A Sign Of The Times

[oldskool]

Heard on the abc that barack obama is signing legislation that by 2016 all new cars produced in the US will have to meet new emissions tests and meet a new petrol consumption of 15km to one litre. That is under 7litres per 100km.

The idea is to lower the consumption of oil which obviously in not infinite. Chances are many years after Australia will follow suit (as we usually do with the US).

I think it is a probably a good idea, something has to be done, the oil stocks will not last for ever but will this mean the end of the performance car? Even worse if it is adopted in Aus in the future (yes I know it could be at least 10-15 years away) could it mean the end of Australian built cars?

Will people just import from other countries who do not introduce such a policy to to get performance cars?

Can serious performance be had from hybrid cars?

[nang3]

I reckon there is the potential for electric cars to become mainstream and have competitive performance and it will be a good thing as electricity is cheap and easy and clean - clean for the end user anyway not at the coal-fired generators etc..

I also think govt's round the world will turn to nuclear power stations as the technology matures and its positive attributes outweigh the negatives - will probably still be a charged debate between pro-nuke and the greenies though... but overall nuclear power stations will drop the cost of electricity IMO..

I'm sure there will be resistance from the hardcore petrol heads with no capacitance for reasoning but I know if could buy a cheap, fast decent looking sparky car in the current market that was competitive with a turbo I'd defo consider it..

I read somewhere that electric motors produce shedloads of torque from like 1rpm and are fairly linear in its delivery - this would be good for strip and circuit work IMO

im sure there are other good reasons I've ohmitted

[Ras351]

  nang3 said:

ohmitted

Nice pun

[Ghosti]

Meh, when it all goes down, I'll be on the preorder list for one of these badboys.

If it does a 7.82s 1/4, I don't care what it runs on

[winstor]

Turbo Diesels. Latest Street Machine mag has a guy running a 6.6L twin turbo diesel V8 that puts out 900hp and apparently gets 32mpg, which is roughly 12km per litre.

[Venom XR6]

The US has had Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for years now. They average the economy across the whole range, so if they make plenty of low consumption vehicles they can still make gas guzzlers and performance cars. With Ford US making the Fiesta and new Focus later this year and next year, along with a range of hybrids, it will help bring the numbers down so they can continue to sell F series and V8 Mustangs.

[Rancidpunx]

Hydrogen cars look to have alot of potential and no need to recharge them. Just pull into a servo and fill her up like normal just using pressurized hydrogen.

As for the 2016 deadline, the UAE will be out of oil by then, hence their building boom to transform there economy from natural resources to a top tourist destination. Petrol prices by then would also be huge. Maybe something that only the rich can afford for a commute to work.

The technology is there for a few ideas to replace petrol as a fuel just which one makes it as the mainstream. Kinda like the battle between Blueray and HD-DVD in the last 2 years. I big thing to remember is that oil is not just used as a fuel but by products all around you, these will also run out, plastics, waxes, soaps etc.

[NB4C]

The weakest link in electric/hybrid vehicles is the battery. It's very heavy and has no where near the energy density of petrol, also batteries will need replacing after say ... 8 years. But despite the drawbacks, it is quite practical.

Performance hybrids are rare, but the Lexus 450h qualifies. 0-60mph in 5.5s ; 22 mpg ; weight = 1.9T (batteries are heavy)

Edited 24/05/09 06:09 AM by NB4C

[XRDOSE]

oh....makes my 16.7l/100km look pretty sh*thouse hahaha