affordable 100 mpg carbon composite car (OT?)

All I could think of reading your post was....if a regular car could get 100 mpg.....what would a Prius get?

 

I would buy that car before I'd buy an Aptera

 

This is based on the same concept that RMI's Fiberforge Inc. has been showcasing for a few years. It's obviously a great idea. Liek Amory Lovins say's "Triple the efficiency of the car" through the use of this new carbon composite technology and tooling process. So a hybrid or plug-in Hybrid with it's weight cut in half could easily get into the 200+mpg range even with current battery technology.

 

I'm curious what would happen with an 8 MPH rear-end collision. How much of a carbon-fiber mess would be created? What would the repair costs be compared to a more conventional car of the same purchase price?

That said, it would be so cool to have a car made with a significant amount of carbon-fiber.

 

Virtually everything else in society has shifted from metal to plastic. Fifty years ago, everything was made of metal (and wood), but today, a LARGE percentage of items are now made of plastic. Carbon fiber may not be "plastic," but they are both organic materials (chemistry; carbon-based). I look at my father's old toys, radios, and car from the 1950s, and it's all made of metal. I look at what is available today and the same products are all made of plastic on the outside. Sit in the interior of a 1950s car and then sit in the interior of a new Toyota - it's all plastic! And that's not a bad thing. It's lightweight and costs less to transport around with you everywhere.

F8L, in light of your "200mpg" rough extrapolation ... I wonder if this means solar panels would be more viable. A solar panel is not going to power a car alone, but it's utility due to a lighter weight vehicle would improve.

 

It should if one assumes that solar panels continue to become more efficient as well. The same applies for any energy source like CNG and hydrogen. With less mass to move one could go much futher on a "fill-up", handle better, and be faster/quicker. A lightweight vehicle also reduces the amount of damage done during a collision as well assuming the majority of drivers are using such light vehicles. Panels will be designed to deflect impact and/or to crumple zones much like they do with race cars. Repairs could be made less expensive due to the reduced amount of bodywork required when refitting composite panels, especially if they panels come pre-impregnated with color.

 

I saw a TV special a few months back and a composite car developer was featured. That stuff is as tough as hell. They took a big fender and beat it all to crap with a giant sledgehammer. Don't know how it would do in a real wreck, but it was impressive.

The problem is gas has to get very expensive before the increased cost of the materials would become commercially viable.

 

It's great to see that carbon fiber can be made more durable. Earlier this year the Red Bull Formula 1 cars had a couple of minor "offs" hitting a few bumps on the grass and the cars literally broke into hundreds of pieces. A few years ago the FIA and Ferrari did some work using Kevlar with the carbon fiber to reduce the number of shards produced from even small accidents, but I don't recall anything coming from it. Granted, a Formula 1 car and a passenger car do have a few small differences with its design goals, but I was worried about the tendency of carbon fiber to shatter when hit.

 

Hmm, not even sure it was carbon fiber... it's been a while and my memory is rusty. I do remember it was a composite of some sort. My guess would be that the race car designers will sacrifice durability over weight to the extreme. I remember having a carbon fiber tennis racket in the late 1980s that was very tough. It would scratch but never shatter. And trust me, my tennis playing was bad enough that I slammed that thing down on the concrete in frustration quite often! My friends with metal rackets always bent theirs.

 

There was a spectacular crash in the tour de france the other day in which a rider smacked straight into a median road sign. All you saw from behind was him catapulting above the crowd and then the two halves of his carbon fiber bike following him. The sign was tipped back about 10 degrees! May not be relevant to a car body, but it was a dramatic example of what happens when you exceed the yield strength of carbon fiber.

 

The street legal Porsche Carrera GT uses a carbon fiber chassis, as do the street legal Ferrari F50 and Ferrari Enzo cars. If the NHTSA approved these cars public roads, then I'm sure Toyota could design something similar if they really wanted to. I'm guessing it's probably more expensive than metal frames though.

 

I'm dubious of such an increase in mileage just from reducing the weight. Lightweight cars like the Geo Metro or Smart Fortwo don't get anywhere near 100mpg. Drive train losses, braking, and wind resistance are big factors too.