Cars of Tomorrow - Page 1 of 2
With the world's supply of fossil fuels ever decreasing, the pressure is on for manufacturers to come up with a workable solution for transportation. Gas guzzling cars will soon be a distant memory as car manufacturers all jump on board the quest to deliver future proof vehicles that will run on alternative power supplies and keep the world's car drivers motoring for years to come...
Ethanol, hydrogen, solar power and electricity are all possible sources for the next generation of vehicles – there are currently countless patents in place for alternative fuelled motor transport. We take a look at a few of the industry's movers and shakers to see what's currently on offer and in the pipelines...
Prius
Perhaps the most famous of all the alternate energy vehicles currently on the road is the Toyota Prius.
This hybrid vehicle first made waves when it hit the market in Japan in 1997 but didn't really reach media saturation point until it was adopted by a number of Hollywood actors during the mid 2000s, causing the car to be labelled "Hollywood's latest politically correct status" symbol by the Washington Post.
Released worldwide in 2001, the Prius now numbers over 1 million vehicles on the road with the majority of vehicles travelling the highways and byways of the US and Japan.
With the world's supply of fossil fuels ever decreasing, the pressure is on for manufacturers to come up with a workable solution for transportation. Gas guzzling cars will soon be a distant memory as car manufacturers all jump on board the quest to deliver future proof vehicles that will run on alternative power supplies and keep the world's car drivers motoring for years to come...
Ethanol, hydrogen, solar power and electricity are all possible sources for the next generation of vehicles – there are currently countless patents in place for alternative fuelled motor transport. We take a look at a few of the industry's movers and shakers to see what's currently on offer and in the pipelines...
Prius
Perhaps the most famous of all the alternate energy vehicles currently on the road is the Toyota Prius.
This hybrid vehicle first made waves when it hit the market in Japan in 1997 but didn't really reach media saturation point until it was adopted by a number of Hollywood actors during the mid 2000s, causing the car to be labelled "Hollywood's latest politically correct status" symbol by the Washington Post.
Released worldwide in 2001, the Prius now numbers over 1 million vehicles on the road with the majority of vehicles travelling the highways and byways of the US and Japan.
'Bin Laden Hates This Car'.
Even former CIA chief R James Woolsey Jr drives a Prius – he was once famously quoted as saying that conventional fossil fuelled vehicles indirectly subsidise terrorism and his Prius reportedly sports a bumper sticker that says 'Bin Laden Hates This Car'.
The technology for the Prius in layman's terms is fairly simple. The vehicle sports a NiMH battery and can run on either petrol or electric power. The engine is used both to propel the vehicle and to recharge the batteries. Because of the availability of extra power from the electric motors for rapid acceleration the engine is sized smaller than usual for increased fuel efficiency and lowered emissions.
An EV mode (or stealth mode) allows drivers to operate on electric power only under low-power conditions for a limited amount of time - the feature recently came under fire from advocates for the blind who complained that the Prius was so quiet its was hazardous to blind pedestrians – they called for some kind of noise feature to be added to the motor.
In July 2007 the The New York Times published an article citing findings from CNW Marketing Research that found 57% of Prius buyers said their main reason for buying was that "it makes a statement about me.", while just 36% cited fuel economy as a prime motivator... proving fashion ruled over fuel economy as a motivator for purchasers of the vehicle.
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