You all know I drive a hybrid and bang on about it enough, so you know I'm happy with it.
Of course, I'm aware that many think the idea is tosh for various reasons.
How do we collectively feel about this new air hybrid, rather than electric, from Peugeot? Looks good to me.
www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-reviews/87713/peugeot-2008-hybrid-air-prototype-review
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" A production model is a few years away".
Which suggests - for what is a simple concept - that it has major issues which come to light over a period of time..
Anyone fancy being a guinea pig for a novel form of propulsion devised by Peugeot?
I would not.
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The Golf GTE and A3 e-tron both look interesting.
I personally think the longer term solution is fuel cells. Toyota has one on the way.
I've often seen wind farm turbines not turning and thought - couldn't they be storing energy instead, e.g. 'creating'/'storing' hydrogen. Then I think how unsafe that might be and that's not considering transportation. But the sites are remote.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 6 Jul 14 at 22:42
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Eeeeeh... compressed air is a form of power storage, like a battery. It will be less efficient than a simpler powertrain, absolutely for sure. And with the very high pressures involved, problems of component wear and valve life will intrude immediately.
There ain't no perpetual motion Crankers.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sun 6 Jul 14 at 23:44
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>>
>> I've often seen wind farm turbines not turning and thought - couldn't they be storing
>> energy instead, e.g. 'creating'/'storing' hydrogen. Then I think how unsafe that might be and that's
>> not considering transportation. But the sites are remote.
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Remember they are connected to the grid so the hydrogen can be generated anywhere.
If they are not turning it is either no wind or an issue with the turbine/generator.
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I assumed it was often because they were being paid not to generate electricity. This can be when it's very windy or demand for electricity is low. e.g.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13253876
I've seen some large wind farms in the Lake District where none of them are turning and it was windy but nowhere near too windy. They can't all have turbine/generator problems at the same time surely.
So if they aren't allowed/able to send the electricity to the national grid, I was thinking they could still be used to generate hydrogen.
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>> Anyone fancy being a guinea pig for a novel form of propulsion devised by Peugeot?
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It's actually a Bosch development.
Does that change your opinion?
For what it's worth, I think the idea is great. No knackered/degrading batteries to worry about. Just so long as the compressed air seals stay tight. But then compressed air is not exactly a new technology.
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It is less efficient to compress air and decompress air than to charge batteries.
I would just like a very basic hybrid that is an ordinary car that can go up to ~5 mph on a pair of small motors on one 'axle' that runs off the starter battery or a second AGM battery.
This would allow one to creep quietly in traffic without the need for modifying everything such as transmission. I don't even care if the power steering doesn't work as long as the brakes do.
Last edited by: Shiny Tailpipes on Mon 7 Jul 14 at 19:26
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>> It's actually a Bosch development.
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>> Does that change your opinion?
My Bosch vacuum cleaner was forever breaking down.
I think we'd be better off refining the Ampera model, ie all electric drivetrain coupled with a decent battery pack and efficient petrol generator for motorway cruising.
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>> My Bosch vacuum cleaner was forever breaking down.
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Most likely user error. Did you consult the Bosch approved floor coverings manual before purchase? Probably incompatible hardware was causing the issue...
Last edited by: gmac on Tue 8 Jul 14 at 09:20
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Compressed air powered cars go back to the beginning of the 20th. century-what's new is using air to pressurize oil and using that to power the vehicle(with 2 losses of efficiency).
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Couple of folk have mentioned efficiency, as if that were a drawback in this application.
I appreciate it says "claimed" and it's experimental, but even so, from the article,
"On the road running costs obviously benefit as well, with a claimed 97.4mpg average whilst emitting just 69g/km. In comparison, a regular Peugeot 2008 1.2 automatic manages 65.7mpg and 99g/km"
That is, even with inherent inefficiencies in the system it will (perhaps or probably, depending on how much of a Jeremiah you are) be "better" in some ways than the unmodified car.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 8 Jul 14 at 11:29
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It charges up the air system in 200 meters - so it is claimed. So real world mpg on long runs will be no better than normal cars...
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Ferdinand Porsche had a bee in his bonnet about hybrid drive trains, and designed a lot of transport lorries and tanks and armoured vehicles with variants of petrol-electric and diesel-electric drive trains.
Hitler was a technophile and also shared Porsche's gigantism, and since what he said went state money was poured into Porsche's projects with crazed abandon. They even made a prototype giant tank nicknamed 'der Maus' which weighed something over 200 tons I think.
The Wehrmacht people weren't nearly so keen. Der Maus made a ridiculously fat slow target with its heavyweight cumbersome diesel-electric (I think) drivetrain, and those trucks and armoured vehicles were heavy and too complicated for easy field repair or butchery. The engineering was fascinating but all wasted.
Let that be a lesson to everyone on crazed one-man tyrannies.
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Unfortunately I will be in Munich at the end of the month. Spanning a weekend.
Any must sees? Hybrids included. Just wanted to hijack a thread I suppose.
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www.best-of-munich.com/museums-in-munich/museums-in-munich.html
Fantastic museum of 20th century transport - maritime, air and space, automobiles.
Wonderful model railway.
We went (five couples). The ladies were resistant to the idea - but in the end were as fascinated as the men.
Probably needs most of a day.
www.deutsches-museum.de/en/contact/
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Munich is a wonderful City, with many things to see.
The Englische Garten is good for walking and pic-nicking.
The beer is second only to Cologne - arguably.
A night in a beer hall with beer and pork knuckle is belly-busting.
Town Hall Square and the market are free trips.
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Yes, it's impressive, even if redolent of WW2, with a V2 prominent in the hall when we visited many years ago. Looks as though there is also a separate flight museum, and a vehicle museum too. And books: www.deutsches-museum-shop.com/buecher/fahrzeuge Must go back!
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Save the museum for Sunday otherwise you'll be kicking your heels for something to do.
Germany is not the 24/7, access everything, environment you are used to.
BMW world if you fancy a trip to the dark side. Book in advance.
You could hire a car and take a drive out to the lakes to the west or south into the Alps.
Alternatively you could take a train up to Ingolstadt to whet your Audi appetite.
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>> Alternatively you could take a train up to Ingolstadt to whet your Audi appetite.
I could ask them to build my car early :-) Only 5 months and a bit to go.
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I was going to mention that but not being sure of where the 3 is made these days decided to leave it out.
Seem to remember Ingolstadt was about 50mins from Munich by train.
Think I'd still be tempted with something with two seats from a hire company down to Garmisch-P, then turn right towards Lake Constance or left towards Salzburg. The scenery can be pretty amazing.
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>> Germany is not the 24/7, access everything, environment you are used to.
True!
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I'm a bit disappointed that no one has apparently taken any notice of my post on Dr Porsche, his obsession with hybrid drive trains despite their practical disadvantages to the military, and his partial folie à deux with Hitler.
Perhaps everyone knew all that already and it's just old stuff to them. How upsetting. Perhaps I've posted it before.
Porsche did have an enormously long and somewhat zigzag career.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 9 Jul 14 at 16:11
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Thanks AC: I was a Porsche follower, and read all about his background so it was interesting when you revisited what to me was old ground..
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You are very civil madf.
I think I may have posted before why I know a bit about the Professor. I knew a woman who worked for a leading Italian-owned partwork publisher. It had published a long series of very informative, tabloid-style but entirely automobile-literate sections, each accompanied by a dinkytoy-sized scale model of a Porsche. It had been translated into English by a South African translation agency, but the translations were utterly dire and done by people who were sometimes really taking the urine. The woman asked if there was anything I could do with it, as a speaker of fluent car so to speak and a translator. I said I could rewrite the entire series, given time and the money. So she got me to do it and I earned well that year. Some of the models grace my shelves here, although I have given others to nippers to bash about.
Actually I learned to decipher Italian quite well in the process, an unexpected bonus.
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>> Some of the models grace my shelves here, although I have given others to nippers to bash about.
Sorry if I seem to be binding on, but my youngest granddaughter, just 6, brought the decal-plastered racing 911 GT3 in yesterday and gave it back to me, saying that her mother had told her it was taking up room on her bookshelves. It hasn't been bashed about and is still impeccable.
On checking, I was told that her mother had simply complained that her room was untidy, saying the car shouldn't be on the bookshelf while there were books all over the floor. The nipper had simply misunderstood. I think she still wants the Porsche - her beloved daddy is a car person - and will give it back to her. It's a bit on the garish side for my curio shelves. Most of the ones I've kept are four-cylinder sporting variants, although my favourite is a shocking-pink 911 Carrera
RSR 2.7 from 1974.
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although my favourite is a shocking-pink 911 Carrera
RSR 2.7 from 1974.
An excellent choice .. Even the colour is acceptable.. I like pink...
This is nice - in pink..tinyurl.com/nzhnvwq
Last edited by: madf on Mon 14 Jul 14 at 14:56
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Good grief... not the Priceymobile...
There is only one just acceptable pink car...
thesteepletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Picture-112.png
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>> This is nice - in pink..tinyurl.com/nzhnvwq
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I had the mis-fortune to see that car in the flesh (being driven by Ms Price). 'Disgusting' doesn't even begin to describe it!
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A special sort of emetic pink?
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The Range Rover and that toy Rolls-Royce with the extra axle are both hideous, although there's nothing wrong with the colour as such. They are just ugly cars.
The RSR 2.7 looks terrific though. Not sure I'd want to drive about in it, but it still looks terrific. I have taste. Don't argue.
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New form of hybrid - madf
