Don't forget about the rare earth metals that makes it expensive and rather bad for the environment

I completely understand that I'm comparing apples to oranges here. I just mean that it's surprising how with all the incredible tech advances we have, we're still using the same battery principles that pre-date most civilizations.

Ok, if this is a strictly theoretical discussion and the car maintains the exact same characteristics then weight, range, etc don't come into play. I don't care if it weighs 10,000 pounds as long as everything remains identical. I would chose whichever would be cheaper to operate and maintain. Which of the choices that is I have no clue.

Oh and just because you said not too:

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/...20111206025956

electric, but only after battery tech evolves into something a little more practical as far as weight and distance per charge goes.

Your first comments are a little off base. Semiconductor technology has gotten smaller over time because smaller generally means cheaper and faster. It's just the continuous improvement of the transistor technology.

I'm not sure what you mean by CPUs are limited by silicon, and I design CPUs for a living.

The problem with supercaps and batteries is that they simply don't have the energy density of gasoline.

Gasoline: 44MJ/kg
Li battery: 1.8MJ/kg
Super cap: 0.018 MJ/kg

The numbers above are from Wiki, so they may not be gospel, but you get the idea.

If you want to be able to drive your car even moderate distances, you'll need a huge ass battery.

If somebody could come up with a usable battery that is 4x more capable than today Li-ion batteries he would be a gajillionaire overnight.

There has only been incremental improvement in battery energy density over the last several decades.

One thing I like about driving my car is the feel and sound of pistons thumping inside that engine block which you can never get from electric or hydrogen power plants. So, I will always prefer gas engine.

But, that being said, we built Formula SAE electric car when I was in univ and that thing was a rocket....sooo much torque!!! But power source was an issue as you can only run the car for so much before its out of juice. So, if in the neat future, we can figure out better power source, I may consider electric power plant....maybe a small nuclear reactor...lol!!

^^^ was planning on adding to the conversation but no need. This is pretty much it.

They would need to turn that into a real figure for someone like that. It'll happen at some point, I'm positive of it. We're on the cusp of nanotech anyway.

That's what pissed me off about Iron Man/Tony Stark... Dude made a fusion arc reactor that could fit in your pocket, and instead of propelling the world into a new age of clean energy, he simply uses it to power his toys so he can more efficiently bash people's skulls in.

Ahh yeah don't quote me I'm still just a student. I'm image processing intern at an engineering firm where I'm learning how to parallel program. I took a short course to learn more about Cuda and parallel programming and they mentioned that CPU's have been getting smaller and faster but it recently plateau'd since they were getting too hot for the silicon.

If I'm wrong feel free to correct me. Main reason why I made this thread was cause I just wanna learn :thumbup:

Electrically Supercharged!

Added cost - ~$2k
Added weight - None
Added power - lots
Added torque - OMG
Improved fuel economy - who cares!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tu...w2200-h1238-no

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C83mb-BI8ZM"] 1 [/ame]

Don't sweat it, everyone needs to learn.

The issue that they were trying to highlight is that they are exceeding the thermal budget for the intended application. It's not an inherent limitation of the silicon. If you have enough money to provide the required cooling, the silicon will run very, very fast. The problem is most people aren't willing to pay for that extra performance.

Like every other engineering problem, it's a trade-off.

Getting back on topic, just like electric cars. Yes, you can power them with batteries or caps, but just don't expect to go very far. Or very fast for very long.

The most efficient options are things like the i8 or Porsche 918. A gasoline power plant that can run at maximum efficiency which provides power to an electrical engine. You can use caps/batteries to store energy and act as a buffer or power smoother so that the gasoline engine runs efficiently.