a couple of sites to share if you should be interested…

http://www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com

http://www.howmuchenergydoesmycaruse.com

Future technology is interesting, ut as with the 70’s we need to avoid loosing capability. Perhaps mandating more AL as a product for trailers would also help with the toy haulers – or less toys.

UPDATE: Although the original article isn’t linked in Justin’s post, I found it on MSNBC. There’s even a picture of the modification, and apparently the batteries are stored in a compartment beneath the trunk. So, I stand corrected about the car not being suitable for shopping and such.

Fixed. Thanks for the heads up Joshua. Details!

Not only is it easier to make diesel, but diesel engines themselves are roughly 40% more efficient. In other words, more of the energy contained in the fuel gets converted to motive force. And the engines themselves are far more durable and last longer.

I just got a new Corolla… and I didn’t know nearly as much about biodiesel in June as I do now. I would have made a different choice in vehicles otherwise.

Joshua,
Diesel is easier to refine than gasoline, and a barrel of oil will yield more diesel than gasoline. Even though the nation is running at close to capacity in terms of diesel and gas refining, wed still come out ahead if more non-commercial vehichles were switched to diesel.

A minor quibble: “Hacking” (which has software connotations) probably isn’t the proper term for these hardware-based modifications. “Tricking out” seems to be the preferred colloquialism for this sort of thing. (I know, there’s also “pimping” – as in Pimp My Ride – but that refers only to superfluous additions like DVD players and such. Besides, it sounds ridiculous.)

Anyway, my first thought is, has this guy patented his idea?

My second thought is that there is one small drawback to this idea: You have to sacrifice trunk space in order to do it, meaning the car isn’t suitable for a lot of everyday stuff like shopping with the family (since you have no place to put all the stuff you buy). If this concept is incorporated into the next generation of hybrid vehicles, methinks they ought to put the extra batteries somewhere else.

It is important also to develop diesel electric hybrids instead of gas electric. Diesels are much more efficient in the type of running typical in a hybrid vehicle and could boost efficiency.

There is one problem with that idea. There is already a large and growing demand for diesel fuel (for heavy trucks, industrial power generators and any number of other vehicles and systems). Diesel hybrid cars would only add to the existing demand for diesel and drive up its price, which would defeat the purpose of having hybrid engines. (Gasoline engines have no such “competition” for fuel, at least not on anything close to that scale.)

My husband and I bought our first hybrid car, a Toyota Prius, several months ago. In just three tanks of gas, we already can’t imagine how we got by with the old gas guzzlers. We easily average between 53 and 57 mpg with each tank and can sometimes go as long as three weeks before having to re-fuel. Gas prices on the rise? We hardly notice.

But again, “Someday…”

Someday…..