Then we all wouldn't look like big badass Americans with our trucks sand hummers

Yes, I went from driving a Ford Explorer (Mom's car) to driving a Chevy Cobalt, and I was terrified to drive on the expressway with the Semis...I can't imagine driving in a smart car...

Now if EVERYONE drove SMART cars...wouldn't life just be peachy?

Yeah, I've seen one or two SMART cars on the Cornell campus...I thought they were golf carts at first. I guess they make sense around here because it's a small town without a great deal of fast traffic, but yeah. I would not want to get into one in the real world.

I've seen a couple SMART cars around. They're definitely good for city driving (especially with parallel parking; you just pull right in), but since they only seat two people, that's all they're good for. Hybrid cars get just as much gas mileage and have more space. Besides, who knows how well a SMART car will hold up in an accident? Those things are smaller than my Geo, and Geos crumple like paper.

Ok.
Dr. S -
I have to admit that I do not know exactly how much lighter the carbon composite bodies would be. However, there are a lot of prototype bodies already, and from what I've read so far, none of them are having problems sticking to the road. Granted, my current sources for this are Scientific American, NOVA, and Seed, but they have proved to be fairly reliable in the past.

AnnieGurl-
Biodiesel is not a viable solution because
1. it still creates carbon dioxide emissions and
2. we can't feasibly make enough to fuel a country like the US.
It doesn't support the oil industry, but it isn't that great for the environment. Better, but not great, and not a permanent solution.

Fossil fuel will not last forever, so at some point we will need something. Too bad we can't use those things that Mr. Garrison built.

Haha I agree Meagan. I would feel like a small animal driving that car next to a Hummer.

Has anyone else heard about the SMART car coming to the US? They are these very silly looking little cars that they have all over Europe. I think it would be great if everyone drove them, but I would not feel safe driving one of those little cars as long as we have Hummers on the road...

The high gas prices are a result of a European conspiracy to force Americans to realize that gas has always been higher-priced in Europe and that we should stop whining about it and get rid of our city-sized passenger vehicles and buy more Mini Coopers.

Gas prices where I live have hovered just over $3.00 for a long time, and they're just now starting to go below. I don't mind. I drive a Geo Metro. Twenty bucks fills that sucker right up and keeps me going for about a month, provided I'm not going cross-country or anything.

quote:

Originally posted by ampmaster:
The thing about diesel is that it costs more than gas right now

Yea, I'm so glad I don't have to use that.

But as far as having a small car I agree. I have a toyota corolla and I've never put more than $25 in...mostly b/c I refuse to. I'm sure I could with gas being 2.95, but I usually just wait or put like 5 dollars in

But yea, my mom bought a used SUV a couple years ago and now she is regretting it b/c of the price of gas. Oh well, I tried to tell her

My proud point is that I have never put over $30 of gas in my car. I have a little Chevy Cobalt and it is great on gas...I had filled up on June 1st and I didn't fill up again until June 20th (this is unusual because I wasn't driving to school, but I was still going to work...). My parents both drive SUV's, my dad's has a V8 engine and they consistantly spend $50+ on gas, my dad once spent $70 to fill up...and both of my parents fill up at least once a week.

Drive cute little cars...they save you big bucks on gas AND they fit into every parking spot imaginable...

The thing about diesel is that it costs more than gas right now

as to gas I put 20 bucks worth in to my car yesterday, I didn't even get 7 gallons it sucks so bad

Yea I know, but they changed it right as the guy was putting up the new numbers

But I'm jealous that you got the complete opposite. I wish I was only that lucky. argh!

One time people kept stealing my gas pump and then I finally get to pump gas...and the price went down 4 cents! It was while I was standing at the pump, trying to figure out how to scan my rewards card. Just because the road sign says one thing doesn't mean gas actually costs that much, it is usually done on an inside computer and then it will show it outside near the pump...that is the number that matters.

Near me, gas spiked to 2.919 today...it had settled cleanly in the 2.70's, but for some reason...

I hate when gas stations change the price in the same day. I pulled in to get gas today for 2.81 and while I was waiting for some slow punk to fill up his tank one of the workers walked up to the price thingy(?) and changed it to 2.89... I mean c'mon, wtf?!

Excuse the "hippie" as she gets idealistic.

The bi-prodructs from making new "more efficient" cars are simply not worth it. Keep your old car, convert your engine to run on biodiesel, smile at how environmentally friendly you are being, and hardly have to worry about gas and it's high prices again!

quote:

Finn, HOW much lighter would a carbon-bodied car be? A lighter car would have more problems sticking to the road, which would effect performance and might make it dangerous to drive.

hmmm...that's a good point.

Thermal depolymerization? Now that's one I've never heard of. Sounds fascinating though.

Finn, HOW much lighter would a carbon-bodied car be? A lighter car would have more problems sticking to the road, which would effect performance and might make it dangerous to drive.

And as far as Hydrogen fuel goes, it's a total waste of time. Unless we're using large amounts of nuclear power to create the gas, it's going to eat up more oil and coal than it saves.

The real solution is thermal depolymerization.

quote:

Originally posted by finn620:
Making enough ethanol to fuel the entire world's demands, which is really our long-term goal, is not realistic.

I'm not going to pretend that I understand all of this, but do you mean using pure ethanol or using gasohol? Because I thought that increases the emissions of nitrogen oxides, contributing to acid rain.

sweet, I'm all for it then! As long as they don't make SUVs out of it

If you're concerned about the actual physics of collisions, the carbon bodies are still a good choice. For one thing, the momentum of the lighter car will be lower, and thus it will require a lesser impulse to bring the car to a stop. If the collision is just the lightweight going off course and slamming into something, less damage will be done because the object in the car's path will not have to exert as much force to bring the car to a halt (likewise, the car will not exert as much force on the object, resulting in less damage being done to both).

In a two car collision, the steel car will have a larger momentum and exert a greater force on the lightweight than the lightweight exerts on it. However, the strength of the carbon body will allow it to hold up to this force. Also, these body designs are built to crumple under a collision and not stay rigid. Thus, the actual time the collision takes will happen over a longer period of time during the crumpling, which results in a longer time component to the impulse and a lower force component.

Another good thing about carbon bodies: The material is dyed, not painted, which saves money and resources from paint jobs.