My daughter is 16. And of course she is thinking of getting her first car. While we are passively searching for the right vehicle, which she says it has to be cool, has to be expensive, has to be fun to drive, etc, etc. You all know the story.... My search lead me to the hybrid cars and the Honda FCX Clarity. I know this has nothing to do with Corvettes, but a while back someone posted a thread about $4.00/ gal fuel. I started thinking if hydrogen really took off in the next 10 years or so, what would the price of gas be then?

I'm thinking we'll be thrilled to pay $4.00/ gallon, it'll probably skyrocket to $20.00/gal. Standard supply and demand theories won't work in this case because as the world changes to non-gas powered cars, supply will go up but oil companies will still need to make a profit and satisfy their shareholders. They still need to explore for new oil and they still need to keep gas flowing for all those old cars on the road.

Gas stations will start to convert to the more profitable and popular hydrogen fuel and drop the low profit, stinky polluting, old fashion gas. Although gas would be plentiful in the large storage tanks in the reserve , it will become harder to find it at the pump. Stations that will continue to sell it will charge a ton.

So my question is, should I convert my non-matching numbers corvette to an energy efficient hydrogen powerhouse now or wait until gas gets to $20.00/ gallon? I'll have to get rid of my side-pipes, maybe I can get a noise maker to make it sound like a real motor.

Food for thought.

 

Buy any new car she likes.

Convert it to run off of CNG, or compressed natural gas. Easy and cheap modification.

She can fill her car up at any home with a natural gas line, and there is a small network of filling stations that sell CNG.

It gets similar HP and torque numbers, much better fuel economy, and is almost zero emissions.

 

I think that oil companies will be kept in check by things like ethanol and alcohol. To convert our old cars to one of these systems, don't we basically have to just change out all the rubber in our fuel delivery system? I've considered it, but right now that stuff isn't readily available enough. Also, on my list of priorities, it is behind the LS7.

 

Bump your compression up to 15:1 and run alcohol.

They do it in Brazil already.

 

Easy for you to say. The car's she's looking at cost more than my house! My wife and I have a few rules. It has to be safe and it can't cost or look better than our cars. That rules out a lot of competition.

 

Did you ever consider a used car for your 16 year old? Most 16 year olds will wind up putting some dings in their first car anyway. Seems sort of short sighted to give a kid a new car to break in on. Besides, it will leave her with a sense of entitlement. Not a great lesson to be teaching.

 

There is no way she's getting a new car. In fact she has to pay for her insurance, and gas money. But I'm not about to let get stranded because she has no money for gas either.

 

It doesn’t mater what car you get her. Either her or her boyfriend will total it before gas gets to be $5/gal.

The concept that we will ever be driving hydrogen cars is a long shot. Hydrogen is too expensive, will always be more then gas, and isn’t has powerful per volume as gas. Alcohol had its own problems not a little one is that we don’t have enough farm land in the US to support our fuel habit. We shouldn’t overlook that our miles per gallon will probably drop to the single digits on alcohol.

The future will usher in gas hybrids, diesel hybrids and fully electric cars.

 

It won't happen in our life time. Hydrogen infrastructure would cost over 5 billion dollars. Hydrogen fuel cells don't operate well in cold enviroments.

Jim

 

5 billion should not be a problem isn't that what top oil executives make a year? they will no longer be needed

 

Ger her one of these...

Oh wait this it way cooler then dad's old gas guzzler!

 

Ah, so many misconceptions and untruths about hydrogen. It's a shame, really. However, I'm no longer going to make an attempt to educate people here, no use talking to ears not listening.

But, if some people wish to drive around in a battery-driven car; I'm not going to stop them.

 

I've seen an interesting article recently about a very efficient bacteria-based hydrogen production system. Who needs fuel cells? Just run a pressurized tank of hydrogen.

 

Try the air car!!!

http://www.theaircar.com/

 

You guys may call me crazy but a-change-is-a-comin. And it's happening faster than you think. What direction? Hydrogen?, solar?, battery? ethanol? who knows, but the winds of change are blowing.

My prediction: Within the next 15 to 20 years (if I'm still around) gasoline will be a thing of the past. You'll be hard pressed to find a passenger car using the stuff. (trucks and larger vehicles excluded)

I saw that Tesla and it is one sweet car. And it's Fast! I would buy an electric anything if: 1. it could equal the mileage I currently get (mostly for convenience sake) and 2. it was affordable.

Of course I would still drive my Vette on the weekends!

 

 

I believe the fuel source/type will be area dependant. Cold climates may require a different solution than warm climates for example. Also, what makes you think the oil companies are'nt preparing for the next generation fuel?? I would bet they are doing more R and D than they let on. My guess is that when the time comes the oil companies will be suprisingly fast at changing over to what ever the demand is, they are not going to just go away.

Darrel1

 

I've got a 97 buick park avenue for sale, perfect interior. make a good first car. for around 1.5-2.

And if the oil companies are smart they would have paid attention to the change the record industry went through, and how theyre dying because of it. if they wanna stay on top, they have to adapt to what people want.