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Originally Posted by Acres per Second
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The technology is already here.
Toyota makes a car that has sold over 100,000 cars in the US, gets 60+MPG, and reduces carcinogens by 95%! (See Wired.com) Honda makes a 255HP V-6 low-emission car that gets 30+MPG -- average overall.
But the technology to make excess power and excess noise on Winnipesaukee requires an over-rich mixture. (For stoichiometrics, to meet programmed chip performance parameters, cooling and other reasons). Also, the use of aviation fuel, the supplemental addition of lead to the gasoline -- and even oil products from endangered whales!
Over-rich mixtures are over-rich in PAHs, particulates, hydrocarbons, NOX, CO2, CO... (ITD has already covered this here -- and he's absolutely right).
Especially bad for asthmatics, but shouldn't be inhaled in any case -- by anybody.
The "better mousetrap" is already here. But it is ignored -- for Thrills.
Here's Lake Winnipesaukee eight inches below summer's low lake level.
Explain it:
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OK folks this is a long and somewhat technical one so you're forewarned
The technology may be here for auto's but for boats it's a different question giving you a different answer. First let me presume you're talking about hybrids, in particular the Prius (which, though good, doesn't really get 60 mpg). To understand how a hybrid achieves it's better efficiency you need to understand (a little) of how they work and how the electric motor (EM) and internal combustion engine (ICE) trade on each other's strengths and weaknesses. Hybrid cars use both EMs and ICEs, varying their contribution to motion depending on the task at hand. ICEs work best at, or near, wide open throttle and when the load is constant. EMs work well at low rpm tasks and wouldn't be a bad choice overall if, and it's THE BIG IF, their "fuel" (electricity) could be stored efficiently (wrt to size, weight, capacity). So a hybrid combines the 2 sources and uses each where and when it makes sense. The article below does a better job of explaining hybrids than I can do here so read this
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm and I'll summarize the main ways hybrids cars save and why these don't work so well for boats (except for 1 already existing case !).
Hybrid cars can be more efficient (only under the right conditions though !) because they use the ICE in it's most efficient mode (constant load, at or near WOT) and shut it down otherwise. The EM can also be used as a generator to recover energy during stopping that otherwise would be thrown away as heat. Thus in stop and go (city) traffic the EM fills in for the ICEs weaknesses and the ICE only runs (and then near WOT) to recharge the batteries when they get low. The only other advantage a hybrid has come from our normal usage of a car. Cruising along, even at highway speed, only requires a small amount of HP (a small fraction of the ICEs potential in your car), perhaps 15 - 20 HP. The reason your ICE has more HP is to provide acceptable acceleration. A hybrid can use the EM as an "electric supercharger" to aid a smaller, more efficiently used, ICE to achieve acceptable acceleration. This is Honda's IMA approach (really more like a quasi-hybrid).
So could you make a hybrid boat and realize the same benefits. In a word, no. The difficulty come in 2 main areas. First we tend to use boats (less so PWCs) in an already "ICE efficient" manner. Generally you're up on plane and running at constant throttle so the advantages a hybrid has in stop'n'go traffic don't apply as much in boating. There just isn't as much stop and go such that shutting off the ICE and/or regenerative braking make a practical difference. Second a boat has to push a much thicker fluid (water vs air) than does a car. It's using more of it's ICE's power potential just cruising along than does a car. You could make a IMA type hybrid boat with a slighly smaller ICE that would run at WOT (more efficient) for cruising at the same speed you presently do (the EMs role would be to get you on plane in a reasonable time) but the difference would not be as big as in a car and you'd be limited to a slower top speed (also true in a hybrid car). Remember that a hybrid has the penalty of added weight (due to EM and batteries) which reduces efficiency. The only time hybrids "win" is when they reduce inefficiency more than they lose in a weight penalty. I'd suggest you'd get a bigger boost in
mileage (reduce GPH) by using variable displacement ICEs (ala Chryslers 300C Hemi, and others) than using a Honda-like IMA approach in a boat. I'd bet $$ this will happen as the technology filters down from auto to boat. Turbocharging a smaller boat engine would be another semi-good alternative though I'm less sure given today's optimized ICEs.
Other things to read re: hybrids and other fuel saving approaches are listed below;
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question262.htm
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell4.htm (Note how similar the effciencies are)
Personally I've always like the hybrid concept, it has good geek appeal to me being the enginerd I am (though only R. Goldberg would prefer the added complexity). I was amused by the stupidity of California's CARB reg's that (used to) all but barred hybrids in a forlorn quest for a totally electric car. They've now "seen the light" and changed. I've often considered using a really efficient engine, such as a Stirling cycle, in a Stirling-electric hybrid. Big size negated use in cars but I thought, "Hmmm, maybe in a boat ...?" Alas "Andrew" in the following forum posts (scroll 60% down) has made me rethink that whole concept. Thus we're left with trying to improve hull form/efficiency, more so than powerplant efficiency, to make any real difference. Hence my prior noted interest in hydrofoils, and to a lesser extent, hovercraft.
http://ideas.4brad.com/archives/000094.html
ps - Oh yeah, the one place where hybrids are used in boats. Look at that bassboat trolling along some morning. It's using an electric motor. It's an electric-ICE hybrid boat ! In a car such a coupling between the 2 propulsion systems would be called "hybrid through the road". In a boat I guess we'd call it hybrid coupling through the water
pps - For homework, figure out why hybrids aren't used in race cars.
APS - Two things to ponder ....
1) If the "better mousetrap" was being ignored just for thrills (by the GFBL group I infer) wouldn't we have seen hybrid boats for the rest of us by now ? Since we don't, I think there's more involved than "just thrills". Cost and some of the reasons above perhaps ?
2) As to your black ring being some residue of gasoline usage, why don't you follow up and have it analyzed and prove it. Until then it's just another speculation, like alien visitation, rather than fact, like Apollo moon landings. Who knows you may even be right this time
