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Researchers Improve Efficiency of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles By Almost 12% (dispatchtribunal.com)
hypnosec writes: A new study has put forward claims that by working on and improving the energy management system (EMS) that decides when the switch from 'all-electric' mode to 'hybrid' mode in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, efficiency of these vehicles can be improved by as much as 12 per cent. Researchers have shown in their lab tests that blended discharge strategies wherein power from the battery is used throughout the trip, have proven to be more efficient at minimizing fuel consumption and emissions.
Since gas is between $1-$2 a gallon now I think the need for hybrids has passed.
"Passed" isn't quite the right word. These prices are something Saudi Arabia is doing on purpose to try to run all the US shale oil producers out of business. If their plan works (Mwaahahahah! Good kitty), presumably they will then be able to go right back up to the higher prices they were selling Oil at 5 years ago.
Basically what they're doing is optimizing the electric/gas switching for specific routes to make best use of the battery (e.g. plan so that it doesn't run out of juice halfway up a hill). In order to make that generally applicable, each car would have to constantly track location and other telemetry and send it back to a central database to build a map of all common routes. Alternatively, it could also be used as a self contained system that would learn the best strategy for your normal commute, but then it would have no benefit on roads you haven't driven before.
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You can hold the price of oil low with oversupply and create market disturbance if you want, but only for so long.
Not so much Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and many others... but the US economy is very diverse for a major petroleum producer.
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You missed right after they buy up all the bankrupt shale gas producers.
The middle east is running out of oil. Countries like Dubai are investing heavily in alternative markets to deal with the impending end of black gold - Dubai is basically trying to be a high end tourist resort, for example.
Saudi Arabia is trying to do it another way - buy up the next set of oil producers so the profits can be taken that way - bankrupt the existing oil producers in North America, buy them all up, and then jack up the prices and let the profits flow into the country. So even when they run out of oil, they still own all the companies producing oil in other countries, thus ensuring prosperity of their own.
Plus, I think they also want to bankrupt Iran who because of the nuclear treaty can sell oil on the market again.
and their air quality. The nice thing about electrics is they don't really pollute outside of the factories and power plants that make/fuel them. And it's a _lot_ easier to deal with the pollution from 1000 plants & factories than 1 million individual cars.
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The only real option to meet the 2 degree goal is to get all countries together and to not let the stuff out of the earth. Otherwise someone somewhere burns it, whoever it is
Well, at some point, petroleum's value as a chemical feed stock exceeds its value as a fuel. Then, you're not burning it. Petroleum is used for a whole lot of things besides just burning.
Congratulations on saying the dumbest, most shortsighted thing I've read all week.
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I'd say that Saudi Arabia doesn't much care whether or not shale gets shut down, they can produce oil for less so they are doing that to gain market share. They don't value the oil in the ground and they don't value the distant (beyond 2040) future, so they're looking to maximize their income today. Any hardship on other oil producers, the ecology, or the future is incidental - of no concern to the decision makers who will be long dead when those imagined problems might happen.
That was the case 6 months ago. Now Saudi Arabia is peeing their pants in fear and regret. Their high prices created the incentive to develop shale extraction and make it economical. There is enough oil shale in the world to produce for decades. Every time I hear a report on what a barrel of shale oil can be produced for it's lower than the last time. OPEC fucked up, big time.
Not major, the largest.
Because that's literally the price anywhere in the world where hybrids could be used ...
Try 5 USD/Gallon
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