Focus on Hybrids Hurting Development of Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles

companies don't want automobiles that don't use their product, so it will never happen. Hybrid cars are the most they are going to compromise.

I'm not a ford fan but the trucks I drive (Military owned trucks) are converted to natural gas and can be switched back to regualr gas if needed. The cost are slightly cheaper and I haven't notice any power decrease from the conversion.

Have auto companies thought of this yet...

2 electric engines in your car. One is driving the car while the other is charging off a tiny gas engine.. Sure your engine would be huge in the end but I'd accept that if I didn't have to fill up for weeks at time!

to lurker
Yep, big oil. No one ever talks about the real free fuel, corn oil. McDonalds could open a gas station selling its cooking oil. You just need a diesel engine and filter out the colesterol in the oil. That oil currently goes to landfills not gas tanks.


now for dllmodz
Yes that would be a big vehicle. It is infact how a diesel electric Train engine works. They like it in trains cause strait gearing to a diesel motor needs one hell of a transmition (it has been done) but electric is better. Power on, away you go.

(economically) the goverment has strong relationship with the gas industries. If this cars were to be release it would cause huge economic changes.

The oil companys will use their weight to run this planet into the ground. As long as they can make a buck, that's all that matters. There is nothing we can do as long as Big Oil is in charge.

On another note, I remember seeing reports 15 years ago about electric cars replacing combustion powered cars. They had competitions and everything, and some pretty well made cars. What progress have we made, really? Where I live, I doubt 1 in 100 cars on the road is even a hybrid, and their use doesn't even seem to be spreading at all.

There lone college kid making a solar + electric only vehicle for what 1600$ and Billion dollar companies can't come up with anything better?

It is pure bullshit.

Check it out http://solarvehicles.org

with electric cars is the batteries, recharge times, etc.
I work for a major parts supplier to just about every automotive manufacturer in the world, we've been working on 42v systems for cars for the last 5 yrs and the Big 3 here in the US and DaimlerChrysler were interested, up to a point.

There's a lot of Bio-fuels available, from vegetable oil to Ethanol. However, don't be confused, this isn't your vegetable oil of your mother's pantry shelf, it has to be treated first. Also, the veg. oil will only work in diesel engines, NOT in gas engines. There are a number of other problems with the veg. oil fuel as well, rubber parts in the delivery system can dissolve, the lining of the fuel tank can be eaten away which can then clog the fuel filters.

There's still work to be done there.

In the interim, use ethanol-additive fuels in your vehicles, E10 grade is approved by all auto manufacturers.
In 2004, 30% of all gas consumed in the US was an ethanol blend.