Don't count out the internal combustion
 

....engine yet. This is from Forbes yesterday. Given that Musk has taken more than 4.9 billion from US taxpayers (with no signs of stopping) it's nice to see that private industry hasn't stopped innovating.

Mazda's HCCI.....Homogeneous charge compression ignition. Apparently 18/19:1 Compression ratio.

Wifes 2014 Mazda6 has 14:1 compression ratio and gets 6.8L /100 around town.

Efficiency on the engine is great. If the compression ratio is raised to 18:1, then there will be a 15-20% increase in thermal efficiency, but I'll need to review the actual fired temperature and the exhaust temperature.

That does not directly ratio to fuel efficiency, but it will decrease fuel consumption.

One way to reduce fuel consumption is make lighter cars with smaller engines and run them closer to their max efficiency point. This was the point of the hybrid cars. What most people don't understand about hybrid cars is they use different tires, are smaller, weigh less, along with running the tiny engine near its maximum efficiency point, along with regenerative breaking.

Put a 70 hp engine into a 1000 kg car with tires pressured to 4 bar (instead of 2), and you'll be close to the fuel efficiency of a Prius, with a lot lower cost system. I had one of these in college, it was called a Datsun B210, except for the tires.

My 1977 Datsun B210, unmodified, but with a college dorm worth of junk in it, would do 39 mpg (6.0L /100)@70mph (112.6 kph). Add high pressure tires (4 bar) I expect I could get at least 5 mpg more out of it. Switch the engine from a 1.7L 70 hp to a 1.0 with FI, I bet it could do 50 mpg (4.7L / 100).

Mazda has been using an Atkinson Cycle gas engine for a number of years as opposed to the almost universal Otto Cylcle gas engine that everyone else uses.. more efficient.

make lighter cars
 

Automobiles in the past have experienced excellent gas mileage. So what has changed? Fat bloated autos with safety features that raise the weigh and price. Backup cameras are a safety item, and IMO, not a required standard requirement but are now. But, I fear it is too late to stop the safety onslaught.

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/179635-car-backup-cameras-are-now-mandatory-okay-for-saving-lives-even-better-for-music-and-navigations

The promise of safety, which is a strawman BTW, because we still have automobile deaths and you can now add injuries from defective or malfunctioning airbags. I am not against having seat-belts but I am against laws that target anyone who refuses to wear one. I am against govt intrusions, it's for the children don't ya know, and insane court penalties, mostly payed to lawyers, raising the rates for anyone wanting to purchase or insure a new vehicle.

Now pair the hotter SkyActive-X engine with a steam engine that can capture all that excess heat that would be otherwise lost and you have an internal combustion engine that will have incredible efficiency.

The reason it's so hard to get away from fossil fuels is basic physics. There is so much energy packed into a gallon of gas, it is so transportable, and it's so easy to convert, that it's hard for other fuels to compete. Fossil fuel technology continues to improve even as alternative energy technologies develop. Alternatives are going to have to experience a quantum leap in technology to truly replace fossil fuels.

Can you imagine what mazda could come up with if the US gubmint was paying all their friggin bills for them?

My understanding is high compression engines run very hot and need to be built beefy.
They also create a lot of NOX.

Still waiting for Mazda to add the water injection of a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-stroke_engine, the long-stroke reduction of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkinson_cycle, and a variable combustion chamber of a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_compression_ratio.

When I lived in San Diego, my 1970 914/6 with a tired engine (140 hp?) was able to easily keep up with a 1990's Camaro (250 hp?). Weight.

914/6 - ~2000 lbs
1990's Camaro - 5000 lbs

I was astounded! I thought the car would weigh 3000-3500 lbs. But 5000? Insane!

Yes. High compression means a higher flame front temp, which means higher levels of NOx. Diesels deal with this by using DEF (Urea). You could more easily do this for gasoline engines, since they do not need a soot filter (DPF).

I call BS. There just isn't the room in the back of a 4th Gen Camaro to put enough dead hookers to get to 5,000lb's

1994 z28 road test C&D - WEight 3,460 lb's
1999 z28 road test C&D - WEight 3,443 lb's
2002 Z28 Road test Motor Trend - weight 3,411lb's (Note 2002 was still the 4th Gen)

The idea is Tesla is supposed to come up with innoative ways to bring electric car costs down- you know, come up with stuff to help make it practical. They ain't done boo about that- unless you count creating fads, styling and marketing gimmicks as innovation.

They are just cleverly marketed and stylish. Once it's known they really haven't done much for making them practical, it's over. No more tax dollars for you Musk.

rip

this makes sense of Tesla:

https://hbr.org/2015/05/teslas-not-as-disruptive-as-you-might-think

"To investigate, Bartman’s team posed five questions it uses to evaluate disruptive innovations. First, does the product either target overserved customers (by offering lower performance at a lower price) or create a new market (by targeting customers who couldn’t use or afford the existing product)? Second, does it create “asymmetric motivation,” meaning that while the disrupter is motivated to enter higher performance segments over time, existing players aren’t motivated to fight it? Third, can it improve performance fast enough to keep pace with customers’ expectations while retaining its low cost structure? Fourth, does it create new value networks, including sales channels? Fifth, does it disrupt all incumbents, or can an existing player exploit the opportunity?

As Bartman worked through the questions, it became clear that Tesla is not a disrupter. It’s a classic “sustaining innovation”—a product that, according to Christensen’s definition, offers incrementally better performance at a higher price. There’s nothing rudimentary about Teslas, which compete on price against cars by BMW and Mercedes."]]

...snip

"Our analysis concludes that a competitive response won’t happen until Tesla expands outside its current niche of people who prefer electric vehicles to gas-powered cars—but if it expands by creating more variety (such as SUVs) and more-affordable vehicles, competition will be fierce.”

In other words, Tesla appeals to the fad crowd that likes the novelty of owning an electric car that cost as much as a BMW- there is no other "innovation" around Tesla. Once that goes away (due to the fact they are impractical and that crowd moves on to the next big thing, and buys new cars-)

- adios, Tesla.

Rip

The improvement in ICE efficiency leads to an interesting question whether it can meet or even exceed those of the power plants (40%?) given the electric cars can't all be charged using solar or wind (?!) power. ICE technology in the highly competitive auto market in contrast to the latter advances rapidly so it is not out of the question IMO.

As long as there's enough economic value to support an ICE industry, it will remain viable. Even if internal combustion tech is banned for everyday driving, sport usage will live on. As Ferdinand said, the last car built will be a sports car.

When dependence on fossil fuels for power reaches nil, that's when the ICE bows out for common usage.

“Sky-Active X will be available in 2019...”

As I recall, a 1970 914/6 was 110hp DIN....

Yep. Not a rocketship, by any stretch.

Our single speed power generation ICE generators (2250 hp/1.6MW) are a bit over 40% efficient. If you optimize an ICE, it can be over 40%. This is why hybrids are so efficient.

When I bought my 914/6, it had already been bumped up to a 2.2. When I rebuilt it, it became a 2.7l with the longer crank and rods, S cams and ported heads, basically built to RS spec.

That would help.

The usual 2.2 S pistons, E cams bolt-on rebuilds that were so common weren't enough.

Atkinson cycle is just a kinematically modified Otto-cycle. --not your typical crank shaft set-up.
This makes for a longer power stroke, compared to the intake stroke.

Wikipedia has a good write-up on this.

Here's their animation of the 1887 patent.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ith_Intake.gif

I'll add that the piston travel is moving farther to eek-out the last bit O pressure... in a lot of ways this is what turbo chargers do. ...use the last bit of burn pressure to make useful work.

The same can be said for defense contractors.

Disruptive is all of those little electric push scooters that are laying all over the sidewalks in major cities just ready to go at the swipe of a credit card.

That simple little device eclipsed both segways and Teslas for urban commuting.

Im amazed how popular they are with all sorts of people zooming to a fro

This from 2018.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gNPOIz4dX4E" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

On a similar note, the two stoke outboard engine has been abandoned by all manufacturers except Evinrude (Bombardier). It was said the two stoke could never meet the ever stricter federal regulations so most manufacturers switched to four stokes. Evinrude proved them all wrong. The Etech runs cleaner, has more torque, more horse power, better fuel economy, no oil changes, no maintenance periods, and fewer moving parts.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aKHzuPNKw9Y" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I was interested to see a 356 on the downtown street of sanfrancisco while I was there.

My train of thought went like this:

I like motorcycle
there are many motorcycles here
smaller motorcycles seem to do well in this environment where small displacement is really big power for the city use

Then I started admiring all sorts of cool innovative styled small motorcycles that I saw

Then a very nice 356 went by, and I thought, of course! Who need a 10 liter V-8 and a 5000lb vehicle?
At less than 2000 lbs and 70 hp or so, I'll bet a 356 is the perfect city car?
+Low weight, =ddecent power to weight ratio
+Low displacement = good fuel economy
+Good fun economy means less fuel burned
+less fuel burned = less emissions.


Therefore, I think that we should all be driving light weight, fast small Porsche 356 cars in order to save the world!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-qyluq2j27g?controls=0&amp;start=135" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

^^^

And you can use wheelbarrow wheels and tires on those clown cars, too - cheap and readily available! :D

Since there aren't enough 356's to go round can some of us drive 912's or fake 356's with VW motors?

Mine was going to be a 550 spyder kit with a 914 engine.

But, my ex forced that "Stupid car" out of my garage.
Round two was a 911. Apparently that must have been too much car so me AND the car had to go.

So, perhaps electric scooters ARE the way to go,
(either that or a full-on big turbo'd 935 and say the hell with it! ) :)

Your last sentiment sounds good to me!

I miss reading about the progress of this car...:)http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1574975852.jpg

Same here - the dude totally lost interest in that machine, soon after he completed it. I suppose you are aware of what became of it after he sold it?

Sometimes other events in life totally suck the life out of you.

At least in my case for awhile, but, I was smart and locked my RSR replica away until I could think clearly again.

But yes, if my understanding is correct that 935 replica is polluting the mountainside and having fun doing it! :-)
I haven't heard much about it lately though after it was painted white and made its first run

The whole world,with the exception of the USA, are using smaller lighter weight cars to get around .To no- Americans the pickup truck is a small lorry.

I feel sorry for that poor 914

Thats true.

When I travel to abroad, the Mini cooper is a BIG car.
Then again they don't have the roads in most places to support larger cars, so zippy cars feel really fast

If I never travelled a freeway I would be quite happy with the performance of a 356

What I was last in Amsterdam I saw a full-sized F-150 trying to squeeze along the narrow strip of street between the buildings and a canal. It looked HUGE!

Spotted in Italy

THIS is a HUGE motorhome, and in North America that bike trailer would be pulled by a four wheel drive 10 liter diesel crew cab duelly, not a minivan :-)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1575055016.jpg

Mazda, like all large Japanese companies, gets tons of help from their own government.