Top Gear

[expat]

So, the Honda Clarity, according to Top Gear the most important car for 100 years. What do you think?

Matt

[Craig.]

I'm impressed.
To be fair though, I doubt it'll take off, the oil companies have known about hydrogen for years, and pretty much kept it closed down. Until they can make as much money from it viabley as petrol they'll not bother.

[expat]

I'm impressed.
To be fair though, I doubt it'll take off, the oil companies have known about hydrogen for years, and pretty much kept it closed down. Until they can make as much money from it viabley as petrol they'll not bother.

They did say that H2O was about the same price as a gallon of petrol (in California). It would depend on the profit margin I would have thought.

[eno]

There is still a place for electric cars, mainly for the drive to work, the school run and other short trips, but this looks it could cover real distance providing that the infrastructure is put in place.

Matt

I've always had the opinion that electric cars would not reduce emissions if you have to constantly plug them in to charge them ..... the Prius is a false economy because of it's dependency on petrol.
This Clarity is great ....... but how long is it going to take for the infrastructure to be put in place? I can't see it happening in the near future.

[C]

Excellent, but sadly I suspect the billions behind the oil giants have too much political influence to allow it to be developed in a fair market. No doubt even if they allowed hydrogen to be allowed widely at petrol stations, the companies would ensure it was uncompetitive.

Shame, as it's brilliant.

[Hagar]

If it works as well as they claim perhaps the Honda distributors could set up hydrogen filling stations at their major showrooms. The problem being that they would also have to support the petrol/diesel engined vehicles for as long as they continue producing them. This could last for many years as the motoring public is not going to suddenly convert to this new technology overnight. In the unlikely event of any car manufacturer being willing to take that sort of risk I'm sure the government would have something to say about it. In Britain petrol & diesel oil is a major source of tax revenue so they would simply slap a huge tax on hydrogen. I can't see it happening, especially in the current economic climate.

[expat]

There is still a place for electric cars, mainly for the drive to work, the school run and other short trips, but this looks it could cover real distance providing that the infrastructure is put in place.

Matt

I've always had the opinion that electric cars would not reduce emissions if you have to constantly plug them in to charge them ..... the Prius is a false economy because of it's dependency on petrol.
This Clarity is great ....... but how long is it going to take for the infrastructure to be put in place? I can't see it happening in the near future.

The false thing the Prius does is masquerades as an eco car. As far as your or my pocket goes it is a saver. OK, it still requires some petrol but far less than the average car. The less a car costs to run the better.

Matt

[Mushroom_Farmer]

When the refining of raw materials, manufacturing, and dispsal costs are factored in the hybrids actually do worse than their gas-only cousins, and on strictly a scale of the purchase price the break even point on the Prius compared to a gas only Camry LE or Corolla LE is around 16.5 years. With fuel savings factored in the break even is still around 5 years. Most people won't keep a car that long.
Of course our road tax system is set up differently from the UK and Euroupe.
 We have the Honda Civic that runs on CNG available over here. If you live in an area with natural gas service you can have a line ran into your garage to fill the tank of the Civic.

[Hagar]

We have the Honda Civic that runs on CNG available over here. If you live in an area with natural gas service you can have a line ran into your garage to fill the tank of the Civic.

This is where I find the American reference to petrol as gas confusing. Sounds like the UK equivalent of LPG. http://www.go-lpg.co.uk/AboutLPG.html
This is another alternative fuel. It's still a fossil fuel but much cleaner & cheaper to run. I don't know the percentage of cars that run on it compared with conventional IC engines.

Back in the 1970s a friend of mine set up a business converting conventional cars to run on liquid gas or LPG as it's called now. He converted all the taxis in Brighton to run on it & it was quite successful for a while. Not only far cheaper to run but much cleaner combustion with very little waste products.. The lubricating oil remained as clean as a whistle & retained its lubricating properties for much longer. The drawback at the time was the large gas cylinders fitted in the boot (trunk) which didn't leave much room for luggage. Refuelling stations were also few & far between so it could also be run on petrol if the gas ran out. Apart from the taxis that presumably had their own supply I don't think it was too successful & the only local LPG station I knew about closed down many years ago. Things might be different now but I don't know anyone that runs one of these cars.

[Mushroom_Farmer]

We have both CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and LPG (Liquid Propane Gas) in the states.

[Hagar]

We have both CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and LPG (Liquid Propane Gas) in the states.
 LPG is a by-product of refining crude oil while CNG is a naturally occuring gas found underground, usually near oil deposits. There are a few natural gas deposits in my home state.
 About CNG, if you have a filling receptacle in your garageI was wondering how it is taxed, or if it is taxed at all. Perhaps it is on a separate meter?

Thanks for clarifying that. As for the tax, I doubt that a private supply of natural gas would be allowed in this country so the occasion would not arise.

[Mushroom_Farmer]

I forgot to add that the gas tank in the Honda Civic also takes up a large amount of space in the boot.
Also, when I was much younger there were a few farmers the had LPG tractors, but those went away when the price of LP rose to the point it was no longer economical.

[Mushroom_Farmer]

Okay, so here in the colonies we are currently on season 11, one season behind concernining Top Gear. It should have been the 3rd episode of the current season, but instead tonight's show was a repeat of a show from season 10. In next week's show the boys race the bullet train and it is new (to us). Since you lot have already seen it, does this sound right?