[Graham]

There is a magnificent opportunity for China to lead the world away from its dependence on oil and the pollution problems caused by fuel burning vehicles.
The answer is to utilise the current development of steam technology that is tried, tested and installed, in available production cars.
The Pritchard Steam engine is the answer - it is a proven design with far fewer parts than any internal combustion engine and provides better performance at lower cost and negligible pollution.
For anyone interested go to the web page ---.pritchardpower.com
This is an opportunity that China is in a position to capitalise on and, one they really can't afford to miss.

 

[Admin]

There is a magnificent opportunity for China to lead the world away from its dependence on oil and the pollution problems caused by fuel burning vehicles.
The answer is to utilise the current development of steam technology that is tried, tested and installed, in available production cars.
The Pritchard Steam engine is the answer - it is a proven design with far fewer parts than any internal combustion engine and provides better performance at lower cost and negligible pollution.
For anyone interested go to the web page ---.pritchardpower.com
This is an opportunity that China is in a position to capitalise on and, one they really can't afford to miss.

I'd say Electric or steam, but i really never heard of steam

 

[Vitesse]

Steam cars actually pre-date gasoline cars.

In 1769 a Frenchman named Josef Cugnot developed what is considered to be the world's first "car" - a three-wheeled steam tractor with an enormous boiler hanging out in front of the solitary front wheel.

In the 19th century there were steam "road trains," traction engines, buses, and a few cars prior to the advent of the gasoline-powered and electric-powered car.

In 1896, a Frenchman named Leon Serpollet invented and perfected the flash boiler, which made steam a much more practical source of power for an automobile. Though Serpollet was not a major figure after this, he did produce his own automobiles under the name Serpollet and Gardner-Serpollet until his death in 1907.

From 1896 until the mid-1920's there were many steam-powered makes, including the most famous - Locomobile and Stanley Steamer in the United States.

But the Steam car became impractical as petrol-powered cars became more precise and more reliable. To light and stoke a fire to keep the steam up was neither safe nor practical in light of the simpler operation of petrol cars, so most of the Steamers gradually faded away.

But there was one last gasp for the Steam car - the mighty Doble.

Considered by many to be the fastest, most stylish, and most practical steam car ever made - Abner Doble's car could rival the Duesenberg or the Bentley 8-liter for speed and power - and price and opulence.

For those who were still interested, it was the final production steam car - though it was essentially a hand-built machine for the rich. The Doble was felled by a decline in interest and by the Great Depression, which claimed almost all of the boutique producers in the US - including much larger companies like Pierce-Arrow, Duesenberg, DuPont, and Stutz.

 

[Windy]

I saw a steam car on the road a few months ago - fantastic vehicle but not exactly modern technology.

Now how about a modern 300 bhp steam car running on LPG capable of over 200mph?

http://www.steamcar.co.uk/Design/index.htm

 

[fightingtorque]

I think that's a project for next winter......

 

[ash]

i think the main contentration in the auto industry is upgrading electric/hybrid cars and developing hydrogen cars

never heard of steam cars

 

[dragin]

Steam cart

If I might add a bit of trivia.....
The first character of the word that the Chinese chose to use for
car 汽车 (qi2che1) is steam. The second character is cart or wagon.

 

[Graham]

If you check out the webpage of ---.pritchardpower.com you will find all the information about a modern, instant starting steam engine that has been fitted to a standard production model Ford Falcon. Steam technology is here, it is available, it just needs someone to seize the opportunity and throw out a challenge to the petrol engine.
Steam is 'old' - it was big - it did take a long time to fire up - but the new steam engine has taken advantage of all the advances in technology and is now a totally viable alternative.
Graham

 

[Windy]

If I might add a bit of trivia.....
The first character of the word that the Chinese chose to use for
car 汽车 (qi2che1) is steam. The second character is cart or wagon.

But I think that character can also be translated as "gas" - the word the USA use for petrol?

 

[Jackk]

I think that although the idea of developing steam cars may be a good one from a scientific point of view, Chinese car manufacturers should stick to Diesel, LPG, Etanol and gasoline because they don't have the financial strength necessary to change the world's perceptions at the moment.

Think Dell, spend less on futuristic research, more on production improvements.

 

[Hudson]

Vitesse:

Nice brief history of steam cars. Major US-based steam vehicle makers were White, Stanley, and Doble. Land speed records in the early days of the automobile were held by steam cars. There is significant history in this area, and GM was working on the idea of a steam car (using Doble patents) as late as the late 1960s.

There is a magnificent opportunity for China to lead the world away from its dependence on oil and the pollution problems caused by fuel burning vehicles.

In order to do this, there would have to be an infratructure of non-petroleum-based fuels for steam vehicles. Steam vehicles still burn something (coal, gasoline, LPG, hydrogen, almost anything that burns) so they still pollute (less than an internal combustion engine, though). It's not as clean as say electric vehicles charged with power supplied by nuclear power plants or solar/wind energy.

 

[WuzhengNA]

Somebody, think this thru....

Something must create the steam. Use gas, and you have a less efficient total system that still polutes.

Diesel, same.

Use Propane to make the steam to run the car? Why not just use propane powered engines to reduce emissions, skip the steam step (which would deliver fewer advantages than than just burning propane in an I.C.E.). So just burn Propane in an engine - all the advantages, less chance of explosive scalding.

Oh. Wait. That has been done already.

This is NGH technology - Never Gonna Happen

 

[BringIt]

It's way more efficient to "burn" fossil fuel than to "explode" it in ICE's. So technically steam engines could be more fuel efficient.

But once you factor in all the complexities, and all the water you gotta carry, then there goes all the efficiency...

 

[m14]

Somebody, think this thru....

Something must create the steam. Use gas, and you have a less efficient total system that still polutes.

Diesel, same.

Use Propane to make the steam to run the car? Why not just use propane powered engines to reduce emissions, skip the steam step (which would deliver fewer advantages than than just burning propane in an I.C.E.). So just burn Propane in an engine - all the advantages, less chance of explosive scalding.

Oh. Wait. That has been done already.

This is NGH technology - Never Gonna Happen

LOL NGH!!

 

[Dr.Al]

Evolution

First came the horse, then carriage, then horse-less carriage (automobile); this was the evolutionary design lineage until cars no longer looked like- nor were compared to- carriages. Ergo, if there is a valid reason to break with tradition (in order to meet market demands), a design will survive as the next evolutionary link...as long as it's not too radical a change and matches the buyer's lifestyle.