A company in Australia recently published a video about a technological break through that allowed them to create a carbon neutral clean burn fuel that can be used in any fossil fuel engine. This is amazing if it truly works. It basically combines the CO2 in the air and fuse it with hydrogen to make the liquid fuel that results in clean burn with zero emissions from the car's exhaust system. This is revolutionary as it will be like creating the perfect cycle in the fuel / combustion system. Whatever the car's exhaust puts out can be recycled into fuel to feed the car. This in the past is nothing but a dream but it appears that one company managed to do it.
This could mean that the electric car's future is numbered and may no longer be relevant. With this technology fossil fuel powered cars will be here to stay. This will open up further development of the combustion engine and motorsports. The electric cars will be a forgotten fad that never really took off. It will be interesting to see if any oil giant will buy up the patent for this technology or capitalise on it. So far there is no news about any investors stepping up to grab this technology. If the patent was open to all players it could very well help the motoring industry move forward.
Many electric car detractors still think that electric cars are counter productive in the carbon reducing effort which to some degree is true. The electricity used to power the electric cars are usually produced using fossil fuel or coal or nuclear power, only a tiny amount is actually from renewable energy such as hydro power, wind or solar power. This basically means that the electric car's source of power is polluting and it not much difference from a combustion engine car that produces carbon monoxide.
The CO2 to fuel concept will be way of the future if it is proven to work. According to the promotional video the cost of producing the fuel is cheaper than extracting crude oil and refining it into gasoline or diesel. This could mean cheaper fuel and cheaper transport costs which could lead to cheaper cost of food.
Driving a car using the recycled CO2 as fuel may be something in the future but it is definitely an interesting piece of technology that could alter the future of the automotive and transport industry.
Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Monday, 8 October 2018
Malaysia's 3rd national car
The rumours are buzzing again about the third national car and this topic does not seem to want to go away. This time round it appears that there is some sort of confirmation that it will be a private entity and the Malaysian Government will not be involved like how it was with Proton. However, the rumour is that the third national car will not be an electric car like how it was rumoured previously. It is strange that this new company would want to move into conventional cars since the future is electric with so many countries announcing that it will ban all fossil fuelled cars from a certain date in the future. Being a new entity with no prior history it should venture into electric cars as it is a fresh start and neither Proton or Perodua have any electric models.
The Government and Dr. Mahathir have been copping a lot of flack lately due to this topic as it appears to be his ego trip once again. He seems adamant to create the third national car since Proton failed and is not under Geely's control. His excuse is that it will create jobs and improve the industrialisation and engineering capability of Malaysia. He is also the one that does not want to admit that Proton is a failure.
The third national car can be introduced but not at the expense of other car makers. Dr. Mahathir in the past have allowed Proton to survive through protectionist policies which imposed heavy taxes on foreign car makers. The Malaysian public is sick of such actions and being deprived of buying foreign cars just to protect a poorly managed car company that produces substandard quality cars. The technology partner for the third national car is still unknown and if they were to introduce their first car in 2020 the company needs to be registered and the technology partner formalised. It is takes at least 24 months to develop and assemble a car from ground up. Seeing that the third national car is new it is likely that they will just do some rebadging like what Proton did in 1985!
Building a car from ground up is incredibly difficult and time consuming. It is not easy feat and to do one that the public will want to buy is a tall order. Even big companies like Toyota try not to introduce completely new models, they evolve a current model and improve it in critical areas and alter the exterior looks and call it a new model. It is rare that a large car company will create a brand new model from ground up unless it can see the business potential.
For one, I am not sure if this third national car will survive or even see the first model launch in 2020. With so little time and insufficient local engineering knowhow it looks like a long shot.
The Government and Dr. Mahathir have been copping a lot of flack lately due to this topic as it appears to be his ego trip once again. He seems adamant to create the third national car since Proton failed and is not under Geely's control. His excuse is that it will create jobs and improve the industrialisation and engineering capability of Malaysia. He is also the one that does not want to admit that Proton is a failure.
The third national car can be introduced but not at the expense of other car makers. Dr. Mahathir in the past have allowed Proton to survive through protectionist policies which imposed heavy taxes on foreign car makers. The Malaysian public is sick of such actions and being deprived of buying foreign cars just to protect a poorly managed car company that produces substandard quality cars. The technology partner for the third national car is still unknown and if they were to introduce their first car in 2020 the company needs to be registered and the technology partner formalised. It is takes at least 24 months to develop and assemble a car from ground up. Seeing that the third national car is new it is likely that they will just do some rebadging like what Proton did in 1985!
Building a car from ground up is incredibly difficult and time consuming. It is not easy feat and to do one that the public will want to buy is a tall order. Even big companies like Toyota try not to introduce completely new models, they evolve a current model and improve it in critical areas and alter the exterior looks and call it a new model. It is rare that a large car company will create a brand new model from ground up unless it can see the business potential.
For one, I am not sure if this third national car will survive or even see the first model launch in 2020. With so little time and insufficient local engineering knowhow it looks like a long shot.
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