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Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

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Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#181

Post by hasmanean »

vfclists wrote: post #164
hasmanean wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should not replace ICE cars with EVs, but something smaller. Steam engines were large because that was how they got efficiency up. ICE cars could afford to be smaller and more efficient. If they had just replaced steam locmotives with diesel ones that would have been stupid...instead they built a whole new infrastructure around smaller cars that was much better than the rail network and redesigned our entire citie…

Why should the store send a small robot to deliver it you? You can ride a bicycle to the store to pick it up. Just think of the cardiovascular benefits. And you know what? Think of the energy cost of the robot's manufacture, and the energy the delivery takes.

A bike cannot compete in terms of energy efficiency with a slow robot that delivers multiple packages to people along a route.

Human food is the most expensive fuel on the planet when you factor in agriculture.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#182

Post by tadfisher »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #88
theshrike79 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heavy duty vehicles will move to either diesel/biogas hybrids (they can replace ~30% of the diesel with gas nowadays without any major engine mods) or to full CBG with combustion engines. Farms can produce their own CBG with relatively minor investment, basically fueling all work vehicles with cow farts =) Some kind of hydrogen/biogas generator hybrid might be viable too. Some will become fully electric, but it's hea…

Diesel will slowly go away because of the ever tightening emissions noose. It's just getting harder and harder to have something that's both compliant and has a lifetime TCO that's lower than equivalent gasoline engines that can more easily meet their (more stringent) emissions requirements. The bar for what kind of usage makes diesel cheaper than gas over all is constantly creeping higher. Notice how a huge fraction…

And the other benefits of diesel (torque, efficiency) are being provided by turbocharging.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#184

Post by riku_iki »

enkid wrote: post #54
mrtksn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's kind of obvious that the supplies of oil aren't infinite, isn't it? Is there even a theory that the oil is infinite? The peak oil is about timing and and cost, maybe it didn't happen according to the predictions but it will definitely happen. Besides the environmental concerns it also seems wasteful to burn away the stuff that is used for so many more things. The synthetic stuff is interesting because it m…

The proven oil reserves have steadily increased for the last decade, even as consumption has increased. This means that we are discovering oil faster than we are burning it. The Earth obviously can't have infinite oil, but we don't know how long until we run out, and it's likely well over fifty years from now.

newly discovered reserves are more expensive to recover, otherwise oil price would fall.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#185

Post by RhysU »

dieselgate wrote: post #120

This is a cool data point but I personally wouldn't call 45 mpg "staggering" - it's definitely good but not unprecedented by any means, many TDIs or smaller gas engines can get that on the freeway. The research into synthetic gasoline fuels is inspiring but at a certain point seem impractical and too-little-too-late. There are already well established "alternative" fueling technologies that are very easily accessible…

I just did a long highway trip in an MX-5 and got about 38 mpg on the recommended 93-octane gasoline. I was not driving the vehicle to optimize for mileage. The article quotes the same. I mention it because it is an obtainable 38 mpg.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#186

Post by ianai »

theshrike79 wrote: post #177
dragonmost wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've already announced 3 BEVs and 5 hybrids by 2025 so wouldn't say they aren't investing in EVs. Considering how bad the current batteries are for the environment and the limited supply of lithium I don't see why alternative fuels that leverage existing infrastructure is a bad thing. It remains to be seen but BEVs might not be the be-all end-all especially if you include vehicles where range and weight is importa…

Announcing isn't releasing. Even Toyota's first attempt (bz4x) is laughable for a company with their engineering pedigree. First the wheels fell off so often they had to do a recall. Now they're saying that you can fast charge the car a maximum of two times per day, software limited. If I was a tinfoil hat wearer, I'd say they're sabotaging themselves on purpose.

AFAIK they have a 100 mile compliance car that, true to the definition, can’t be purchased in the USA unless you’re one of the few. That should count as a negative.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#187

Post by credit_guy »

kuschku wrote: post #15

> it’s safe to assume that it’ll likely charge a hefty premium over traditional gasoline. > Also worth noting is that while, yes, this synthetic fuel appears to make vehicles slightly more efficient, it still greatly trails the efficiency of EVs. Consequently, vehicles using this fuel will likely always be more expensive to drive per mile than their electric equivalents. So why are we doing this again?

Range could be a reason too. EV's have a decent range nowadays, but in wintertime the range could decrease dramatically. With an ICE you always know what your range is.

A hybrid can give the best of both worlds. A hybrid with a battery range of 50 miles can reduce your ICE usage by a factor of 10 easily (the vast majority of trips are shorter than that). But a lot of people think that reducing emissions by only 90% is not enough. With this you get to the full 100%.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#188

Post by pornel »

tmpburning wrote: post #148
pornel wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s Doug DeMuro’s Worst Car of the Year. Every other review I’ve seen is also overwhelmingly negative. It has a range of a “city car”, but a price of EVs with double the range. It has max 50kW DC charging, while the competition has >100kW speeds. This makes the short range even more limiting. It’s not even powerful, even though high torque is the one easy trick for EVs. It’s a conversion of a gas car, not a dedicate…

> It has a range of a “city car”, but a price of EVs with double the range. I agree that the price is too high, but that is the case for all EVs > It’s a conversion of a gas car, not a dedicated platform Maybe because the platform was so safe/good... I love my current Mazda CX-5 (not EV)

I don't doubt you love your CX-5, but I can't emphasize enough how much of a fuck-up the CX-30 EV is.

Platform matters. BEV platforms are skateboards with flat floor and wheels basically at the very corners. OTOH CX-30 has an empty transmission tunnel taking up cabin space, and is so cramped they couldn't even fit normal-sized rear doors, and it's almost a 2-seater. Dedicated EVs of the same length have full-sized doors and spacious rear seats.

Mazda took out the engine, and didn't rearrange or rebalance anything else to match. No extra storage. They just left a hole and dangling cables under the hood. They've taken a front-heavy car platform and unbalanced it by making the the rear heavier.

EVs are expensive mainly because of batteries, but this one has a half-sized battery for a price of a full-sized one. You're not even paying for a better rest of the car. It's just a mediocre Mazda with a low-end EV tech that is 10 years behind. The EV side of it is really really bad. Old models of Zoe and Leaf that you can get for <$10K have this level of range and performance.

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#189

Post by kehrin »

kuschku wrote: post #15

> it’s safe to assume that it’ll likely charge a hefty premium over traditional gasoline. > Also worth noting is that while, yes, this synthetic fuel appears to make vehicles slightly more efficient, it still greatly trails the efficiency of EVs. Consequently, vehicles using this fuel will likely always be more expensive to drive per mile than their electric equivalents. So why are we doing this again?

Sportscars and motorcycles are fun :)

Re: Mazda has tested a synthetic fuel in an unmodified MX5 on a 1000-mile road trip

#190

Post by QuarterReptile »

Kirby64 wrote: post #180
phpisthebest wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was not aware that Texas is in the midwest... I am not sure what Texas has to do with anything here. That said, no one isreplacing NatGas with Electric Resistive Heating, that would be crazy, NatGas is still cheaper in most cases for people north of say KY but there are alot of HeatPumps going in I am unclear why you think replacing a NatGas heater with a HeatPump "would not increase the total electricity usage at…

Not OP, but changing from natural gas heat sources to heat pump does increase your house electricity demand, but then that natural gas is no longer consumed. Natural gas is commonly used as the 'peaker' energy source today... so it's likely that you're just going to be burning natural gas at a plant somewhere else to power your heat pump in the peaky cold snap situation. Natural gas power plants are going to be more…

>Overall that seems like a reduction in total emissions, since you're using less natural gas overall to heat the same amount.

This just isn't the problem at all; it's obviously a problem, but not the constraint here. Fossil fuels let you store energy in a distributed fashion (e.g. cutting and stacking firewood for the winter), which is way better for handling peaks.

If too many people get burnt by oversubscribed grids in the winter, I would expect that the middle- and upper-class response will be propane auxiliary heating systems.

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