As the guy below me mentions, you can remove all the parasitic friction associated with transmissions and bearings and universal joints and constant velocity joints. Also, automobiles are a fairly direct (even if not truly parallel) representation of the issues faced: a large mass that needs lots of energy to be accelerated, and once moving at speed, requires much less energy to remain moving.

Many car manufacturers brag about how much horsepower an engine has, but really, the only time you use anything close to that amount of energy is on acceleration. With speed limits, that amounts to about 10 seconds of 90% power usage, and the rest of the time cruising uses 25% of the total power capacity. Guess what? Batteries and a small 30 horsepower generator fit that bill really, really well. It takes much less fuel to run a 30 HP diesel continuously than it does to accelerate a 100 HP diesel. Even with multiple stops and starts, over the average drive cycle the engine will have no problem replenishing the batteries.

IMHO, this is truly the way to go when it comes to serial hybrids.

It wasn't only Mercedes. In the mid to late 70s just after the oil crisis, GM tried converting their 5.7L gas engine into a diesel and selling them in the 1/2 ton pickups and even Cadillacs, IIRC. They were difficult to start, especially for the "get in and turn the key" crowd, and prone to reliability issues as well. This diesel learning curve that car manufacturers went through put a sour taste in American mouths, one that still lingers and that American car manufacturers are not likely to forget any time soon.

Luckily, someone did a rewrite.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/blag/spirit_rewrite_unknown_author.png

Disagree. Many of my friends (people younger than 30) don't realize there's a problem. They truly believe this is how it's supposed to work, and don't question authority.

On second thought, I know people older than 30 who don't question authority, either.

So it turns out you can be ignorant at any age. I'll add ignorant to the running list of stupid, complacent, apathetic, and weak.

Indianapolis.

Here is a good picture. Notice the spur gearing that links the two crankshafts on the left side of the picture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jumo205_cutview_02.jpg

That's not an opposed piston configuration.

Radial engines have much more in common with typical overhead valve engines, except that instead of the cylinder layout in an inline or V configuration, they are placed at a radius from the centerline of the crank.

Opposed pistons share common cylinder walls and spark plugs, but due to clearances, valving is difficult. Each piston becomes the other's combustion chamber. What ends up happening is that you need two crankshafts, and then gearing of some sort to link them together. The big benefit is that it can be a pancake motor - very low profile, similar to other flat fours/sixes/eights, but turned inside out.

Opposed piston motors have been around since the 40s in terms of innovative designs. As far as unique engine variants go, early imagination was not quashed. Books older than you have been written about the pros and cons of I-head, F-head, T-head... 2-cycle diesels, 4-cycle diesels, etc. Check out the Knight sliding sleeve engine. It's all been thought of and conceived, but whether it be incredibly high manufacturing costs or less-than-reliable operation, some force has prevented their use from becoming mainstream.

History repeats itself. What's old is new again.

And why are we beating the dead horse that is ICE engines when we could be advancing other technologies? I wrote in a previous comment how it's very similar to new titanium horseshoes... great, but why?

That proves his point even more. If that information was factual, it paints a more accurate picture of the entire situation.

Had the fact come to light that he was doing it on a city sidewalk at noon, that paints even more of the picture. Throwing in a fallacy that it was in front of a preschool distorts the picture.

It's why when you go before the court, the common perjury statement requested is, "Do you swear to the the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

You are the very first commenter I've seen that actually brought this to light. Many others are comparing CO2 emissions of gas ICE vs. diesel, or miles per gallon... but it's all a moot point.

We might as well talk about the new titanium horseshoes in production.

I think you greatly underestimate the maintenance costs on that particular 22 year old car, assuming you can find one that doesn't have a blown motor.

Let's compare a few of the maintenance items on ICE vehicles vs. pure electric, shall we? Note that the Volt is not a pure electric, but the Nissan Leaf is.

ICE vehicles:
5 quarts of motor oil
Oil Filter
Air Filter
Fuel Filter
Spark Plugs
Serpentine Belt
Timing Belt
Windshield Wipers
Alternator
Starter
O2 sensors
Coolant/Antifreeze
Transmission flush
Battery
Tires
Brake Pads
Rotors


Pure Electrics:
Tires
Brake Pads (less wear/longer MTBF due to regen braking)
Rotors (less wear/longer MTBF due to regen braking)
Windshield Wipers
Battery


I realize that several of these are not directly comparable - obviously the battery prices will be different between the two, although the time required between replacement will be similar. Some parts are replaced more often than others, and this list does not include large part failures such as transmissions, differentials, or engines (none of which pure electrics have, but different ICE car manufacturers have different luck with).

YMMV. 80 is really fast for an old Ford Fiesta, but barely cruising for an Audi R8. It's also really fast if you're 85 years old, not nearly as fast if you're 25.

I'm guessing the Volt will do just fine at 80 MPH, along with most modern cars. It just won't be as efficient compared to a slower speed.

From an engineering standpoint, has anyone ever determined how much I/O that would take?

Many biped mammals living in the North American continent cannot correctly follow a simple pre-determined decision tree based on sensory input. Does this mean that the car is smarter than those biped mammals?

This.

Thank you for explaining that to the rest of the country. I have a lot of friends who live elsewhere that ask me about her on occasion, and this pretty much sums up how I explain it to them.