mobile phones have come in leaps and bounds, why are cars still running the combustion engine?

Question

Most technology has moved on at enourmous speeds, with most things not recognisable from 10 years ago!

However car manufacturers seem to be in a rut and still using the same Combustion engine, that was developed in the early 1900's

The hybrid car has only just come out (Petrol Engine + Electric engine = 10 more mpg) However car manufacturers dont seem to be bothered in getting it out very quickly.

Also I would have thought we would have had a computer fitted in most cars, running Windows media - voice activiation, WiFi as standard etc- Many moons ago.

Why is progress so slow? After all it is a very competitive market

Answer 1

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Electric cars are out there... most of us just don't know they exist. The little start-up companies making electric cars don't have the advertising budget to get noticed. Take a look at this car, the Phoenix:
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http://phoenixmotorcars.com/models/fleet.html
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The Phoenix goes on sale this year, and can be pre-ordered right now. It will get up to 250 miles per charge, goes 95mph, carries five passengers plus cargo, and can be charged in TEN MINUTES.
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Will it be expensive? Yes, it will be because there is no mass market to help defray development costs. This is why the first mass-market electric cars will probably come from China, where electric cars are already far more popular. Here's some Chinese electric cars that will be imported to the USA next year:
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http://milesautomotive.com/showroom_xs200.php
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How cheap will the Chinese electric cars be? Here's a hint. This webpage is from a Chinese electric car distributor, looking for US partners. Look how cheap the cars are - they start at $6500:
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http://www.fevehicle.com/services.html
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Answer 2

For cars, the internal combustion engine is more than 100 years old. As with any technologies, progress is usually fast at first, until it gets mature.
The Ford Model T for instance, had a power output of 20 hp, but fuel consumption was 25 to 30 mpg, from a 4 cylinder 2.9 l engine. Compare this with a modern car, say, the Ford Focus, 130 hp, 4 cylinders, 2 l, that delivers 27 to 37 mpg.
On the other hand, personal computers and mobile phones have come around less than 30 years ago; their very fast progress of the recent years is associated with the early phase of the development of a new technology. That progress in electronic devices is partly due to the fact the information element was made smaller, each bit is done using less electricity, the information has been miniaturized. With cars, the limitation is that we cannot really miniaturize the passengers -- actually, it has been said that the averge person is getting fatter every year.

There is plenty of electronics in cars. The timing and ingintion system, fuel injection and oxygen sensors are all improving the efficiency of cars, and rely heavily on computers. Now, you would want a multimedia computer on board? Why? If you want one, you can always bring a portable computer, can't you?
A computer on board, for who's benefit? The driver? The driver is supposed to concentrate on the driving, not on playing video games or surfing the web; it is bad enough already with cell phones, imaging drivers playing NASCAR Racing video game while driving.

And, there is also the constant issue of virus. There you are, driving along at 60 mph, and surfing the web with your integrated computer, and suddenly, you download a virus. You car goes crazy and decides to cut in front of a semi trailer and slamming the brakes. Do you really want that?

Cars have come a long way, there is still progress to be made, but since it involves adding new technology, the cost is high. You mention hybrid cars. Here the problem is battery power. Note that this is the same issue with computers. A portable computer 15 years ago would be able to run a couple of hours before the battery needs recharging. How much now? Same thing. The new computer does more on a charge only because it can do more faster, using less electricity for each bit processed. But in the end, the battery technology is either bulky and heavy, or very costly.

For the record: if you check pricing of hybrid cars, say the Toyota Camry Hybrid, you will notice that is is selling for 30% more than a comparatively equivalently equipped "mundane" Camry, essentially because it requires all those extra battery and electronic systems and electric motors.
The extra 10 mpg has to be factored in with that price hike in mind, and if you can get a return on the investment from the fuel saved only after you drove about 100000 miles, it is perhaps not as good, even for the environment. Just making the extra components of a hybrid car took energy, and in the end, the price you pay is a function of how much extra petroleum was used just to build the car.

Answer 3

Mobile phones use more or less the same technology that they did 10 years ago. They are based on the same patents, the smae standards, the same base stations etc.

The difference is that they have integrated more features onto the computer chips in phones, as this has become more commercially viable (there is very little new in any of the added technology either - mp3, which is behind the music and video services - is so old it comes out of patent in two years).

On this basis cars do just as well. Mine has a computer in it. It even knows when to turn the lights and wipers on.

The engine has also come on leaps and bounds. It produces a fraction of the emissions of cars 100 years ago.

Oh, and the phone - it still uses a battery, invented over 100 years before the internal combustion engine. Old technology.

Answer 4

Would you want to drive a car with a large main sail and jib on the roof!? Coming about at a busy crossroads would take on a different urgency, I guess.
The fact that large areas of land are being devoted to growing crops from which ethanol is extraced, is a start. Soon, no more smelly deisel. However the Otto cycle engine remains the true alternative to electric and sun power for now.

Answer 5

i think the fact that a car is a far more dangerous thing to play about with than say a mobile phone or a tv says most of it, there is no-one here that can say that they're never had a little hitch with any electrical product, and maybe most car companies dont feel the hybrid technology is good enough for mass production just yet, due to safety issues.

Answer 6

And it still burns fossil fuel hydrocarbons. Still releases sequestered CO2 into the atmosphere. Long term reason we need to get off oil isn't because gasoline doesn't burn that cleanly. We need to get off oil because it is finite and releases sequestered carbon causing global warming. "you realize don't you that you are undermining Algore and his lies, right?" No, none of those claims discuss CO2 emissions. Unlike "standard" pollutants it isn't toxic and won't build up in an engine. Still gets released. As long as you burn carbon you will get CO2. The only way to make this be a nonissue is to make sure the carbon source was already in the carbon cycle. Biofuels of some sort.

Answer 7

Internal combustion engines have also developed hugley in recent times, allowing for huge improvemnts in efficency, cleanliness and so forth. Think of the engine as a technology in it's own right.

Hybrid cars, such as the Prius, are increasingly common. Audi (i think) have developed a hydrogen engine.
Engineers have needed the recent advances in other technologies to give them the tools to develop engines and other forms of propulsion.

Answer 8

You are being fooled by ELECTRONIC technology into thinking that ALL technology has advanced at a fast rate. It is only electronics that have advanced so quickly. Energy generation technology has not. Construction has not, otherwise a house could be built for $100 in a day. Electronics is the exception, far outpacing all other technology.

Answer 9

There is too much money in oil to stop producing combustion engined cars.

Don't be fooled into thinking they don't have a solution to the problem once oil runs out. They will know what the replacement is but won't launch it until absolutely necessary.

The technology is there we just don't see it.

Answer 10

I really wish I knew the answer to this question. I guess we will have to depend on JAPAN to build the next generation of cars, or maybe CHINA. Wake up America, FORD, GMC, GET busy, if you dont build us a better car we will just let the JAPS do it, or some other CHINK. Dont Cry FORD, dont Cry GMC, get you *** moving and build that better, more fuel efficient, car NOW. Dont wait for big oil, to pay you under the table. We will pay the JAPS over the table if you dont take the lead.