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New Merc B Class Hydrogen cars caught on camera

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    #2
    auerillo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 341 ✭✭auerillo


    Isn't it funny that, for a left hand drive car with german numberplates, on the bonnet "zero emissions" is written in English?


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    #3
    probe
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,055 ✭✭✭probe


    auerillo wrote: »
    Isn't it funny that, for a left hand drive car with german numberplates, on the bonnet "zero emissions" is written in English?

    An interesting observation on the cultural gulf between the Continent and the English speaking world!

    Go to any car show - Frankfurt, Geneva, Paris etc - and all the car markings are generally in English.

    If they used the German language, most Brits, Americans, and other Anglo Saxons wouldn't have a clue what they are talking about. Because they are so linguistically insular and inhibited. Whereas I suspect 95%+ of continental Europeans know what "zero emissions" and similar phrases mean.

    As for left hand drive, that is the norm on the planet. I suspect a right hand drive version of these cars won't be available for some years. Most people are right-handed, and most controls in a car are in the centre console area. So the left is the correct location for the driver to sit. Right hand drive cars look and are badly designed from a functional and human engineering perspective.

    All Merc media/display cars have Stuttgart plates. All BMWs have Munich plates. VWs have Wolfsburg plates etc.

    http://www.kfz-auskunft.de/autokennzeichen/autokennzeichen.html

    The only exception being British car mags, where a non-EU British number plate is culturally required in that marketplace.


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    #4
    auerillo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 341 ✭✭auerillo


    i didn;t realise these were publicity shots of the car, and from the thread title "caught on camera", (and that you said that you had put them in the public domain, which suggested that they were candid pictures not wanting to be released by the manufacturer), I thought it unusual for them to have "ZERO EMISSIONS" on the bonnet if ther were secret photos.


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    #5
    djpbarry
    Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    probe wrote: »
    If they used the German language, most Brits, Americans, and other Anglo Saxons wouldn't have a clue what they are talking about. Because they are so linguistically insular and inhibited.
    It was quite possible to make your point without such a sweeping statement. Less of the inflammatory generalisations please – they have no place on this forum.


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    #6
    probe
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,055 ✭✭✭probe


    auerillo wrote: »
    i didn;t realise these were publicity shots of the car, and from the thread title "caught on camera", (and that you said that you had put them in the public domain, which suggested that they were candid pictures not wanting to be released by the manufacturer), I thought it unusual for them to have "ZERO EMISSIONS" on the bonnet if ther were secret photos.

    They are not publicity shots. I took them with my own camera and I have nothing to do with the car manufacturer in question. When you put cars like this out and about, everyone who walks by virtually takes a picture of them - using cameraphones, whatever they have.

    The only reason I put them here was to show the progress being made by big name manufacturers in hydrogen/fuel cells. Frankly they are a little behind the times with the Smart car - one would have expected a plug in Smart perhaps a year or two ago. I put them in the public domain so that people would feel free to use them in other media if they had the inclination and opportunity to spread the word, so to speak.


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    #7
    probe
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,055 ✭✭✭probe


    djpbarry wrote: »
    It was quite possible to make your point without such a sweeping statement. Less of the inflammatory generalisations please – they have no place on this forum.

    There is nothing inflammatory about the statement. If you want scientific proof, go ask 1,000 people in the streets of any British, American, or even Irish city what "Null-Emissionen-Fahrzeug" means? I suspect only a few per cent of those asked would know.

    Try the same test with "Zero emissions vehicle" in France, Germany, Italy, etc and there will be a very high level of comprehension.

    It is not a sweeping generalisation, I was trying to explain why the text was in English to answer someone's observation.


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    #8
    djpbarry
    Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    probe wrote: »
    There is nothing inflammatory about the statement.
    Yes there is. You referred to "Brits, Americans, and other Anglo Saxons" as "linguistically insular and inhibited"; an inflammatory, sweeping statement that has no place on this forum. End of.


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    #9
    probe
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,055 ✭✭✭probe


    djpbarry wrote: »
    Yes there is. You referred to "Brits, Americans, and other Anglo Saxons" as "linguistically insular and inhibited"; an inflammatory, sweeping statement that has no place on this forum. End of.

    This topic is about "New Merc B Class Hydrogen cars caught on camera" - not about the linguistic abilities or otherwise of Anglo Saxons.

    Have you received a complaint from an Anglo Saxon about my remark, for you to engage in this intervention? I didn't post these pictures (which haven't appeared in any publication or website up to yesterday when I posted them) to ramble into side-track issues. I simply answered somebody's question.

    In my experience most Anglo Saxons have no hang ups about their linguistic abilities - most of them are very straight forward and to the point. Those that can speak multiple languages will be aware of the issue and will not take any offense. Those that can't speak other languages have no inhibitions about "enforcing" the English language on those they interact with.


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    #10
    robtri
    Registered Users Posts: 5,473 ✭✭✭robtri


    nice motor....

    I am not sure but isn't hydrogen production very Un-Green.... i thought i remembered somewhere that the pollution caused in manufacturing vast quatities of hydrogen out weigh the benifits of having a hydrogen powered car....


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    #11
    djpbarry
    Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    probe wrote: »
    This topic is about "New Merc B Class Hydrogen cars caught on camera" - not about the linguistic abilities or otherwise of Anglo Saxons.
    Indeed, so drop it.


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    #12
    jawlie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 384 ✭✭jawlie


    Why do some mods ruin threads with trivia? Is it not possible for a mod to rebuke someone is a private message rather than interrupting, and consequently ruining, a thread?


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    #13
    djpbarry
    Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    jawlie wrote: »
    Why do some mods ruin threads with trivia?
    Why do some posters insist on questioning moderation in-thread?

    Back on-topic now please.


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    #14
    jawlie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 384 ✭✭jawlie


    djpbarry wrote: »
    Why do some posters insist on questioning moderation in-thread?

    Back on-topic now please.

    I can't answer for some posters, but can answer for myself, and will answer your question as soon as you've answered mine. :D


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    #15
    robtri
    Registered Users Posts: 5,473 ✭✭✭robtri


    yes back on topic, has anybody got any views on the production of the hydrogen?


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    #16
    auerillo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 341 ✭✭auerillo


    robtri wrote: »
    yes back on topic, has anybody got any views on the production of the hydrogen?

    what do you think of them?


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    #17
    robtri
    Registered Users Posts: 5,473 ✭✭✭robtri


    I am in two minds about them...
    I like the idea of zero emmisons at the car, but production of hydrogen in large scale IIRC is fossil fuled based, so its just moving the issue from the car to another point, which to me seems worthless and not very good.

    Yes I am aware that there are ways to produce hydrogen without fossil fuels, but I am not aware of it being in a large capacity form yet....


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    #18
    auerillo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 341 ✭✭auerillo


    robtri wrote: »
    I am in two minds about them...
    I like the idea of zero emmisons at the car, but production of hydrogen in large scale IIRC is fossil fuled based, so its just moving the issue from the car to another point, which to me seems worthless and not very good.

    Which sounds a little like electric cars. Another poster says that "...The generation of electric energy is not very efficient in Ireland (about 40% plus transmission loss brings it down to near 30% - so for every unit you use, it has taken 3 units to produce), which makes electric cars seem even less attractive.


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    #19
    robtri
    Registered Users Posts: 5,473 ✭✭✭robtri


    absolutely, I am not sold on EV cars either for the same reason...

    the concept behind both products, hydrogen and electric is sound but the practicallity of either is not good.


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