I'm no chemist or engineer.
I have never studied those fields.
So I can't comment (well, I could, but it wouldn't be worth much) on whether:
high efficiency low CC gasoline engine,
or hydrogen,
or fuel cell,
or solar,
or electric,
or steam,
or methane/manure
-powered vehicles would be most likely to replace our existing gas guzzling personal transportation vehicle system.
I'm more of a people person. So I think in terms of people-centric solutions to problems.
Sure, we could get people to drive less, or to use public transportation.
But those are hard sells, IMHO. Here's a potential solution that might not be. And the technology exists, today...
Many highways now have HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes.
Got two or more people in your car? Use a less-travelled lane, usually the leftmost lane in a limited access highway of at least three lanes in each direction.
Cheat on it, get caught, and you pay a hefty fine.
Why not have HEV (high efficiency vehicle) lanes?
If your car has an efficiency rating of X or greater
(which could be calculated so as to be fair to any vehicle, based on its ratio of pollution per mile, I'll let you scientific types figure this out)...
You can drive in the lightly travelled and morally superior HEV lane!
So what?
Well, a big issue for many high efficiency/low pollution vehicles appears to be performance (whether due to mechanical limitations such as teensy internal combustion engines or the increased draw on batteries that fast acceleration requires).
I've heard, even said myself, "Drive one of those? It's way underpowered. Okay for in town maybe, but it can't get out of its own way on the highway."
And here I quote razajac's comment from Inky99's great and recommended diary on Jack Nicholson's 1978 Hydrogen-powered car:
I thought it was interesting that the video didn't show Nicholson on an on-ramp merging into traffic; just puttering about in a vacant lot.
Even if generation weren't a big issue, I believe it's going to be very difficult to achieve a 100% hydrogen or electric car that can effectively and dependably compete in acceleration with traditional gas-powered vehicles.
Part of the problem is the (in some ways) reasonable assumption that new vehicular power technologies have to "ramp up" in acceptance, and part of city driving heuristic involves performance homogeneity; an assumption that other vehicles with which you share the road can be expected to perform like yours. People can't and won't augment their snap decision-making to include varied expectations of the performance of different kinds of cars.
Of course, perhaps even more important is the fact that if there's an understanding that acceleration will be lower than a gas-guzzler, most Americans will just say, "(Bleep)* that, Jack...!" They're addicted to that acceleration.
*Expletive Deleted by This Diarist
An HEV lane placed at the end of onramps would alleviate the merging issues for HEV vehicles which may not have blinding acceleration, or whose drivers might chose to drive more conservatively to improve mileage.
Drivers of NHEV -- non-high-efficiency vehicles -- would have a clearly marked half a mile or so to merge right, where they could drive whatever they want, at whatever speed or acceleration they could manage or get away with.
Those who chose economy or environment over acceleration would be rewarded for their choice.
Just as the automobile companies who produce HEV vehicles should be.
Am I nuts to think that this might help, at relatively low infrastructure cost (some paint for the roadway, and a few new signs)?
Please tell me why it wouldn't.
I'm all ears (or eyes, on the comment screen)...