[ExI] Air-powered cars

[Kevin H]

On Thu, Jun 5, 2008 at 7:22 PM, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 6/5/08, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>
> snip
> >
> > Whenever one looks at the alternative means of hauling apes, one always
> > comes away with a new respect for good old gasoline.
>
> Indeed.
>
> So what do we need for carbon neutral synthetic gasoline?
>
> At a recent conference a guy had worked out the numbers to suck carbon
> dioxide out of the air and combine it with hydrogen in a reverse
> combustion industrial operation.


That's an interesting idea, but how exactly is this done?

But I agree with the premise: gasoline is far more energy dense than
electric batteries will ever be.  This really hit home when I was reading
about the proposed specs of the upcoming Chevrolet Volt.  It's 16 kWh
battery, when fully charged, gives it a 40 mile range.  But it has a
gasoline "range extender" that does nothing but recharge the battery,
attaining a range of 640 miles.

It's an excellent step, I think, which is what is going to be needed in an
energy-scarce world, so that people can choose which way they want to fuel
their cars based on existing prices.  Right now, electricity is cheaper than
gasoline per mile, but with a large number of electric vehicles on the road
the price of electricity might go up.  Ah well, no such thing as a free
lunch.

Kevin
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