our refineries.

Low cost methane from fracked fields permits refiners to process ever heavier crudes at even lower total cost.

BTW, the Swedes developed similar technologies with DC arcs in the 70's. They were driven by homopolar generators originally schemed up to test re-entry vehicles with DC arc temperatures.

The Swedes were able to destroy toxic waste or make syn-gas from biomass.

very interesting, cool car

Welcome aboard Jeff.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/c...always-will-be-and-the-numbers-prove-it/

As rare as hens teeth...

Fancy one of these for Christmas?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...he-new-Morgan-Plus-8-in-two-minutes.html

Hybrid Jaguar, sadly it won't see production. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...uars-C-X75-hybrid-supercar-on-video.html
Very pleased with my hybrid Prius C. After 6 months and 3600 miles, I'm finally getting to grips with the automatic transmission and the shift-operated recharging 'brake'! Popularity: Last out the door gets the Opel 7-seater. After a brief spell of crawling about at near walking pace [ ] trying to get max mpg, we are both now driving it more or less normally and getting a credible 47 miles per US Gallon average. Two gripes: Pedestrians walk out in front of you because it's silent when running electric and the satnav is not a patch on my old TomTom.

Alan:
The Twp Prius I drive at work has 32.8 MPG (US) on the screen. I believe that is 'lifetime' (2008) for 33k+/- miles
af city driving. I admit to leaving it 'on' quite often.

Another hybrid launched.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/bmw/10238579/BMW-i8-driven.html

Here's a hybrid for folks who like tanks ! Note that US gallons are 83% of British Imperial gallons, miles are the same. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...0260244/Range-Rover-Hybrid-revealed.html

Fair play, as we say in Blighty, the US is now leading in electric propulsion, so here's a couple of Fords for your delectation, presented by the incomparable Mr J. Leno Esq, who makes me laugh a lot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhjgW4TW1g0

...speaking of electric drive technology, this is the US company that's leading the pack...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyYAJgEblrA

OT and not electric, but this is a fun little car- in fact I'd say it's probably the most fun you can have sitting up straight. English to a tea, still in production if you want a new one and here wittily described by the perspicatious Mr Leno of that ilk. .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcITHevPrc

Back on subject- here's a US built automobile, available today for US$50 - $100,000 depending on model. New Tesla model S, family sedan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoFVO31CbE0

more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kCG-WqpVnI

While reading up on the various full electric and hybrid car models now available, and despite the much-vaunted new battery technology, it struck me how little real progress is being made for a practical, long life, high energy vehicle battery. Crunching numbers, it seems that new models have very modest actual specific energy, at the road, of less than 100Wh/kg. Gasoline has 10,000Wh/kg to put that in perspective, so even at 25% efficiency it seems far superior, [and take away the Gummint subsidies and sales would probably plummet]. Toyota use NiMH in the non-plug in Prius, [Prii?], restricted to about 35-75% of full-cell capacity for life-extension - and which will give no better SE in practice than Edison’s 1906 alkalines, albeit at higher discharge amps - and no gassing – but Edison’s cells will literally run for 100 years! Li-ons are similarly restricted. Go lower than 20% of full charge and the cells are ruined, and they deteriorate fast, no matter how they are treated. The new Tesla Sedan has a claimed 200 mile range - but the battery is a mighty slab that occupies the entire floor pan, 8” thick or more. Here, like Brunel’s first transatlantic steamers, range has been won by building a really big, big ship, reducing drag to 0.24 and filling it with coal to the gunnals!

I'll bet on hydrogen fuel cells.

..and here's the genius whose vision has ushered in the Electric Age. This interview is with one of the most extraordinary visionaries alive today, Elon Musk: PayPal, Tesla, SunCity, SpaceX. If you can't watch it all, just look at 17:40>. Incredible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgKWPdJWuBQ

Since a Prius was discussed....




I had been looking for this photo for a while,lost the link.