The Lightning Hybrid and the Inizio EV

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."

Comments

Price

[Tubal-Cain]

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

[Anonymous Coward]

i sill dont understand whats so great about biodiesel?
i mean we burn our crops in our cars instead of using the fields to harvest food for people who are starving

Re:Price

[Anonymous Coward]

You can grow oil.

It just takes a long, long time.

Re:Price

[iminplaya]

not that long

Re:Price

[Anonymous Coward]

It just took you a long, long time to say it.

Re:Price

[RAMMS EIN]

``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.

Re:Price

[MrNaz]

Yea, because excess corn in the US finds its way into the mouths of starving Africans.

The food shortage myth is propagated by oil companies so that whenever someone talks about a carbon cycle neutral crop alternative to fossil fuels, they can say "but think of the poor starving people!".If you want to know what big oil thinks about starving people go have a look at Shell's history of dealing with Nigerian villages, or Chevron's dealings with Ecuadorian natives. Big oil's obnoxious effort to feign concern over the welfare of the poverty stricken makes me sick.

The only reason food crops (such as corn, which is horribly inefficient as a fuel crop) are used is due to the insane subsidies that the US government offers them. Of course, the US government would never subsidize proper fuel crops such as rapeseed, flax or linseed because that would step on the toes of big oil.

So cut it out with the "think of the poor starving masses" rubbish please, it's so obviously a load of BS.

Re:Price

[Toonol]

The only reason food crops (such as corn, which is horribly inefficient as a fuel crop) are used is due to the insane subsidies that the US government offers them. Of course, the US government would never subsidize proper fuel crops such as rapeseed, flax or linseed because that would step on the toes of big oil.

I don't think big oil is the problem. I think it's more about keeping the corn farmers happy.

Re:Price

[Smidge204]

This argument assumes at least two things:

1) That arable land is used for growing biofuel crops instead of food crops. There are many biofuel crops that will grow on land unsuitable for food crops.

and

2) That all arable land is used for growing food. The US has so much food growing capacity we actually pay farmers to NOT grow anything, since the abundant supply would ruin the value of the crops.

I'm sure there are other glaring holes in your argument but that's what immediately comes to mind.
=Smidge=

Re:Price

[afidel]

There is no such thing as a "proper fuel crop" except algae, the only feedstock crop which is not topsoil-based, and thus the only one we should be using.

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.

Re:Price

[smoker2]

What you appear to miss is that the US offshores everything it can and so you end up with Brazilian rainforest cut down to grow crops for US bio-diesel, and existing third world subsistence farmers switching to bio-diesel crops because they are worth more money in exports than local market produce would bring. Meanwhile, YOUR farmers are still getting subsidies on excess corn production because that's the way it is.

100-mpg supercar

[iminplaya]

See? Told ya they've been holding out. Put that fancy secret carburetor that Exxon has under wraps on there and you'll get 200.

Re:I don't care about a sedan

[fractoid]

Geez, never seen one of those before!

(Plans for the Doran Electric were always for sale in the back of the Popular Science magazines I used to collect when I was a kid, I'm talking 1986 or so, I always wanted to build one :).

Re:I don't care about a sedan

[Bruiser80]

There's a really good reason these vehicles are 3 wheels - it allows these vehicles to not be classified as a "car," thus circumventing a bunch of safety laws around the world.