Hybrid Cars: Do Cars Really Need to Look Like UFOs to Save Gas?
It seems that the car engineer's law is "if you want a car with decent fuel economy, it should absolutely look like some sort of spacecraft" Why can't we have a car, that looks like a car, that...
It seems that the car engineer's law is "if you want a car with decent fuel economy, it should absolutely look like some sort of spacecraft"
Why can't we have a car, that looks like a car, that is a Hybrid? (more)
Why can't we have a car, that looks like a car, that is a Hybrid? (more)
Top Comment
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Undecided
Who cares? That Aptera up there has 300 MPG! Ill even drive a clown car if it had 300MPG
Comments
Yes. Aircraft Designers Must Be In Charge of the Hybrid Department
They look damn cool. Why not?I'd be more happy with a pure electric car.
No. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
I like the looks of the futuristic cars. Nothing wrong with all those curves. They look a lot better then those boxey looking things.Undecided
just because its a hybrid doesnt mean it has to look the same...or different. it can have a new style to it. why should it matter?No. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
all these cars look realy cool, why do you have a problem with that?i think all cars should be hybrids. that was a really good invention.
i wouldn't care what my car looked anyways as long as it's not killing the earth
No. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
Most "aerodynamic" designs for cars are gimmicks to fool suckers. The aerodynamic transformations in the 1940s did reduce drag. There are still some minor improvements in drag reduction. Any real improvement will require dynamic changes to shape for both changes in speed and changes of relative wind (like adding a sail when that would help). Even a Hummer could gain fuel efficiency by using hybrid technology.Undecided
Who cares what the car looks like? If it's a decent car that is reliable & is fuel efficient, thats all that should matter.Undecided
The one on top may get 300 mpg, that is debateable, but one good cross wind and your as will be in a ditch.No. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
Hybrids have a lower power availability curve than the cars we're already used to (they must in order to show better gas mileage), so they must take advantage of low-drag "aircraft-like" aerodynamic body designs to have acceptable performance on the highway. If aircraft designers weren't in charge of the hybrid department, it would have to be re-named the "boat anchor department" :-)Just putting a gas-electric hybrid powerplant inside a standard automobile body gives you no better gas mileage than simply dropping down to a four or six-cylinder engine from the V-8s we Americans know and love so well. My Subaru Legacy station wagon, for example, gets 30 mpg on the highway despite being a full-time four-wheel drive, four-door, mid-size automobile with a four-cylinder conventional gas engine. If we were willing to accept the decreased performance of our friend's Toyota Prius (which is OK on the highway until you need to go up and down hills), with its two-wheel drive gas-electric "synergy" drive (which is not a true hybrid), but gets between 40-50 mpg on the highway, we could probably get about 38-40 mpg.
Our friend is suffering from buyer's remorse now that Toyota is going to offer a "plug-in" option on next year's Prius hybrids.
Yes. Aircraft Designers Must Be In Charge of the Hybrid Department
They have to be as aerodynamic as possible... can you think of a better shape? :-)Undecided
Meh, who cares?Undecided
i like space carsIf you look at GM's "hybrid" truck line, the first thing you notice is that you've spent extra money to get a full-size truck which gets 21mpg highway when you could have just gone for the six-cylinder regular gas engine and SAVED money.
Meanwhile, Toyota's Highlander Hybrid SUV http://www.edmunds.com/toyota... gets an EPA gas mileage of 33 mpg highway, or high 20s with really fast (faster than the standard Highlander) real-world performance, which should be making the GMC/Chevy team ask "How did they do THAT?" (The answer being that Toyota puts a CVT on the front axle combined with electrically powered rear wheels to give MORE power than the standard gas-only powerplant, and better mileage in town than on the highway).
This, by the way, is a vehicle that seats seven grown-ups and has enough power to support not only a very good performance envelope but DVD players for the passengers in the back two rows and other goodies. There are some handling concerns with th... Me, too. My response to hybrid car styling is "Gee, they'll make a hybrid look like a prop from '2010:Odyssey Two' for FREE?" Seriously, it's the 21st century. Insisting that modern-technology, fuel-efficient cars look like cars did in 1980 is, er, how to say this without using the term "cognitively dissonant"?
If you look at GM's "hybrid" truck line, the first thing you notice is that you've spent extra money to get a full-size truck which gets 21mpg highway when you could have just gone for the six-cylinder regular gas engine and SAVED money.
Meanwhile, Toyota's Highlander Hybrid SUV http://www.edmunds.com/toyota... gets an EPA gas mileage of 33 mpg highway, or high 20s with really fast (faster than the standard Highlander) real-world performance, which should be making the GMC/Chevy team ask "How did they do THAT?" (The answer being that Toyota puts a CVT on the front axle combined with electrically powered rear wheels to give MORE power than the standard gas-only powerplant, and better mileage in town than on the highway).
This, by the way, is a vehicle that seats seven grown-ups and has enough power to support not only a very good performance envelope but DVD players for the passengers in the back two rows and other goodies. There are some handling concerns with the Highlander Hybrid, and since the back two wheels are electric power-only, it doesn't give you the snow performance that the gas-only Highlander does, BUT for the mid-$30s, it's actually an impressive ride for the urban cowboys out there. If I had the bucks, I'd get one in preference to a gas-only Highlander OR a Prius. (more)
Undecided
roflmao to infinity and beyondNo. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
No, BUT, the more aerodynamic a car is the better milage it will get whether it is gas or electric.Undecided
moderated...Undecided
I know! The aliens gave us the hybrid technology, so they want the cars to look like they came from Space!mwahaha
Undecided
Really good point, PG! Try getting in and out of the things! They must be designing them for petite women and kids.Undecided
That Audi R8 looks badass.....I'm sorry what were we talking about?Yes. Aircraft Designers Must Be In Charge of the Hybrid Department
i would like a car like that. they look cool. somethin different.Undecided
The Toyotas don't look so bad. : ). The top one is just ugly though.Yes. Aircraft Designers Must Be In Charge of the Hybrid Department
From being a aerospace engineer for over 30 years most of that as a contractor. I know that when you want to squeak out every last bit of fuel mileage the aerodynamics boys and the wind tunnel models design the car. No it doesn't have to look like something from buck rogers With the computer graphics available now you can make any shape you want. And actually its not any harder to or more costly to make something nice to the eyes that to make the rounded off boxes, we see on the road today. But as you get away from the optimum aerodynamics of the package the less MPG you are gonna get. Of course as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.No. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
I am sure we can have normal looking hybrid cars, but that first one looks so cool that I would buy it if I could afford it!Yes. Aircraft Designers Must Be In Charge of the Hybrid Department
Might as well have fun while driving 45 mphNo. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
Worse, most of the current models look like tanks. It seems to be a part of the militarization of the country. Sparta and Prussia coming soon, it seems,. War, war, and more war, so let's get the populace used to it.http://www.coldwarremarketing... can hook you up with REAL tanks. Notice their lack of resemblance, even remotely, to hybrid car designs. Actually, the Swedish armor manufacturer Hagglunds has the SEP, a viable electric-drive hybrid armored personnel carrier that can take several hits from RPG-7 anti-tank missiles and keep on ticking. http://www.baesystems.com/Pro...
Undecided
The aerodynamics in newer models increase the efficiency of the cars. The "UFO" bodies help with that.Yes. Aircraft Designers Must Be In Charge of the Hybrid Department
WE take a step further into the 22century everyday. You should only expect more changes. To older people it will be crape and to the younger generation it will be cool, and the people in transition stage......well they will be the cool parents!!!!!Yes. Aircraft Designers Must Be In Charge of the Hybrid Department
I don't care. I think they look cool and if they get great gas mileage that is so much the better.Undecided
This hybrid car looks normal, but it's gas milage is no better than my 97 Oldsmobile (which is great). One of the reasons hybrids look so strange is because they want to make them more aerodynamic so that there is less wind resistance so that they don't have to use more energy pushing through the wind. The gas milage this hybrid gets is the best gas milage a traditionally designed car can probably get. To get better milage a car would have to be either very small, or very odd looking, or both.
Undecided
some of them look pretty cool tho...Yes. Aircraft Designers Must Be In Charge of the Hybrid Department
Very good question......most of them do look ugly as hell!! But Grace has a point. If it gets 300mpg, who cares what it looks likeNo. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
Why do they have to look so goofy?Undecided
BAHAHAHA AT THE QUESTION!!!! xDAnd meh, I don't really care LOL! I reckon they're pretty funky, even for aliens :P
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Undecided
Drag is one of the biggest fuel wasters, lowering wind resistance makes the cars more fuel efficient. The following car holds the record MPG of 2856 because its so low to the ground:No. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
No we had a electric car when Bill Clinton was in office.When Bush got in he and big oil had them all scraped.Rent or buy the dvd WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR.Americans, not being fools, realized that all three major American car manufacturers made well-upholstered trucks called "Suburbans" and "Expeditions" and "Dakotas" which were not subject to this CAFE fuel economy law, and stopped buying American cars. They started buying American TRUCKS, instead. The American people realized that their Fearless Leader rides around in a heavily-armored limo with run-flat tires and nice styling and decided that looked good to them, too.
But don't blame GWB for the failure of GM's electric car project. If there had ever been a market for electric cars (and I submit that the same power package from the Toyota Highlander Hybrid could deliver good gas mileage if installed in a Crown Victoria or a pre-1997 Chevy Impala SS while also giving better performance), Detroit would have delivered it.
If even now, a major car manufacturer put a hot gas-electric hybrid power package in a large car, we'd HAVE our electric car - as the "plug-... I have a copy of that documentary. It's horse crap. If Americans WANTED electric cars, they'd HAVE electric cars. During the Carter, Reagan, Bush (I) and Clinton Adminstrations, instead of working WITH the taxpayer, the EPA handed down an edict requiring American cars to be smaller and less crash-worthy as time went on.
Americans, not being fools, realized that all three major American car manufacturers made well-upholstered trucks called "Suburbans" and "Expeditions" and "Dakotas" which were not subject to this CAFE fuel economy law, and stopped buying American cars. They started buying American TRUCKS, instead. The American people realized that their Fearless Leader rides around in a heavily-armored limo with run-flat tires and nice styling and decided that looked good to them, too.
But don't blame GWB for the failure of GM's electric car project. If there had ever been a market for electric cars (and I submit that the same power package from the Toyota Highlander Hybrid could deliver good gas mileage if installed in a Crown Victoria or a pre-1997 Chevy Impala SS while also giving better performance), Detroit would have delivered it.
If even now, a major car manufacturer put a hot gas-electric hybrid power package in a large car, we'd HAVE our electric car - as the "plug-in only" power option for the hybrid. But the Federal government had to FORCE economical but UNSAFE cars down the public's gullet. That's not "democratic," it's "dictatorial." (more)
Yes. Aircraft Designers Must Be In Charge of the Hybrid Department
Got to be futuristic before these people think they will sell. I think it sucks.No. Why Not Make A Hybrid "Plug-In Device" Available For All Cars?
What would you prefer, that they all looked like Model 'T's? Have you seen the Tesla? Pretty cool in my book.Undecided
Dont really care is long as its from point a to point b has heat and ac and kick ass stereoUndecided
Possible it has to do with aerodynamics--least wind resistence would use less gas or fuel source.