Biggest automotive advance this decade?

enda1

JHMEG wrote: »

In fairness there were no major advances in hybrids this decade. The bulk of the work was done in the 90s (Prius came to market in 1997, Insight in 1999) and has been just refined since then.

The performance increase of a diesel engine through changing valve technology and injection is called a breakthrough, whereas the mass commercialisation uptake by every OEM, vast improvements in battery technology, controller technology, CVT, etc. etc. are just refinement...

I hope those blinkers fit well :P

JHMEG

enda1 wrote: »

The performance increase of a diesel engine through changing valve technology and injection is called a breakthrough, whereas the mass commercialisation uptake by every OEM, vast improvements in battery technology, controller technology, CVT, etc. etc. are just refinement...

I hope those blinkers fit well :P

Eh, I believe I'm the only hybrid owner who posts here. My 04 Civic IMA has the same NiMH battery tech and same electric motor that the original Insight had (a lot of parts are actually shared), and the same applies to the Prius I vs Prius III. CVT, which isn't just limited to hybrids, hasn't changed.

As for every OEM. There are still only two systems broadly in use: Toyota's and Honda's, just like in the 90s.

alias no.9

enda1 wrote: »

Re: Diesel - the question was about Automotive breakthroughs, not marine so my answer was in relation to automotive. The advances in diesel technology are just a last grasp rise before a sudden fall I feel. Their efficiencies are realistically maxing out with the particulate problems not being solved even with the new DPF tech. and cost of the engines and mass of them being hindering. Their narrower rev range and higher torque insists on bigger clutches and more gears (read cost/weight). Diesel is very popular also because it is a fuel which is unfairly taxed in relation to petrol - this will change as the environmental impact of it is truly evaluated and costed.

I said hybrid was a hint to the future of automotive. It shows the moving away from tradition IC engines to energy storage/reclamation and electric drives.

Small cars will be pure electric and the larger the car, the more they will tend towards hydrogen. In the mid range we will see hybrid cars for the mid-future eventually though all fossil fuels will be eliminated from automotive - including and especially road haulage (as these vehicles will be most suitable for hydrogen vehicles as space and mass are less an issue).

Hydrogen is not a fuel source, mearly a means of storing energy analagous to a battery. In it's most common state, as a component of water, hydrogen contains no usable energy for propulsion. Using large amounts of energy, usually in the form of electricity, the hydrogen and oxygen from water can be seperated. This makes it useful as for energy storage in a form that can easily be transferred from one container to another (a pump to a fuel tank).
If you're going to use hydrogen in an internal combustion engine, you lose a huge proportion of the energy as heat and noise. That's not very efficient, taking electrical energy, converting that to hydrogen and then converting a fraction of that into propulsion.
The alternative is to use hydrogen powered fuel cells, much more efficient changing the energy stored in the hydrogen back into electricity, to power motors instead of an IC engine. However, it's not the only fuel that could power a fuel cell, alcohols would be much safer but would require the development of synthetic alcohols for scale and also because captured CO2 would be an input to the process.
The thing about fuel cells is that they will always be in direct competition with batteries. They have the advantage of quick refueling but an exchangable battery could offer the same benefits. If electric vehicles become the norm, then it's a fight between batteries and fuel cells to power them, if it's fuel cells then it's a fight between hydrogen and alcohol based fuel cells.
If the internal combustion engine is to survive, then they will not be powered by hydrogen because it just doesn't make any sense due to the needing to use electricity to create hydrogen, just use an electric motor. The alternatives are biofules, which have many environmental negatives, or back to synthetic alcohols again which could fill the gap for a while but in reality the internal combustion engine will go the way of the steam engine.
So hydrogen powered vehicles are far from a foregone conclusion to our future motoring needs.

Tragedy

Safety. Improvements in engines are great, but they haven't come as far as improvements in safety.

DanThe

Great Poll!
I went with active safety, DSC or ESP or whatever it is called - Stability control.

I personally would put it up there with ABS and airbags in how it has moved safety on.
what can be safer than preventing an accident in the first place?

If you watch the bosch videos ( youtube esp bosch) or experience it in an emergency situation, you will know how good it is, especially for average drivers. The only problem is in some cars it can cut in too early, could get very annoying.

Passive saftey has improved greatly this decade too, and the diesel engine, DSG is pretty nifty too, All in all a good decade for advances, What did the 90's do for us?
I suppose it brought fuel injection, 16 valve heads and ABS to the average car.
Did I miss anything? and what does the next 10 years have in store? any guesses?

PADRAIC.M

you can't forget about lexus vdim system LS model, uses infra red sensors behind headlights to detect- ie. If a person walk's out in front of the car it tries to avoid the person, also has led camera on driver to detect if he starts to fall asleep it slightly pulses the brakes to wake them, also has radar sensors front and rear to detect how close other cars and and prep the safety systems in case of an impact!