if we were to compare apples to apples, the entire
life cycle cost plus support systems costs are
required. this includes everything from iron ore to
disposal, from locating and digging coal for the
power plants for the electricity, from locating and
drilling for oil -- well, you get my drift.

the free market does this for us, if we remove
forcible influences like government. . no such
opportunity exists, in the "hauling people + groceries"
world -- too much cronyism.

absent that, wouldn't you prefer to carry an easily
refillable 6.5-hour-range tank of fuel, instead of
a hard-to-refill bank of batteries good for 3.5 hours
at highway speeds?

I'm just one engineer out here in the weeds. -- j

p.s. don't listen to CO2 justifications, IMHO.

I'm not sure electric (or hybrid) cars ever were cleaner than regular gasoline engines. All the enthusiasm I've seen for them boils down to one or both of these rosy expectations:

(1) US taxpayers can be tricked into paying huge subsidies to their buyers, even though nearly all of those people are so rich they are willing to pay $30,000 or more for a car.

(2) If a significant fraction of the people in (for instance) metro Los Angeles start driving them, the result will be to move some of the pollution they produce out of the LA basin to the remote areas where the power plants are located -- thus giving Los Angeles voters cleaner air at the expense of rural dwellers. (Remember, selfishness is only wrong when someone on the Right does it.)

30% is better than coal / steam Rankine, but not a large gas turbine, particularly if it has a bottoming steam cycle.

The metric is CO2 production, which is not meaningful, but of course it is necessary to legislate FAFE rather than let the consumers vote, since clearly these misled peoples can not be trusted to do the right thing, unless they are forcing it on others.

Go nuclear!

No surprise here. In addition, electric cars require a relatively huge amount of highly toxic rare earth metals. The mining and disposal of these is ignored by proponents of electric cars. Don't forget that the electric utility still has to produce the electricity for recharging the batteries.

I wonder what torque ratings they get, or if this would be limited simply to passenger cars... Looks like cool tech either way.

grab your salt shaker;;; most of these kinds of car
engine ads are fluffy. -- j

One of the advantages of electric/hybrid cars is that, given a method of producing electricity locally (eg solar cells), one can continue to fuel one's car irrespective of the controls enacted on petroleum products.

(Trying to get to that point)

Jan

The bottom line is first, how much weight needs to be moved under what conditions. Not as in a hill, since what goes up usually comes down so it balances out. Rather stop and go vs. continuous momentum and at what speed. Then it’s a matter of ecological and cost factors necessary for creation of the energy to complete the work.
This seems obvious, but it is the really overlooked key for meaningful efficiency, thus pollution abatement. The answer to dwindling fossil fuels and pollution reduction is not a silver bullet. But instead it’s a number of smaller silver bullets. This priority needs to be called what it is, laid out for all to see. Yes, make engines more efficient, but first match energy use to realistic needs. Eliminate any form of excess weight and size, such as a trunk and passenger space that are seldom used. Don’t over power automotive engines or other things for that matter like home air-conditioners and etc. Use little bullet conservation and renewable resources whenever possible, a ten percent utility reduction from each home in America would be a staggering total reduction and that’s achievable.
Well that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it

This beats the entire concept of electric engines all to hell.

if it is so good why so long before they make these vehicles available?

5$Au,

They probably are working on their own hybrid system, that way they won't have to license one from Toyota or someone else.

(Is there anyone else currently?)

Odd that Mazda won't introduce hybrids until 2020. Makes one suspect they are working on an improved hybrid system.

I wonder if they also included the CO2 footprint of locating, removing and refining the oil to create the gasoline and the CO2 footprint of getting the gasoline to the consumer... some might even include the CO2 footprint of the US military defending various oil sources... just to get the full CO2 footprint of any gasoline fueled vehicle. Perhaps this is not an important metric for anyone's car purchase since it is largely speculation including not knowing how each vehicle is going to be used by the end user which can vary energy use significantly.