World Land Speed Record for British Team

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Wed Jun 26, 13 9:28 am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23051252

db · Post by db » Wed Jun 26, 13 3:12 pm

Clever, but I still think electric vehicles are a dead end.
Hydrogen power seems to have much more potential but nothing like the interest or investment put into batteries.
The whole concept is flawed- the single purpose is to reduce pollution, but batteries require a large amount of rare and/ or lethal chemicals and have a very poor lifespan for the energy and materials that they consume.
They may remove pollution from city centres, but they create a lot more elsewhere!
Rant over

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Thu Jun 27, 13 9:51 am

I agree about using Hydrogen. But it wouldn't produce as much torque as an electric motor I don't think? Maybe I'm wrong.

What would be ideal in my mind is a hydrogen electric generator powering electric motors.

Also I think they need to look again at turbine engines. Alcohol is pretty easy to make and burns clean. Because of their high rpms, turbines can produce decent levels of torque and HP when geared down.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Thu Jun 27, 13 9:52 am

In-car footage from the record run.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23071190

I think that is pretty impressive for what is basically a full scale Scaletrix car.

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Thu Jun 27, 13 10:34 am

I too believe that battery power is a dead end, as you say the manufacture of batteries at the moment is an environmental disaster, Dave's idea is better, but why not cut out the generator stage and apply the hydrogen power straight to the wheels?

I like Dave's thoughts on turbines though, I think there's an opportunity to develop that.

My feeling is that with the oil producing countries wanting to secure their investment for the future and countries that don't have their own fuel reserves taking research in different directions will result in a number of different energy solutions for the personal individual transport we all demand.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Thu Jun 27, 13 11:04 am

The thing holding back Hydrogen is how to safely get it from a pump and into the car and store in in a car "tank" in such a way as not to turn it into a wheeled time bomb.

db · Post by db » Thu Jun 27, 13 12:20 pm

If I was being cynical, I could suggest that electric cars are so popular with the powers that be BECAUSE they're a dead end. Nothing more than a shiny distraction.
The governments push them and create lots of positive research and publicity (world record attempts, etc) to make them look good to the environmentalists and the public so they're happy for a while. Meanwhile any genuine potential replacement for oil is developed in secret and kept hidden by the oil companies, ready to reveal it when oil actually starts to run out.

IF I was being cynical.

Which, of course, I'm not...

db · Post by db » Thu Jun 27, 13 12:29 pm

Dave wrote:The thing holding back Hydrogen is how to safely get it from a pump and into the car and store in in a car "tank" in such a way as not to turn it into a wheeled time bomb.

I would think a similar system to LPG would be ok?

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Thu Jun 27, 13 1:16 pm

db wrote:
I would think a similar system to LPG would be ok?

You are suggesting liquid hydrogen at close to absolute zero??

No can do. Your car and the fuel delivery system would be covered in thick ice. You would have to wear safety goggles and thick gauntlets to fill up. The tank would have to be one hell of a pressure tank. Probably weigh as much as a tank too.

You would probably need to have a special licence for handling the stuff and the vehicle display hazzard warning red triangles.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Thu Jun 27, 13 1:17 pm

Imagine what it would do if the hydrogen delivery hose splashed or leaked. Your fingers would snap off.

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Thu Jun 27, 13 2:07 pm

I'm still not convinced there is an environmentally friendly, lightweight battery technology out there that makes electric cars a sensible alternative.

Anyway, we are charging them from electricity generated by burning fossil fuels so where;'s the pint in that?

Jusging by the news this morning regarding fracking, better to start building gas powered cars!

latil · Post by **latil** » Thu Jun 27, 13 4:54 pm

There'll so many earthquakes with the fracking,there won't be roads to drive on

Clockwork is the way forward

Winding stations every 10 miles

mopar_mark · Post by **mopar_mark** » Thu Jun 27, 13 6:20 pm

We use Hydrogen at work, we had a massive leak at our old factory in Isleworth. They evacuated the building an any near by house occupants,plus facilities at the back of the old building it was chaos.

The good thing is that hydrogen is lighter than air, so automatically goes towards atmosphere, unless trapped, which the problem side.

For our facility in Poland, the system there I installed uses multiple pack cylinders, but there are significant rules & regs to comply with. Fully bonded & earthed area, blast walls, etc, etc

AllKiller · Post by **AllKiller** » Thu Jun 27, 13 6:45 pm

That is really the only problem "storage" ?????

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Thu Jun 27, 13 9:06 pm

AllKiller wrote:That is really the only problem "storage" ?????

You need a safe system where you can fill a car just like you fill a car now.
Otherwise it will just not work at all.

Yes that is basically the sticking point. Hydrogen (and liquid hydrogen in particular) is very very dangerous stuff.