Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Dave
Gasoline and diesel did not come to dominate because of some deep dark conspiracy. They simply work better and always have.
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The do NOT work better. They work fine. In the early days, they were TERRIBLE! It wasn't until after both the electric starter and the muffler were invented that they really became practical vehicles. They are not nearly as efficient as an electric car. They do let you drive REALLY FAR REALLY fast. (And have good heat in the winter!)
Petroleum vehicles are not efficient, but they don't have to be because the fuel contains so much energy.
To power a vehicle from an alternative, renewable, form of energy, efficiency becomes much more important.
Even if an air compressor is not as efficient as it could be, what if it could be run mechanically from a windmill, or other source of "free" energy?
Perhaps the wind could "pump up your car" for you automatically? That's something you can't do with gasoline.
Here's a related project on
INSTRUCTABLES I thought was interesting.
