Robert Llewellyn is quite a character and started a Utube based, broadcast from his Prius. An advocate of photocells and electric vehicles, his podcasts are well worth watching: Source: PodCruncher iPhone app. In this first one, he reports doing 36,000 miles in his Nissan Leaf of which 8,000 miles was from his home, PVC array. Bob Wilson
Ok. I usually watch his videos on Youtube. This is one that I link to when someone brings up hybrid BS.
I'm intrigued you know of him your side of the pond. I used to enjoy watching his little youtube videos. Shame he stopped for a while, just when things started hotting up. I'm amazed no network has bought the rights to these little blogs. Sure they're a bit amateurish, but they'd fill a little time between breaks. He's still on Youtube too. I'd love to see his review of the RHD BMW i3. And he's also sponsored by my electric company; Ecotricity - the green energy company, supplier and generator of eco electricity and gas They're only small, but they practice what they preach!
Robert Llewellyn aka Kryten of Red Dwarf! "I always tell the truth." VIDEO: NEWEST ROBERT LLEWELLEN VIDEO (as Kryten). His Car show is also semi-funny. I love watching it .
(puts on engineering cap).. So why does this EV/diesel car cost 90,000 euros when the unlimited-range Volt EV only costs ~25,000? Perhaps the high expense is caused by an aluminum body and various magnesium parts? I'd like to see this car produced using steel & iron to make the cost equal the Volt. Even if it only got 200mpg, that's still impressive .
I was interrupted before watching the car review, the VW diesel hybrid xl1. Now I've read some of the descriptions but didn't realize it was more like a first generation Honda Insight than anything else. The offset, side-by-side seating was very evident. More of a hobby vehicle than a practical solution, it is a good thing they are only making 200 of them. Bob Wilson
Looks like a perfect commuter car to me. This morning I noticed every car that passed me had an empty rear seat, so Leave that car at home & use this 2-seat commuter car instead. 240 mpg saves a lot of fuel/emissions/pollution.
Troy I think you forgot the price of the car, which you pointed out in the previous post. Part of the high cost is the carbon fiber body, part of it is the low volume. This really is an engineering marvel with tech that can trickle to the rest of vw's offerings. But the VW group has added porsche and porsche has a better engineering prototype the 918, which actually is profitable at its limited production of 918 units. Porsche ofcourse is pushing a very efficient gasoline engine in its offering. The vw prototype pushes low drag and low rolling resistance further than porsche, but its phev and carbon fiber tech is less sophisitcated. The first consumer fruits of this trickle down will be the golf phev, which will be much more affordable than the xl1, but I doubt competes well with the volt. First drive of the Volkswagen Golf Plug-in Hybrid - Autoweek We should know more when pricing and availability comes out. The bmw i3 keeps the expensive carbon fiber, and goes with a tiny engine like the xl1, but is not in an aerodynamic package.
