The Perfect Automobile

The perfect automobile is the electrical car that can replenish its own energy while in motion (non-stop), has zero emissions, seats 5 people, has no fuel cost, and cost between 20,000 to 40,000 USD depending on its features. Such a car, should be less complicated to built than our current combustion engine cars that have more than 7,000 parts. Most of the technology for the perfect car has already been built and tested as of 2008. But, the difficult part will be to overcome the special interest groups protecting their current status quo, and creating all types of obstacles for manufacturing this perfect automobile.

Automobile companies and the US government seem to believe that the hybrid automobile, that yields up to 150 miles p/gallon, gasoline/electric, is the next logical step to reduce our carbon dependency and green house gases. This hybrid automobile has both components, the gas combustion engine plus the electrical and battery gear. It may reduce gas emissions and the use of fossil fuels, but it does not eliminate carbon dioxide altogether.

The Toyota Prius is an example of a current hybrid, that has been in operation since 1997. It is adequately priced, seats 5 passengers, but only delivers 48 miles p/gallon. On the contrary, the new Tesla Roadster is a 100% electrical vehicle that can reach 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, has a top speed of 125 mph and a range of 244 miles on its electrical charge. However, the Tesla Roadster only seats 2 people and is priced for a niche market at 109,000 USD. This price is about 6 times what its manufacturing cost should be. One of the reason that the price is so high could be because the manufacturer, only produced 150 vehicles in 2008 and plans to built 1,200 for 2009. Therefore, its cost is probably 6 times larger that the cost they would have if they were massively producing. This production is insufficient to be a serious market offering.

Hence, the ideal automobile for families should have the Tesla electrical technology, plus the Prius regenerative brake technology, plus a new wind turbine power technology placed on the car, to replenish batteries while the car is in motion. If the Power generation from one or several small wind turbines on the car, produces the same amount of electricity as the vehicle uses, then the car can go on indefinably, non-stop. However, if the power generated by the wind turbines is less than the electricity that is consumed to move the car forward, then, only an improvement on Tesla current range of 244 miles can be achieved. But this also makes the automobile more attractive than the current old combustion engine cars.

The Tesla and Prius technologies are already available, and with time they can be improved and perfected. However, the current wind turbines are built to capture open field winds, which are not the case if these were used for automobiles. Instead, new wind turbines for automobiles need to be designed and produced. However, it is logical these turbines would be more efficient than the open field turbines, since the car in motion is already producing displacement wind, which can be funneled through to moves the electrical power generator. With several small and discrete wind turbines, the energy is generated to replenish the electricity that is used.

The combustion engine has been in effect for little more than a century, and people are accustomed to it. However, the combustion engine is a non-sustainable component in our lives, because it consumes non-renewable resources and generates gases, which needs to be replaced. New turbines that run on wind, solar, heat exchange need to designed and replace these combustion motors, even for field usage.

Hence car manufacturing companies and government should reconsider their development thrust. They should evaluate to go directly into electrical cars at once. No intermediary step is required using Hybrids. People can get accustomed to good things immediately. We, the people, do not need 2 to 10 year transition periods to ultimate reach the electrical non-fueled vehicle. We, the people, also need this electrical technology to evolve into trucks, to reduce transportation cost from all products we currently use and consume, making man's life more economical and enjoyable.