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The Eden Project's Sexy Green Car Show doesn't open to the world 'til tomorrow, but SmartPlanet is here now at the show to get the scoop on the hottest, greenest and sexiest cars in the country. Many are making their first public debut in the UK. Click on for photos and the buzz on our favourite eco motors.
Morgan Lifecar
This is the first time the Great British public will get to check out this fabulously ostentatious hydrogen fuel cell car. Unveiled to acclaim in Geneva, the Lifecar looks like it should be on the set of Batman or parked out the front of a Miami Beach art deco hotel. What's so hot?
Well, it can do 85mph, 0-60 in seven seconds and has a 150-mile range. The green bit is that it uses hydrogen, though obviously no-one's cracked the problem of making hydrogen on a commercial scale without creating a load of carbon in the process. The Lifecar's certainly been one of the most popular on show here, and the looks explain why. Even though it's just a concept -- you can't drive it -- it looks absolutely fab.
Sexy Green Car Show video
Head here to watch our close-up video of the show's hottest and greenest cars.
24 May 2008 01:12pm
Lotta too much talks for nothing.
Make it electric or something real but hydrogen is a trick for PR.
Design is nowadays secondary.
24 May 2008 02:00pm
Hydrogen is no more a trick than any other power source.
So far we have three classes of engine :
1. The -OH ( petrol, mthanol, ethanol ) / diesel / -CH ( ethane, methane ) / H2 ( hydrogen ) combustion engines,
2. the battery / electric motor engines ( eg. TESLA ),
3. the H2 fuel cell / electric motor engines ( eg. MORGAN ).
Combustion engines are easiest to get hold of.
Li-ion battery cars seem to have the best performance.
Fuel cell are quickest to refuel.
Electric motors are the cheapest, simplest to manufacture.
No tricks anywhere that i can see.
16 June 2008 08:22pm
He's referring to hydrogen production - either huge P.D.s applied to an aqueous solution, or water heated to huge temperatures, which of course requires all the trappings of heating water above 100C. Both of these require fossil fuel use, unless nuclear power is reinstated properly.
Although at the moment, many nuclear power stations capable of those temperatures/voltages are dormant at night due to the lack of energy demand from the grid...
21 June 2008 08:09pm
now, put it on three wheels , make it carry two in tandem, make it fast as hell and twice as maneuverable, build the body from carbon fiber or hemp plastics for lightness, make it half as wide as a normal car, and half as long, and put passengers in four point harnesses inside a safety capsule with a jet-fighter theme, and paint mine electric orange and make my daily commute more fun than a bag full of Prozac! Let me slide past gridlock and let me share a single parking space with a buddy! Do all of this and still sell the thing for a price I can afford. Next, fuel it so that the average Americans days wage will pay to run it with something left over, and it will sell like hell!
28 June 2008 03:14am
nice technology, very issentials for coming days drived on natural resorces.
18 August 2008 07:17pm
</i>He's referring to hydrogen production - either huge P.D.s applied to an aqueous solution, or water heated to huge temperatures, which of course requires all the trappings of heating water above 100C. Both of these require fossil fuel use, unless nuclear power is reinstated properly.</i>
Right, but electric cars have to be refueled with that same energy ? it's not like they get it for free either. Granted, hydrogen is not currently the most efficient solution, but there are some real benefits to hydrogen (eg, fast fueling) and hydrogen-powered cars and busses already exist. There's no trick and it's not just PR: there's good reason for continued research and public excitement.
Also, good design is not secondary at all nowadays. I wish it was, but it's just not. And those cars look sweet.
24 August 2008 12:20pm
I happened to search for hydrogen production, thought previously that this needed to be done from electricity. There is a process called biological hydrogen production. I think that if this is efficient, then hydrogen cars are the way of the future.
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