Punisher

This argument may be political in nature, but it will not ever be settled by politics. The only that will ever put an end to it is technology.

As far a pollution goes, I really don't think that's as serious an issue as it's being made out to be (politically speaking) I live in SoCal, and I work in Los Angeles, I am of course concerned about the air I breath. But today's cars are seriously efficient. An huge SUV from today, creates less emissions that a fleet of ecomony cars from 20 yrs ago.

Cars today are so clean that they are now doing studies on the pollution created from tires. No joke! They are looking at what the particles from tire wear are doing to our environment. That's how clean cars are becoming, and the technology is still "leaping" forward.

As far as oil dependency, we are not going to run out any time soon. It may happen someday, but not in our lifetimes. Not in our children's lifetimes. And I agree w/Houtex, we are not switching over until some so significantly better comes along, we'd be fools not to.

Gas/electric is not gonna do it. Technology is going to leapfrog right past it. Hydrogen might be the way. It can be made cheap and efficient. But creating an infrastructure for it will cost big. Creating/storing/transporting it and then building hydrogen refueling stations will take money. Not sure if consumers are ready to spend that kind of money. The govt. could mandate it...but they tried the same thing w/gas-electric cars. That little mandate tanked! The govt. can tell us what they want, but the it's the consumer w/money in hand that will decide what happens. Right now is seems that internal combustion is just fine with us.

So until a Recombinant Magnetronic Repulsor Array is putting torque to my rear wheels, I'm sure there will be plenty of hp, SE's and Supercars making their way to the dealer lots and then to our driveways.

bob

My perosnal theory, when the oceans run dry and large areas of land become sinkholes for inexplicable reasons, I think maybe we've burnt up all the crude oil in the earth. - as in an exageration, not being one of those scientific types, I cant possibly know what will happen, but hey I gotta have an opinion

I do know that they pump water into depleted wells, for the exact reason I cannot say?? Hence when the ocean runs dry and big sinkholes appear.

Anywhosit, I'm not particularly concerned with when, and,what and will happen when oil reserves are depleted. Nor am I overly concerned about humanity's fate on the earth when it happens be it in my lifetime or not.

That said, I'm not adverse to more effcient engines, or a fleet composed mostly of hybrid or hydrogen powered vehicles. IMO cars are vastly improved as a result of the need to manufacture more efficent less polluting vehicles. Even if the doomsayers are wrong and there is a limitless supply of gasoline without global warming I think engineers need to be challenged to create better and better devices.

The real threat to "large" (as in relative to the times) displacment high horsepower engines isnt an impending fuel crisis, its societal backlash, insurance companies, and the like, just like the 60's and early 70's the golden age of high-performance is gonna come crashing down again. People are gonna "sober up" (read, have kids, lose a loved one to some HP vehicle related activity, etc.) and boom, its the abysmal 70's to early 80's all over again. I don't know if you can include environmental forces in the above because there are cars now that are running cleaner than the environment they are in as they act like mobile scrubbers cleaning as they go (hard to beleive, I know, but it happens).

Maverick128

According to many scientists, the oil in the Alaskan Refuge would run our country for THREE DAYS. Why destroy such a beautiful place for three days worth of oil. I think we should spend more on alternatives to gasoline, or if you want to continue using gas, spend more money on this technology. Anything into oil
If we had one of these at every landfill in the country, we would never have to rely on Saudi oil ever again. Plus we would get rid of all the trash that has built up in the landfills. After that, we can all have our 5.4 liters and whatnot. So long as you can keep the emissions down. That's a whole different set of problems.

mustangfun101

Anyway...............can't wait to see a hybrid car that has good performance numbers.

Cajunsix

I think oil reserves/gas availability will be just fine. They can make synthetic motor oil, synthetic gemstones, even synthetic flavors for the gum I'm chewing... I don't see why there can't be a fourth gas grade at the pumps... synthetic high octane (the good stuff)! Then we could have a really high power SE that runs on synthetic ! Just something to think about.

Robert

Hey, I've got one of those!! Accidentally vaporized my neighbors dog with it just the other day!

People, people, people! Listen up, here's the deal:

1) The oil reserve issue is moot - there's plenty left for some time to come.
2) New technologies will be well available and tested by the time oil runs out - and they'll probably all have been bought up and marketed by the energy companies themselves, and they'll gradually transition us over to them.
3) Efficient Hydrogen power is a LONG WAY OFF. Probably many, many decades before that becomes truly viable, assuming a more efficient technology is not developed first.
4) Most importantly, the internal combustion engine - though admittedly a century old technology - is evolving by leaps and bounds. How else could a V10 Viper pass tough new vehicle emissions standards in California? Think about it.

Two major new ICE technologies you'll want to look for are on the horizon. Both offer greatly enhanced efficieny and dramatically reduced emissions.

The first one is currently being patented by Audi. It involves a new machining process in engine production: "Exposure of the cylinder bores of internal combustion engines to UV laser light," resulting in reduced engine oil consumption by up to 75 percent, and wear to the bores and piston rings reduced by as much as 90 percent. You can read more here: http://www.audi.com/com/en/company/news/pr...sp?News=1654680

The other promising technology undergoing final trials now is MIT's Plasmatron. It sounds like sci-fi, but it's real. Here's how it works: About the size of a wine bottle, it operates as an onboard "oil refinery." It converts a variety of fuels into high-quality hydrogen-rich gas. Adding only a small amount of such gas to the fossil fuel powering a car is known to significantly decrease emissions of pollutants like NOx.

Fuel injected into the plasmatron is exposed to an electric discharge that turns the fuel and surrounding air into an electrically charged gas, or plasma. The plasma accelerates reaction rates allowing the production of hydrogen-rich gas.

Plasmatrons have traditionally been used to produce hydrogen-rich gas for industrial applications like metallurgical processing. They are usually quite large -- about the size of a car engine -- and require large amounts of electrical power. "To our knowledge we're the first to develop a plasma-boosted fuel reformer that's this small and that operates at low power (less than one kilowatt)," said Dr. Daniel R. Cohn, head of the Plasma Technology Division at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC).

Word is that it will drastically cut smog-producing emissions from cars and other vehicles, and is expected to be inexpensive and readily compatible with present engine technology.

More here: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/1999/plasmatron.html

The point is that between new technologies like the above, combined with hybrid technology (by next year all of Lexus' automobiles are moving to hybrid technology), you're going to see the industry move towards significantly evolving proven existing technologies as opposed to trying to figure out brand new ones (which cost vastly greater sums of money).

And have you all seen the Volta? Check out THESE specs: 408-hp Hybrid Synergy Drive (a 3.3-liter V6 with an electric motor for each axle) that not only delivers 435 miles on a 13.7-gallon tank, but 0 - 60 acceleration in a mere 4 seconds. More here: http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/future/volta.html

For right now, full Hydrogen power is nothing more than a marketing wet dream.

Now, on the other hand, we could all end up moving to flying cars in the near future. A flying Stang. I guess it would have to be called the Pegasus. Ford Pegasus. Hmmm.

WaveMan2k3

Didn't we already have a huge like 15 or 16 page topic about this before. Many of us liked the idea of a hydrogen powered Mustang and many didn't. So we kinda agreed to disagree on this topic...

Dr Iven

To what scientists have you been listening? That's unbelievable simply because it's not true. The petroleum we have in Alaska can last us decades, if not longer. THREE DAYS?? That's only a few hundred gas stations... It sounds almost made up (either by you or your source)... get real.

Honestly, considering a typical vehicle can go longer than SEVEN days on a tank of gas, how would a three day supply even make sense? How many gallons of gas per car were these 'scientists' taking into account?

And hydrogen would be a great alternative to petroleum, but it's just a dream. I could sit here and want $50,000,000 all day long, but it doesn't mean it'll happen just because it'd be nice, and solve a lot of problems. Hydrogen is HIGHLY flammable (way more than gasoline), and a certain technology would have to be developed for the tank alone.

I think the finger of blame is resting on the wrong place. It's not today's vehicles that are the problem. It's possible that it was yesterday's vehicles that caused the oil shortage, but new cars and trucks get good enough gas mileage. Many factors cause high gas prices, and it's easy to just say that SUV's are the problem. Come on, gimme a break.

On a political note... What happened to the "No blood for oil" mentality? Boy, we must be waiting on that oil, because I haven't heard of us stealing a drop of it.

Must_stang

My 2 cents...

Long before we get close to running out of oil, the oil/energy companies will have switched us to some similar, most probably renewable, fuel, such as biodiesel and plant-based gasoline as these are easily substituted into the current infrastructure. (ExxonMobil and Shell get into GE farming)

Changes in battery technology will allow for more renewable fuel sources - solar, wind, wave, etc. - to generate electricity that can be stored and distributed much easier. Eventually, all vehicles will be electric and zero-emission. This doesn't mean slow, either. Just read up on the electric dragsters to see what I mean.

Anyway, we have enough technology now to get us past any "oil" crisis without any major problems - if everyone plays nicely with one another. Fast vehicles will always be available. You may just need to get a pilot's license before they sell you one.

maverick351ci

think of it all this way in all reality gas is still cheep compaired to what it once was think about this

back in the day gas was lets say 25 cent a gallon
but at the same time you made 30 cents a day working so for a whole day of work you got 1 gallon of gas

now in today you make lets say minimum wage i think is at 5.15 an hour most make around 10 an hour some more some less

ok gas is now 2.00 a gallon you
you now get at least 2 gallons worth of fuel for your hour worked in stead of your 1 gallon per day you worked

allso just be glad your car doesnt run off something simple like MILK then you would be paying 4.25 a gallon or say mountain dew
if your car ran off mt.dew you would be looking at around 250 if you bought 2l. or 4 something if you baught a 12 pk

just stuff to think about i dont think gas is all that bad and i just had it jump from 1.20 up to 2.20 on me (lived in iowa where we used corn as an additive in gas ETHINOL to reno nv where theres no such thing)

gas will go up then come down allways does why stop now pluss we have more oil in the us that isnt tapped into than iraq ever had google that then circle it

snkbtn99

Who says we are running out of fossil fuels?

steve19970

lol yep...I remember...where is Decipher?

:jedi: "No...I am your fuel source!"


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

kevinb120

There is plenty of fossil fuel left, your great great great grandchildren may not even see a shortage. We have enough untapped sources in this country to become fully independent from other countries supplies. Not to mention they still havent even tapped coal based petroleum. Technology is ever-moving for more efficiency and alternatives anyway. Gas right now is dirt cheap. Dont get sukered into the hype.