THE GOOGLE PRESPECTIVE
The average American car today gets about 20 miles per gallon (mpg) of gasoline. Eighty years ago, Henry Ford's Model T got 25 to 30 mpg and that car could run on gas or ethanol. What happened? In the decades since the Model T, car technology, speed, safety and comfort have improved tremendously. But in terms of fuel economy, we're still decades behind. With concerns about gas prices, global warming and air pollution, fuel efficiency has already become a point of concern for car buyers. Let's explore the question that a lot of people are asking: Can a car get 100 miles on a single gallon of gas?
We're not the only ones asking the question. Google -- yes, the search engine Google -- is trying to find out.
Image courtesy Consumer Guide AutomotiveIn addition to the Toyota Prius, Google.org has worked on the Ford Escape Hybrid to allow it to plug into a standard electrical socket.
On June 20, 2007, Google announced that its founders' philanthropic organization, Google.org, is modifying gas-electric hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius to try to breach the 100 mpg threshold. The project, called Recharge IT, is collaborating with other companies and researchers, including Pacific Gas & Electric. They've handed out $1 million in grants to think tanks, educators, advocacy groups and researchers to advance the hybrid cause. Another $10 million is available to researchers who offer worthy proposals.
Why is Google working on hybrids?Balancing the many developing green technologies requires efficient monitoring systems and information sorting. And that just happens to be what Google does -- it sorts the world's information. Plus, Google recently announced that it wants to be carbon neutral by the end of 2007, though it's not the first company to make such an announcement. (Yahoo did the same in April 2007).
RechargeIT features a standard Prius that's been modified to connect to a 120-volt electrical outlet. Two of these vehicles are being tested against two standard Prius hybrids. Together the two plug-in Prius hybrids are averaging 73.6 mpg, while the standard Prius hybrids are ticking along at 40.9 mpg [Source: Google]. The plug-in hybrids have also shown a significant decrease in CO2 emissions.
A second, intriguing part of the Google project is that they're working on vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, which lets cars "sell" back excess stored-up electricity to the local utility's electric grid. The vision behind this technology is discovering ways to harvest energy that's produced when driving a car -- engine heat, friction from breaks, solar energy -- and feed that energy back into the car and the electric grid. The end result is a more fuel-efficient car that can also lower your home's energy bill.
Google's hybrid, which requires more sophisticated batteries than those used by conventional hybrids, is not the only one of its type. Conversion companies exist that, for several thousand dollars, will turn your Prius or Ford Escape Hybrid into a plug-in hybrid. Others sell do-it-yourself kits over the Internet, though a significant amount of automotive expertise is recommended. This is not a recent phenomenon. For decades people have been creating their own electric, solar-powered and hybrid cars and modifying existing cars to go 100 miles per gallon or more (recently the Honda Insight has proved a popular choice).
THE ISQUARE PRESPECTIVE
We have ppl working on the model called envike......Its the motorbike that runs on electricity and does not need any charging since after an initial start , it creates its own electricity.We chose motorbikes for this concept because most of the ppl here use two wheelers........ This idea was conceived by Mr.Sanath kumar an member of isquare.... He says the project will take off as soon as gets the required technical knowledge of automobile engineering and some capitation to build the model......... ppl interested pls mail to him at dayanandasaraswati@gmail.com If u contact him he will explain to u abt his project idea and his requirements........ I am sure this project will help to the cause o fuel conservation
6 comments:
The Concept of "envike" is indeed a great idea and will solve a big deal of problems relating to fuel consumpton, pollution, etc..
But in order for any system to create its own power without any external source would mean that the system would have to break the law of thermodynamics (which states that no isolated system can be 100% efficient)This is going to be a very tough task and will probably involve the use of solar energy as a supplement. I would like to get into further discussion on this and exchange my thoughts with whoever is interested.
Also, most of us might be aware that several bicycles include a small dynamo which powers a headight that can be turned on and off at our convenience.
If this is the concept that is going to be used by the envikes, then let me make it clear that it is just impossible to power a bike from the dynamo of its own wheels.
There has got to be a continuous external source or the ike has to be charged at the required intervals (which is just equivalent to refilling ur petrol tank) Although the bike's efficiency may rise by a small amount, the idea will not serve the purpose of the "no-recharge -neccessary" kind of bikes.
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