Lifecar Eco-Roadster Gets 150 Miles-Per-Gallon
We've seen a lot of green gadgets and products coming to market lately, but we're pretty impressed with a new car that promises an high speeds and incredible mileage in a sporty, streamlined and eco-friendly design. Partially funded by the UK government, the green Lifecar project hopes to build excitement and support for zero-emissions technology.
Built to be extremely efficient by a consortium of UK auto manufacturers and universities, this sleek concept car runs on hydrogen fuel cells powered by a regenerative braking system (a technology already seen in some hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight). In other words, as the driver brakes and the car slows down, the system captures energy -- usually lost in a normal car -- and uses it to recharge the batteries.
Built to be as lightweight as possible, the car lacks a stereo, airbags and other modern amenities, but it does have a top speed of almost 100 miles per hour -- fast for a hydrogen fuel cell car -- and yet still gets over 150 miles per gallon.
Later this month, the concept car will debut at the Geneva Auto Show, where its top speed and acceleration abilities will be tested for the first time in public.
From BBC News and Crave
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Royboy @ Mar 6th 2008 7:48AM
150 miles per gallon of hydrogen? You can't exactly go down to the corner gas station and fillerup! How much does a gallon of hydrogen cost?
Gordon L. MacWilliam @ Mar 6th 2008 8:27AM
The energy content of a gallon of gasoline is not the same as the energy content of a gallon of hydrogen, so the headline is misleading. Also, how much energy is required to produce a gallon of hydrogen vs. a gallon of gasoline? For a balanced article, these questions should have been addressed.
cfernos @ Mar 6th 2008 10:31AM
The delivered cost of liquid hydrogen in 1960 was approximately $ 2.60 per kg. Large-scale production was expected to reduce the cost to $ 1.00 per kg. In the 1980's NASA was actually paying $ 3.60 per kg.
al schrader @ Mar 23rd 2008 8:31AM
Set-up your car for $4.00 gas now-
Here are a few tips-
Inflate the tires to maximum safe pressure.
Have your mechanic install platinum tip spark plugs.
Change your oil to 5W - 20 full synthetic
and a high-flow oil filter (Mobil 1 etc.)
Install a washable high-flow K & N air filter
in place of the cheap paper air filter.
These things will improve your fuel economy by about %10 . The average drive spends about $1200
a year on $4.00 gas, so all of these will pay for themselves the first year of two, and then
the saving go into your pocket year after year.
Al
alfredschrader@aol.com
Garret @ Mar 25th 2008 8:16AM
Al Schrader listed a # of good ideas.
All good advice - EXCEPT the K&N air filer. If you have a European car (Audi, VW, Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, etc.) or some Japanese cars, the oil used in K&N filters (so they can be washed & re-used) will destroy your Mass Airflow Sensor - which will cost $200 to $800 to replace.
Increasing tire pressure is the biggest thing most people can do, other than keeping your foot off the gas...
bob @ Mar 25th 2008 9:16PM
the best thing to do is everybody take couple days off .maybe goverment & oil companys quit ripping the plubic off.
Mike C. @ Mar 26th 2008 10:11AM
I wish these companies, and some people out there, would stop dreaming of hydrogen fuel cell cars. It's a pipe dream for at least until they can find away to produce it much more efficiently and make it available on every street corner.
We REALLY need to get behind plug-in hybrids (PHEV). They use available tech and could be done affordably right now.