Slashdot Mirror
SDSU Students Create Sporty Hybrid Vehicle
Nevyan writes "SDSU Engineering students working in conjunction with real life designers create an electric hybrid vehicle that actually...well.. looks cool for all the right reasons. Participant in the Tour de Sol. I happened to see this vehicle on campus at SDSU and I want to buy one so badly." Njaneer.com has more information and photos - here's one to give you an idea of the size.
laff, thats the "riot" by thunder ranch.
not exactly but i assume its mods are for the hybrid part or it could be the riot 2 (thunder ranch is slow on putting things on their page)
-rev
Just a warning to all of my fellow South Dakota residence... in this case SDSU is not South Dakota State University in Brookings South Dakota, but sadly is in fact San Diego State University... blast those Californians taking all of our acronyms... in this world if you say SF or SD people think you mean San Francisco or San Diego... when will the world learn that they mean Sioux Falls and South Dakota instead! The FAA and Post Office agree with me... when will the rest of you?
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Modern hybrid cars don't get plugged into electrical outlets. They use some sort of conservation strategy to burn gasoline in order to charge up a battery while you're driving, that way you run part of the time purely on electric power. Thus, you still fill it up with gas; just less often than normal. That's why you'll see hybrid cars advertising some big number of miles-per-gallon.
:))
So yeah, hybrids aren't as clean as a purely electrical or hydrogen fuel-cell car would be, but they have significantly less emissions-per-mile than a regular car simply because they burn less fuel over time.
(Note, I may be totally off about the battery charging thing. I don't know or claim to know how they work exactly, but I know that's the basic premise. Anyone with more details, please post. I'd like to know more but have never found myself motivated to go look
"If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live" -- MLK, Jr.
That's either one of the most common misconceptions about hybrid cars, or a magnificent troll. I'll answer it either way, just so somebody else isn't confused...
Current hybrids like the Prius, Insight, and Civic don't need external electric charging. Their batteries are very small, and store energy generated by braking or excess power from the gas engine if necessary. The economy comes from a couple of things:
1. You get back energy when you brake.
2. Your gas+electric motors combined are approximately the same power output as a traditional gas motor, but you can turn off part of a hybrid when you don't need it. So you've got the power you need for acceleration, but once you're cruising, the extra motor can cut out leaving you using less energy.
3. Your gas engine can shut off at stoplights, since your electric motor acts as the world's most kickass starter motor. (For example, the Prius' electric motor brings the gas engine to speed in less than one revolution)
4. Your electric motor doesn't waste power "idling".
At no point are you ever charging your battery with power generated from a power plant. They really are just more efficient than gas-only cars at the moment.
You don't have to charge the battery in a hybrid from an external source. Ever. Just put gas in. In fact, aggressive driving with lots of hard braking would charge it faster in current hybrids.
Honda has a sweet prototype called the DualNote that makes 400hp and gets 43mpg. I would certainly be in for that!! I'd be even happier at 200hp/86mpg, though. Something small and fun like a WRX that gets 86mpg would rule.
But with no back seat, how are you supposed to get laid???
"I've been saying this among friends for a while... the only reason that these early electric and hybrid cars all look like ass! "
Arrrrggggghhh!!! Finish the sentence! What is this supposed to mean?
-Tyler
Vacuums really make my blood boil.
Happy people make bad consumers.
Are those doors or drive-in-movie trays? What is that, like 3 less inches you have to step over to get out? I say save money on hinges and go dukes of hazzard style.
c-hack.com |
This vehicle is a hybrid, meaning that they couldn't go electric all the way.
And since it only has two seats, you too get to experience the "Art of Compromise", and you too can't "go" all the way.
Like a heroin addict gone to methadone instead of quitting cold turkey. Like a red meat eater only eating chicken and fish instead of going vegan. Like a virgin, touched for the very first time....
No wait... that's right.. You don't get laid. All you get is Road Head. Behold the art of compromise!
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i