What kind of new car technology means – hybrid, crossover, diesel, etc?
June 3, 2009 in Other - Car Makes
Did you know that you can save fuel and run your car on water
thomasthefool asked:
There are so many different cars out there now. I don”t plan to buy one soon but I’m having curiosity about things like hybrid, electric, hydrogen – as well as smart cars, crossovers – as well as diesel, unleaded, premium gasoline. What’s with all these choices? Couldn’t they agree on one! Thanks!!! Cheers!
Did you know that you can save fuel and run your car on water
try to get a car that does not use up too much energy and does
not cause high insurance cost.
times have changed, you know.
The reason that there are so many fuel choices is because there is no one right answer to the question of what is the fuel of the future. Some of the current technologies will disappear within the next few years while others will continue to be developed.
As for the style of cars, different people have different needs. A person that drives mostly by his or herself, requires little luggage space, and drives mainly within an urban environment may find that the small Smart car is a good choice. However, someone that regularly carries passengers, luggage, and/or tows with the vehicle would be better suited in a SUV/CUV. The auto manufacturers are just trying to cater to the different lifestyles and needs of the general population
Here are a few general definitions, I hope this helps.
Hybrid – A car which can be powered by a gas engine or electric motor. They are equipped with both engines and a battery. The gas engine also charges the battery. The reason for the electric motor is to power the car at low speeds instead of using the gas engine. The gas engine can be shut off instead of idling. Some vehicles used both the gas and electric motor together.
Electric – A car powered by an electric motor and uses a battery instead of a gas tank to store its energy. You plug it in every night to recharge it.
Diesel – a type of engine that is more efficient than a gasoline engine, does not use spark plugs, and can use vegetable oil as a fuel.
Smart Car – A brand of car that is very small and fuel -efficient.
Crossover – a vehicle than is a cross between an SUV and a car, example Chevy Traverse or Nissan Murano
Unleaded gas – gas without lead in it as an additive. Lead was removed as an additive in 1974. It reduced pollution.
Premium Gas – Gas with a higher octane, it burns smoother in high performance engines.
Good luck.
Hybrid cars are cars that run on two sources of energy.
The first Hybrid was the Honda Insight in 2001 in America. It was a gas-electric hybrid. This means it used an electric motor when driving slow and a gas engine when driving fast. It got 60mpg city and 66mpg highway. The most popular Hybrid right now is the ugliest. The Toyota Prius.
Crossover is an SUV sitting on car chassis. The Honda CR-V is an AWD, higher, bigger Honda Civic. The Toyota Rav4 is sitting on Toyota Corolla chassis. The new Toyota Venza is a taller Toyota Camry, and so on.Crossovers hae been around for at least 2 years, but they are not getting more popular because of gas mileage.
Diesel is a different type of engine. This has been around for over 100 years. It is just starting to become popular in America, but just about every car sold in Europe has a Diesel engine option. Diesel engines work different than gas engines. They are much better on gas/petrol and they are used for towing heavy things. That is why Semi trucks and Lori’s have Diesel engines. They are very reliable too. But they are slow cars and Diesel costs more than gas these days.
Electric cars are cars that run on just electricity. They use thousands of laptop computer batteries that would make the car last 40-200 miles before needing a recharge. Recharging is just plugging them into the wall and waiting 10-15 hours.
Hydrogen cars are cars that are powered by Hydrogen gas. This is highly compressed water. Right now, the only Hydrogen powered car in production is the Honda FCX Clarity. It is only sold in California because California is the only place with Hydrogen filling stations. Hydrogen cars make no pollution. All that comes out of the exhaust system is water that you could drink. They are very clean cars, but expensive to make. Hydrogen cars are also known as Fuel Cell cars.
Unleaded gas is gas that most cars use. When a car says to use unleaded fuel, they mean do NOT use Diesel. If you put Diesel in a gas car, you will break your car. There are many type if unleaded fuel. Regular(80-86 octane), Midgrade(88-89), Premium(90-93), Super(95-96) and Race(100+ octane). Cars with Turbochargers, superchargers, or powerful engines require premium fuel. All luxury cars like Acura’s, Lexus, Infiniti, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Lincoln, Mercedes, and others all require premium fuel. Honda Civic Si and VW GTI and Nissan 350z and almost all sports cars require premium fuel. Higher octane basically means beter quality. Putting Premium fuel in a car that just needs regular fuel does NOT make it more reliable or get better fuel economy. All it does is add about 5HP more to cars that recommend regular fuel.
Air powered cars are cars that run on compressed air. The compressed air is what moves the cylinders in the engine to make the car move. They could travel about 200 miles before needing more air. These cars are only sold in India so far. They have been around a few years.
Smart is a company made by Mercedes Benz. They make 3 cars. The Smart Fortwo, Smart Forfour, and Smart Roadster. In America, we only have the Smart Fortwo, which actually came out in 1998 in Europe. It is an old design. It is a regular gas powered car with a small 3 cylinder engine. It only has 70HP and is now the slowest new car in America. With its lightweight and small engine, you would expect it to be great on gas, but it is NOT. It gets 41 miles per gallon at best. A Honda Civic almost gets that. And the Smart Fortwo only seats 2 people. They are very unreliable and break down a lot. They use Premium gas. They are expensive to maintain. They are very bad cars. Old technology.