Quote:
Originally Posted by PR_Glen
yeah it's pretty ridiculous. Oil remains the easiest most efficient and cheapest form of fuel we have still, hands down. People get caught up in sci-fi movies and think inventing the next type of engine is just a matter of a couple of scientists and engineers getting together.
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... except that it isn't. Oil is not the cheapest form of energy. What you have to consider is the true, total cost. For example, when you buy gas for your car, the cost to "you" is about $1.40 per litre of gas. The other cost is the cost to the environment. You don't see it unless you visit areas where oil has devastated shorelines, or refineries have turned the air brown, etc. And of course you may not be paying for it "now", but the true cost of oil and gas is much higher than what most people realize.
It's also not efficient. Chemical energy is stored as gasoline in a conventional car. Combustion is used to convert the chemical energy into thermal energy. Pistons convert the thermal energy to the mechanical work that turns the wheels. The conversion process is, at best, 35% efficient for an economical gas-driven car, and much less for V8's and muscle cars. The majority of the energy stored in the gasoline is lost as heat and mechanical friction.
As everyone here knows (and hates me for it), I'm BIG on electric cars. My car costs me $1.35 every 79 Kilometers and I have driven about 3000 kilometres so far, for a total cost of about $37.97 in electricity. In an electric vehicle, chemical energy is stored in a battery. Converting the chemical energy to free electrons (electrical energy) can be greater than 90% efficient ? some energy is lost to heat in cells and other battery pack components such as current conductors and fuses so the efficiency is probably closer to 80%.