Trouble for electric vehicles? Move towards bigger gas engines?

[JONOV]

Its interesting...I think that a volt-type vehicle is ultimately the future if the cost can come down...Think about it, you have the electric-only mode for most of your daily commute, and have the gasser for when you need to make longer trips. Even if you commute 90 miles a day in a car with a 45 mile charge range, you double your mpg.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by FrankMiller

Can somebody with more patience than me explain how this engine can burn gasoline (which is made of Carbon) and not emit a bunch of Carbon into the atmosphere? Thanks.

You'd die of old age before you got a credible explanation from the Scott Pruitt school of environmental science. When you burn hydrocarbons, you get CO2. The only way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere that scales is photosynthesis. Grow lots of green stuff. You kind of need oceans that aren't polluted and tropical jungles that aren't clear cut to get the scale.

[JONOV]

Originally Posted by FrankMiller

Can somebody with more patience than me explain how this engine can burn gasoline (which is made of Carbon) and not emit a bunch of Carbon into the atmosphere? Thanks.

He describes running the exhaust through a "catalytic converter" (that might be the wrong term, maybe intercooler is better) that uses Nitrous Oxide (you know, the stuff they showed you at a science lab where they dipped a hot dog in it and and it froze it solid?) This will convert your gaseous CO2 to dry ice. The problem is that it sublimes at -109, so you have to keep it below that temp, or otherwise pressurize it...

The other problem is N20 stuff boils at -130 F. So how do you keep your N20 catalytic converter cold enough?

The engine itself is just an opposing piston design...Neat, but its been around for a century. I do think there's something to that design though in the future.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

You'd die of old age before you got a credible explanation from the Scott Pruitt school of environmental science. When you burn hydrocarbons, you get CO2. The only way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere that scales is photosynthesis. Grow lots of green stuff. You kind of need oceans that aren't polluted and tropical jungles that aren't clear cut to get the scale.

Plants give CO2 at night, too. Another problem is that all life produce CO2 to one degree or another. We burp and fart, and so cows as well as all animals. Then dead vegetation release CO2. In Alaska a great portion of the CO2 in the tundra comes from plants. Maybe the level of CO2/oxygen from live plants balances out from day and night, but animals have to exhale to live, and this happens day and night.

I imagine that while EV and other technologies advance or are discovered (the latter), redesigning internal combustion engines that don't burn as much fuel as before is very possible. Engine designs have improved quite a lot in recent years, and now we have 6-8 cylinder trucks that are quite fuel efficient.

In relation EVs, it's somewhat difficult to have these vehicles in the Northernmost regions because of the extreme cold temperatures.