bus lane, hybrid bus.

http://gttavisions.blogspot.com/2007/05/bus-only-lane-pitched-for-dvp-toronto.html

"It could take a few years, but Toronto is looking at making transit-friendly changes to one of Canada's busiest roads, including a bus-only lane to unplug the congested expressway.

There's no room to expand, but officials want to squeeze buses onto the centre median lane to let transit users zip ahead of car drivers in the regular lanes.

The concept, already used in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Ottawa, would help GO Transit buses draw more passengers out of their cars, said managing director Gary McNeil."

D: Toronto had high hopes for hybrid buses. But they are not much more efficient for long steady driving.

http://www.e-traction.com/buses.htm
D: this is a nifty setup. It uses an all-electric at the wheel.
It is powered by a small steady generator that recharges the battery banks.

volt, rx8 are everything wrong with next-gen cars

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/07/22/volt-gm.html
D: This will be full sedan size. But as an electric, it really is only of use for short in-city commutes.
It is also very expensive.

http://media.ford.com/mazda/article_display.cfm?article_id=17134&make_id=227
The Mazda RX8/hydrogen also has a very limited range with hydrogen.
Its Renesis engine is promising. Sadly, they built a large version for sports cars/SUVs.
Placing a miniature version in a compact would have made sense.
The H2 doesn't have the range for anything but city car apps.

The future apparently involves a painless, if expensive, 'biz as usual' model.
Full sized cars that would feel at home in pre-oil crisis 1970s America.

The Renesis is particularly important since it is compact and light - appropriate to mount mid-body, which is useful for a quasi-trike layout (see yesterday).

There IS a proof-of-concept cyro/high-pressure H2 tank.
https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/news_releases/2008/NR-08-06-02.html
D: but keep in mind the Trishield 5000psi costs $5000.
I am curious what the price could be with proper economies of scale.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5325/is_200202/ai_n21308637

D: note that a H2 tank able to handle long road trips necessarily will occupy the entire trunk or back seat. Allowing for cargo and luggage, what I'm saying is it cannot be a 4-5 adult passenger system in any practical fashion. Sorry. I'd like H2 to be a silver bullet as much as the next guy, but the facts just don't add up to that.

I kept running into know-it-alls that read a single book on the subject - "The Hydrogen Economy".
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrogen-Economy-Jeremy-Rifkin/dp/1585422541/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216742979&sr=8-1
They all proved hopelessly naive.
They didn't consider that without onboard O2 (impractical- see the size of that tank!!!), a H2 combustion engine still produces 1/3 the Nox.
The VOLUME required to store H2 was lost on them.
The off-gassing of H2 if cryo was also.
The losses, from feedstock to H2 gas to cryo gas (or even single OR dual stage compressor for gas) are staggering!
Combined with the 'box on wheels' able to hold 5 adults exemplified by the Volt and RX8, this would be disaster. It would simply consume all remaining coal very fast.
Without next-gen clean coal, it is bad on every count.
Aside: since India, China AND the USA are all building relatively old-school coal plants which are not cheap or effectively upgraded to clean coal tech (with 90% co2 retention), the CO2 cap is already lost. I'm just extrapolating a world with 18% o2/ 1000pm CO2 when the dust settles.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/26/MNGKVBHHQ51.DTL
The USA wants to help China clean up its act? Physician, heal thyself!
http://www.saskpower.com/cleancoal/index.html
D: since USA generates 50% of its energy from coal, and H2 and electricity will both likely be derived from coal, where ever coal plants go, so too all the 'clean' energy storage methods.
Then.... we plop it in a big vehicle design.

teardrop shaped cars for lower drag.

D: this is post WWII car that used a 10hp moped motor initially.
The rear axle is recessed. This
1) saves much weight
2) improves drag profile
3) means no differential drive is needed.
I'd like to see this updated. Every now and then, a 3-wheeled car comes out.
See the Trimagnum for example. 3 wheels are not quite as stable.
It also requires carefully designing the car to keep the mass low and between the tires.
We've all seen the Prius drag profile. That is about as good as it gets- if we are trapped with the 'box on wheels' design. It cannot taper horizontally at the rear.
Aside: many cars that look low drag are not. Without a big spoiler, the rear window on most sedans ends laminar flow and has the eddies/vortex of turbulence.
Ideally, the rear cross section before turbulence should be 1/2 the front.
I propose:
1) we switch from box on wheels. i.e. 2 bucket seats front/ 3 on sofa rear.
2) at first, we switch to 2 and 2.
3) then 2 and 1/ or 2 kids.
I would also like to see:
1) electric motors mounted on the front wheels. For regenerative braking.
2) an axle rear mounted engine. BUT place the whole narrow rear axle on a pivot.
The result? The ability to move SIDEWAYS for parallel parking.
As well as very narrow turn radius.
The Isetta-style rear axle allows the wheels to pass under the rear passenger seats.

I thought this would work for highway commutes.
For in the city, a Vive-style profile is adequate. Or SmartCar.

The 3-wheeler died when Buckminster's 3 wheeler crashed and caused a fatality.
People are irrationally afraid of it in the same way the Hindenberg crash scared them of hydrogen.
Perhaps we can use a 'boiled frog' approach to sneak it up on them though...

city plan 2.0

http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB3/index.htm

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/redesigning_urb.php

D: "(PARIS) The first step was to invest in better transit in outlying regions to ensure that everyone in the greater Paris area had access to high-quality public transit. The next step was to create express lanes on main thoroughfares for buses and bicycles, thus reducing the number of lanes for cars. The third step was to establish a city bicycle rental program"
D: it looks like a zero-sum game.
But every person who finds reforms make public transit or cycling viable are off the road.

"The cars-only model is being challenged by the "National Complete Streets Coalition", an assemblage of citizen groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, AARP (an organization of 38 million older Americans), and local and national cycling organizations. This coalition has aggressively lobbied for "complete streets" policies"
D: COMPLETE STREETS. A handy slogan to rally around.

D: the cost of 'free parking' to society is enormous.

http://completestreets.org/

http://www.walkable.org/library.htm
D: this is terrific, for cyclists too.
(pic)