proton owns lotus. thats where they are. but doesnt mean that what lotus does is something thats cost efficient for proton to use.

btw, dont forget nuclear power plants. they are extremely efficient, do not “pollute” unless it blows up, the only problem is the storage of the waste products for the long term.

Cars normally induct air before compressing it into the engine. This car uses compressed air from the get-go which means the only “fuel” that goes into the car is from an air compressor.

http://www.theaircar.com/

when we using the electric car, the torque is high on low rpm. Petrol engine require high rpm, about 2000rpm to get the torque. And the petrol engine efficienty is about 60%, which mean energy lost and.

car engine is not efficient in producing power compared to power plant. And thats the fact that we need to face. Having millions of car engine running aroung with 40% wasting the fuel, thats a really bad thing.

electricity can be stored in litium battery more easily. And estimated that battery price falling about 10% each year, and increased in capacity as well. So, you will be paying less for more battery power in future.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car

Google “Who Killed The Electric Car”

So basically when you plug in your car at night, it is just using up electricity that would have gone to waste anyway….Think about that.

There are plenty of clean energy sources. Hydro, wind (not really practical), solar. It just depends on governments of the world to invest in those areas.

Its bloody simple to build an electric car. God knows why no one does. Get a Kancil, slap on a 30kW motor, direct drive (dont need a gearbox – a 1000rpm motor with standard tyres will give you a top speed of 90km/h) and a battery pack and charging circuit. Its much much simpler than a regular internal combustion car. Anyone with an electronics engineering degree would be able to “figure it out”. Hell in my university days, we built Solar powered racers…..

The biggest issue that we got is the need to run the power sapping AirCon pump….and then have the Government legalise it…. (why do I have a nagging feeling I would need to be a bumiputera to get that done……?)

If I got 30k or so to spare, I would build one.

You need electricity to extract hydrogen from water. Then there will be conversion energy losses. You still need to put them into storage, transport them to the suppliers and dispense to the users. All these are additional cost to the production and delivery of hydrogen. Then you need oxygen….. Then finally, you need to put the oxygen and hydrogen together to generate electricity. Why bother?

Why not just use the same electricity, from household outlets, to charge up the batteries in electric cars directly. End of story.

Perhaps before you post, it is good to read what other posters have suggested.

THe alternatives are Pure Li-Ion powered vehicles. Google “Tesla”.

Ironically, Tesla uses Lotus Elise chassis as a base of thier Tesla roadster. Where’s Proton then?

Whether H2 or Fuel Cell. Its just to appease people who has been clamouring for a cleaner transport method. They make it sound like its technology just beyond the horizon so most people would just sit and wait and be contented with the knowledge that somebody else is doing something for them. Atypical of homo sapien behaviour. The fact is nobody is doing anything. Period.

Fact is:-
Electric Vehicles is something a lot of countries can make NOW. And that is why THEY don’t want it to happen. Its not good for the American economy. It is only a feel-good factor to have a car that can travel for more than 100km a day. Like owning an SUV that you might, just might go beyond the tarmac. Its a bloody DC circuit for goodness sake.

It means a very difficult possibility to monopolize and put more value adders into existing automaker products.

People forget that hydrogen isn’t clean as you still create pollution in the process of making pure hyrogen.

Plus li-ion batteries are getting better and cheaper all the time…

Best to invest is better and more environmentally safe battery packs.

Most people dont drive more in a day than a battery charge of a good Li-Ion battery pack in lets say a Tesla which is about 400kms (250miles).

I only drive about 20km per day (good to live in a small town), that would mean that I can last 2 weeks per charge on a Tesla roadster. Unfortunately that also means I wont save much money either since I drive so little.

About the way electricity is generated, we have hydro power, and even in the US which still burn quite a bit of coal, coal plants are much more efficient than your engine. They can be as efficient up to 80%, while our engines are
anywhere from 15% to 25% for petrol and diesel engines (if I read that correctly sometime ago).

BigFish, just compare our KTM stations with our coal power station. And ask yourself which one you would like to stay next to. Also:
– its easier to control one big chimney then a couple of millions eksos pipe.
– it is still more efficient
– coal is cheaper
But electricity has zero shelf life, it is not something that you can refill and go. Unless some “refrigerator or salt” battery come out.

Fuel CELL is F**king High Dam* Expensive, No way to meet the Standard vehicle Price in such a SHORT time. Bush is GILA!