Miles to Go

One other thing I forgot: When evaluating plug-in vehicles like the GM Volt, one has to take into account the total monthly cost of ownership. Not just what you pay at the gas pump. It is idiotic to reason that you have achieved huge savings without taking into account how much your electricity bill is going to increase by plugging that battery to charge every night.

This is an incredibly poorly reasoned article. It begins by telling us that 50MPG cars are already available in Europe, but then absolutely ignores that fact by reasoning with American manufacturers on why it cannot be done! Hello!? It IS already accomplished in Europe. Read your own notes. Furthermore, it goes on to say that safety and comfort needs to be sacrificed. In my experience, I do not think cars are less safe in Europe and Japan than in the US. Cars do not need steel cages to be safe. Clever design can accomplish the same using carbon fiber or aluminum. Where is the steel cage in a F-1 race car? where is the steel in a Cessna airplane?.

Besides, building a car like a sherman tank makes it safe for the tank, not for the people inside. Drop an egg inside a steel box, and drop another egg inside a crumpled aluminum foil enclosure and see which one fares better. Also you can make the opposite argument as well: driving Hummers and Suburbans makes it unsafe???for other cars on the road.

The author says that Ford???s cost in aluminum is upwards of $50K. Why even approach that line of reasoning? Didn???t he just say that in Europe they reach over 50 mpg? Do they use all aluminum? Do Europeans or Japanese spend that kind of money on a small commuter car? Of course not!

Finally, it is a GIVEN that there has to be some paradigm shift in order to lower the cost at the pump. I have never spoken to a person that is waiting for a 50mpg Hummer. They KNOW they need to sacrifice on internal space and acceleration.

This is an incredibly poorly reasoned article. It begins by telling us that 50MPG cars are already available in Europe, but then absolutely ignores that fact by reasoning with American manufacturers on why it cannot be done! Hello!? It IS already accomplished in Europe. Read your own notes. Furthermore, it goes on to say that safety and comfort needs to be sacrificed. In my experience, I do not think cars are less safe in Europe and Japan than in the US. Cars do not need steel cages to be safe. Clever design can accomplish the same using carbon fiber or aluminum. Where is the steel cage in a F-1 race car? where is the steel in a Cessna airplane?.

Besides, building a car like a sherman tank makes it safe for the tank, not for the people inside. Drop an egg inside a steel box, and drop another egg inside a crumpled aluminum foil enclosure and see which one fares better. Also you can make the opposite argument as well: driving Hummers and Suburbans makes it unsafe???for other cars on the road.

The author says that Ford???s cost in aluminum is upwards of $50K. Why even approach that line of reasoning? Didn???t he just say that in Europe they reach over 50 mpg? Do they use all aluminum? Do Europeans or Japanese spend that kind of money on a small commuter car? Of course not!

Finally, it is a GIVEN that there has to be some paradigm shift in order to lower the cost at the pump. I have never spoken to a person that is waiting for a 50mpg Hummer. They KNOW they need to sacrifice on internal space and acceleration.

Markedly improved fuel economy is available NOW - look at http:?/gastrick.waterforgas.hop.clickbank.net.1

the question that should be asked is why is there no cars that are completely independant of oil.. I consider myself a complete idiot , yet I believe i have come up with the idea of building a car that is completely free of oil pordicts except for grease..wish me luck...

the real question that should be asked is why aren't cars completely gasoline independant..I consider myself a complete idiot, and yet lewss than a week now I have come up with a theory which I belive will allow cars to go very fast and use no oil prodoucts except for grease..

I think there are far better materials to build automobiles with than metal. Take the bicycle for example it used to be built from steel alloys, aluminum, and more recent carbon fiber. Of course manufactures don't built the complete bicycle out of carbon fiber, but in recent years more than frame and fork are. So pick up a frame made of aluminum and one made of carbon fiber. Both are strong, but the later is amazingly light. Paper light.

I have two family vehicles ( a small truck and mid size car). I also have a bicycle made of Aluminum which is far lighter than most bike in the 80s. Nowadays you see carbon fiber bikes and components because they are lighter. In fact lighter than aluminum. I don't have a lot of manufacturing knowleadge, but seems to me that Aluminum and carbon fiber are expensive labor wise equally to produce, but that carbon fiber is a very strong and light material to build a car out of.

jimmynathan: Those people mix oil with their gas because gardening tools, 'third world' motorcycles and other equipment with small engines use two stroke engines as opposed to the four stroke engine in your Honda Pilot. Two stroke engines do not have a seperate oil system like four stroke engines so you must mix the oil with the gas. I do not know what exactly mixing oil with your gas will do to your car especially such a small amount (6 ounces in a 15 gallon tank is about a 320:1 gas to oil ratio and your gas tank is probably larger and your ratio therefore larger). However, my gut feeling is that since your fuel system was never designed to handle oil, at the very least it may gum up your fuel system over time. I would recommend asking a mechanic about the implications of adding oil to the gas in your vehicle.

I have a Honda Pilot 2006 and had been filling it with a premium gasoline. Since I'm driving an average of 80 miles a day, my gasoline expenses is very high. Then I tried to save by using the regular gasoline but my mileage dropped to 17.5 from 19mpg aside that the engine's sound is not good. Then I wondered why these Mexican gardeners are mixing motor oil to their lawn-mowers. The save is true for motorcycles in Third World countries wherein a small percentage of motor oil is mixed. So I experimented by first having a gasoline in a clean bottle mixed with a motoroil if they dilute properly becaue I'm afraid it will might have an adverse effect on my car. Since everything looks fine, I tried mixing 6 ounces of motoroil everytime a filled my car. After several full tanks, I discovered that I'm averaging 21 miles to a gallon consistently and the sound of the engine is very quiet. I'm using 76 regular gasoline ever since. Try it, a 10% savings is very substantial especially with the very high gasoline prices.

Free upgrade to plug-in hybrid?

If America imported half as much oil (only 5 million barrels a day) and paid half as much for it (only $30 a barrel [written when oil was "only" $60/bbl]) due to lower demand, we could save $165 billion a year (5 million X 365 X $30 instead of 10 million X 365 X $60 = a saving of $164,250 million a year).

$165 billion would be just enough to subsidize the the 16.5 million cars and trucks we build every year -- to be built as LITHIUM battery, PLUG-IN hybrids -- at $10,000 a vehicle! -- when, if and ever higher power lithium power is ready.

Alternately, Uncle Sam could offer a consumer tax credit large enough to cover the extra cost of buying a lithium hybrid -- to be recouped with a tax of 10% of the credit for the first 10 years, on whomever owns the car. Owner gas savings should recoup most or all of the tax.

Doubly free upgrade!
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The Scuderi engine operates sort of like a backwards diesel -- injecting pressurized air into compressed fuel, instead of injecting vaporized fuel into compressed air -- may double power output for the same amount of fuel (partly by using the added turbulence of pressurized air interfacing more fuel molecules with more oxygen, as I understand it). Scuderi engines are single-stroke and thus need half as many cyliders saving much weight. Scuderi engines save brake power in the form of presurized air making them more efficient. Combine Scuderi engines with lithium hybrid technolgy (hybrid/hybrid) and for all we know the United States could become a net exporter of oil. :-)
(http://www.scuderigroup.com/)

Doesn't anyone remember, back in the 60's the government mandated the car companies to improve gas mileage but they could use a "cafe" or average standard -- but anything built on a truck base was exempt. Thus, the SUV's Vans and light trucks became the new standard. Now, that must vehicles on the road are so large that it's downright dangerous to drive even a full size car.

Obviously, you do not know your science. This tech has been around for decades. Do a google search for Brown Gas. There is a company right now that has a cutting touch run on water and works better then the oxy/ac touch, and no polution. It just has not been commercially developed, cause it gets shut down. After all, look at all the jobs that would be lost. Gas stations, oil companies, gas products, many, many. And this tech can also be used to provide gas to heat or cook. So you see, many jobs are at stake. Can even be used to drive a generator to produce electicity to eleminate public utilities except for water and sewer. There are many reasons it hasn't been promoted and actually making people believe that it is useless. But for good of the people, good for earth. What shall we do? Deny it? I think we should make it happen, give it a try. Why should we shut down anything. Let the market decide. Let the people decide with their wallets. I think they are smart enough.

BS!!! The start of the article says how Europe gets average of 43 mpg and Japan gets 50mpg. And then Ford has the balls to say it would cost 50K to get the Focus to perform at 50MPG. How about you look at the technology you are ALREADY USING IN EU http://www.ford.co.uk/ns7/fiesta/co2_fie/co2_model_fie_petrol/-/-/-/- <click that link the Ford Fiesta gets and average of 47 mpg and hmmm its not made of aluminium. You don't need to wait until 2010, 2020. Just bring what you have already developed/built over here.

BS!!! The start of the article says how Europe gets average of 43 mpg and Japan gets 50mpg. And then Ford has the balls to say it would cost 50K to get the Focus to perform at 50MPG. How about you look at the technology you are ALREADY USING IN EU http://www.ford.co.uk/ns7/fiesta/co2_fie/co2_model_fie_petrol/-/-/-/- <click that link the Ford Fiesta in Europe gets and average of 47mpg!!! So don't give me this BS that you can't do it unless you make the car out of aluminium! THERE IS NO NEED TO WAIT UNTIL 2020 OR 2010 OR 20BS!! Just bring the cars your already have over here and put the steering wheel on the left side!

What a bunch of hooey! There were FIVE cars in 1992 that got better MPG than ANYTHING we have today. The Geo Metro XFI and Honda Civic VX produced hybrid-challenging numbers. The Metro tops the chart at 53 city, 58 highway while the Civic VX is right on its heels at 48 city, 55 highway. Both Metro XFI and the Metro LSi (also offered as the Chevrolet Sprint in 1992) are small, lightweight vehicles motivated by a 1.0-liter, three-cylinder powerplant.

Its distressing to see that in the face of $150-per-barrel crude and jungle-eating bio-fuel there is still 'a need for speed', and that the necessity of thinking over 'the need to move' at all costs is not an issue. Take a minute to think this over to realise that 50 mpg needs a reality-check and an attitude, not the (automotive) industry.

Its distressing to see that in the face of $150-per-barrel crude and jungle-eating bio-fuel there is still 'a need for speed', and that the necessity of thinking over 'the need to move' at all costs is not an issue. Take a minute to think this over to realise that 50 mpg needs a reality-check and an attitude, not the (automotive) industry.