PBS Nova "Car of the Future" tonight!!!

[cfg83]

Hello -

I just got an e-mail for this. Should be interesting :

RMI[Rocky Mountain Institute] on PBS Nova tonight

Today, April 22, 2008, marks the 38th annual occurrence of Earth Day, and
PBS NOVA is launching a brand new show titled Car of the Future that features
Rocky Mountain Institute. In this special, Click and Clack, the "Car Talk" guys,
will hit the road in search of a new breed of clean, fuel-efficient vehicles.
Please tune in as they visit RMI Chairman and Chief Scientist Amory Lovins
to learn about RMI's work in the fuel-efficient transportation field. To find
out when the show will be playing in your area, visit the PBS web site at
www.pbs.org/tvschedules.

RMI has also been featured in the media in many other places lately. For
example, MOVE team analyst Laura Schewel presented a paper examining
the link between lightweight automobiles and safety last week at the
Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit. As a result,
Steve Gelsi of Dow Jones Marke****ch interviewed Laura and the resulting
story is available here -
http://www.marke****ch.com/news/stor...&dist=hplatest

Our staff are also contributing on a regular basis to blogs hosted by Yahoo!
Green and Treehugger on topics ranging from water conservation to smart
appliances.

You can always learn about when RMI is in the public eye by visiting our
website. Updated on a daily basis, www.rmi.org provides timely updates
about what we're doing, when we're in the news, and provides
opportunities for you to support our exciting work.

Also, if you haven't checked it out yet, you can access our Built
Environment Team's new microsite at http://bet.rmi.org.

CarloSW2

[MetroMPG]

I meant to watch it, but forgot until it was almost over.

Fortunately, the show will be available online tomorrow: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/car/program.html

[Arminius]

Got it on TIVO, but I have yet to watch it. You can expect most of it to end up on youtube over the next week or two.

[Otto]

Not much new to report from the Nova show.

Guy in Colorado sounds like a kindred spirit, working on carbon fiber for weight reduction.

No mention of aerodynamics, which per post here a couple of days ago is the major problem above ~30 mph. This is pathetic, given that Dr. Schlor et al had this pretty much figured out ~70 years ago.

[Chris D.]

I was about to make a post about this! darn..

I only got to catch the last 15 minutes of it, I'm stoked!
I'd love to drive the Tesla, I wouldn't feel guilty steppin on that, 0 - 16 on 4 seconds!

sploodge..

Now if they could only make the Lotus look that good

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Otto

No mention of aerodynamics, which per post here a couple of days ago is the major problem above ~30 mph.

Probably just an issue of time constraints. The Nova web site for the show has a slide presentation by Amory Lovins (who was in the TV show) about his "hypercar" concept. He's definitely very aware of the importance of clean aero & highlights it in his slide presentation.

[awillard69]

I felt it was a teaser show. It showed various efforts and ideas, but no real information. More about dreams than "what can we do today". I Myth'd, but don't think I'll watch it again.

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by Otto

Not much new to report from the Nova show.

Guy in Colorado sounds like a kindred spirit, working on carbon fiber for weight reduction.

No mention of aerodynamics, which per post here a couple of days ago is the major problem above ~30 mph. This is pathetic, given that Dr. Schlor et al had this pretty much figured out ~70 years ago.

Yeah, it was a bit disappointing, and sort of a teaser, as someone else mentioned. However, there was one mention of aerodynamics in the whole show, but it was only one sentence by the "guy in Colorado" involving the Hypercar. He mentioned that both the outside and underside of the car needs to be smoothed out, not to mention reducing the weight.

Here's a video from another show. The narrator seems to be the same one from Discovery Channel's Future Car series, so perhaps this clip is from that show and I missed this episode.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZiA4cpJb0uw

[Compaq888]

I Like how all these shows talk about new technologies and then the cars get 45-50mpg and everybody gets all happy. The technology is there, but because we don't have mass production it costs a lot of money. The oil companies, car manufacturers and the government is in the same bed together.

I like how when you ask manufacturers, "what about fuel economy?" And then they reply, "we build what the people want and they want big engines and that's why our cars get 30mpg on the freeway."

We can either watch these stupid shows and get bent over by the oil companies, car manufacturers and the government or we can do something about it.. I refuse to buy a car that runs on gasolene because it gets poor gas mileage and have to constantly buy gas to keep it running. I also don't like the fact that the gasolene engine requires a lot of maintenance. Oil filters, oil, timing belt, belts, air filters, spark plugs and etc..

There is technology there to have cars where you don't constantly have to buy all that crap...the only thing you have to worry about is tire rotation and changing the windshield wipers once in a while. We need to invest money and time into electric cars and stop paying attention to this alternative fuels, hydrogen crap and whatever the big 3 can think off to vacuum the money out of our wallets.

[Arminius]

That day is at our doorstep. In the next 24 months you will have a handful of of new types of cars with alternative (non-ICE) technology in them. After that, I believe, there will be a gold rush to provide the best car. To a huge portion of the population, having the most efficient, money-saving car will be a status symbol. I intend to be the most popular guy in town!