Audi A5/S5

[Mehen]

http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/audi_news/article_1942.shtml

[Brian Ellis]

Gas guzzler!

[Mehen]

not really, FSI has helped with fuel economy while boosting power, and the A5 comes in a variety of diesel options.

[jms]

Very nice car. Too bad I will probably never afford one.

[Jammrock]

Gas guzzler!

I'm just waiting for someone to post a picture of a hydrogen/electric hybrid on the forums and have you post "Gas guzzler." Which, btw, BMW and a few others are working on, including an engine that can run on either gas or hydrogen, depending on what fuel is available. Giving them standard performance with a little more enviro-friendliness.

Nice car! Too bad it will be about $40k-$60k out of my price range. I need to get rich so I can buy toys like this. Now where did my best selling novel manuscript go...

[az]

BMW's hydrogen 7 series is anything but enviro-friendly, BTW. But let's not stray too far off topic here. It's a nice looking car.

[Brian Ellis]

By definition, a car running on NG is a gas guzzler and produces almost as much CO2 as a conventional one of equal characteristics. Even worse, if looked at holistically, the greenhouse gas emissions concomitant with the production and transport of the NG are much HIGHER than for a conventional petrol or diesel car.

Worse again is a hydrogen car, whether ICE or fuel cell. There are 2 major ways of producing H2. The usual way is by using NG and oxidising the carbon by catalysed steam injection over two phases:
CH4 + H2O > 3H2 + CO
CO + H2O > H2 + CO2
So you get just as much CO2 as if you had burnt the NG without the calorific energy of burning the carbon. This is cheap and easy and 98% of H2 is produced this way.
The expensive way is electrolysis, usually from coal-fired power stations, with an extremely low energetic efficiency (slightly better with batteries). Remember, hydrogen, no matter how it is produced is never a fuel: it is a means of storing energy from other sources.

See here for methane, here for hydrogen, here for cars

[RichL]

Lemme guess Brian, you have shares in a shoe company?

[az]

Well, he isn't wrong. He's just not being nice about it. We all, him included (and he knows it) pollute more than is necessary, much more. Thus he bought a Hybrid car - which still pollutes much more than necessary, but quite a bit less than an A5 will. So technically, I'm on moral high ground here, not having nor using a car

[Brian Ellis]

Well, he isn't wrong. He's just not being nice about it. We all, him included (and he knows it) pollute more than is necessary, much more. Thus he bought a Hybrid car - which still pollutes much more than necessary, but quite a bit less than an A5 will. So technically, I'm on moral high ground here, not having nor using a car

Thanks, Az!

Yes, I pollute more than necessary, but I am trying hard to reduce my carbon footprint as much as I can, while not going back to caveman comfort levels. Maybe my next step should be to switch my computer off sooner and thus not take part in MURC discussions

And my hybrid won't be delivered for another coupla months

Edit: I'm never nice! That's because I'm the devil incarnate!

[RichL]

I gotta ask, what sort of environmentally friendly, low carbon footprint, whale hugging batteries and electronics are going in your new hybrid?
And have you ensured that the batteries etc were made using all natural free range components that didn't cause any pollution or use any non-green energy in their construction, which was preferably by the indigenous people of its country of origin?

[Elie]

Totally amazing looking!

WOW!