The Lightning Hybrid and the Inizio EV 128
Mike writes "With auto show season hitting its stride, there's no shortage of incredible prototypes on display. First up is a brand new 100-mpg supercar by Lighting Hybrids. The biodiesel-fueled vehicle has its sights set on the automotive X prize and uses a hydraulic compression system to store energy from regenerative braking. Next, the Liv Inizio, a sleek fully-electric roadster that boasts a scorching top-speed of 150 mph and a 200-mile range, placing it in direct competition with the Tesla roadster."
Price (Score:5, Informative)
Just so everyone knows:
Tesla Roadster (all electric): $98,000
Liv Inizio (all electric): $100,000
Lightning Hybrids car (biodiesel): $39,000-$59,000
Re:Price (Score:5, Informative)
not that long [gas2.org]
Re:Price (Score:5, Informative)
``i sill dont understand whats so great about biodiesel?''
What is great about it is that the CO_2 you realease into the atmosphere when you burn it has first been extracted from the atmosphere while the crops you make it from were growing. In other words, biodiesel is CO_2 neutral: it does not add to the total amount of CO_2 to the atmosphere. It is often also cleaner than regular diesel in other ways, e.g. it contains no sulphur.
``i mean we burn our crops in our cars instead of using the fields to harvest food for people who are starving''
We can do that (and that certainly happens), but we can also make biodiesel from things that don't use up land that could be used for farming food crops. The crops that are best for feeding people and the crops that have the best yield for making bio fuel are not the same. Algae, for example, have very high oil yield and will grow on water, and even on desert land. If we do it right, we can produce bio fuels in addition to food.
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I'm not saying biodiesel is bad, but realize that it won't be carbon neutral. This is because we basically eat natural gas, NG being the main feedstock for ammonia, which of course becomes fertilizer. Because our food isn't carbon neutral, it won't make carbon neutral fuel.
Perhaps someday fueling stations will sell diesel, biodiesel, and organic-biodiesel for successively greater prices. But we'll never ever be able to replace the energy we get out of mineral oil with organic-biodiesel for a price anywhere near what it takes suck oil out of the ground and refine it.
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No, you don't burn crops, you burn what is grown on land that could be used for crops driving the price of food up in 3rd world countries.
Biodiesel is the bane of every food aid agency in the world.
Re:Price (Score:3, Informative)
Any of those three sources I listed can be grown on land that is poorly suited to growing traditional food crops.
But for now, diesel is once again so cheap that biofuels are not cost effective.
Re:Price (Score:5, Informative)
While I agree in general (not using food as fuel) I also have to point out that Jatropha is another good candidate for fuel production. Jatropha grows in very poor soil with very little water needed and produces seeds which are 1/3rd oil. I'm not sure what huge kind of acerage you would need to supply world energy demands but not every solution has to do it all. Algae is great if you have the water and the infrastructure to support that kind of production, but it's definitely possible that poorer places may need a different form of production which is less capital intensive.
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#3 - mass-produced biodiesel in the future will be generated by algae in tanks, not crops grown in soil?