Ford to use lasers instead of spark plugs to ignite and burn fuel | Hacker News Reader

Ford to use lasers instead of spark plugs to ignite and burn fuel

carthusiast.com

27 pointsmixmax12 comments

Cool idea. Downside: one more routine maintenance task that can no longer reasonably be performed by your average car owner.

One more routine maintenance task that no longer needs performing, it sounds like, which would be an upside. I skimmed, though.

If you want a vehicle you can maintain yourself, get a bike.

Like the flevoracer (http://members.chello.nl/d.diederik/recumbent/flevoracer/pla...) or a unicycle. They are easy to understand.

I've been thinking about this grand invention for quite a while. Imagine it: a man-powered vehicle like the unicycle, but with two wheels. I think I'll call it a double-unicycle, but it's not quite as catchy as I want it to be. I'm still stuck on how to transport the kinetic energy of the pedals to both wheels, though - I'm thinking some sort of double chain system, where the pedals drive both unicycles. Seat placement could, perhaps, be problematic as well...

Why add redundancy to an elegant design?

Or any of the millions of old, used and classic cars available almost anywhere, typically for not a lot of money.

...I'd love to ride a bike to work, but I don't think the company would appreciate it if I showed up a day late for work every day...

Nonsense, working on a modern vehicle requires specialized tools (in some cases), a computer (in many cases) and patience. If you enjoy working on cars, then you get whatever you need to get the job done. If you don't, then you just complain about how expensive it is to take your car to the shop.

I may take downvotes for this... but was that even written by an English speaker?

The article has an odd cadence to it, doesn't it?

The actual story is much better:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/5803066/Cars-to-be-...

I wonder if the summary was created automatically.

I wonder if this will be better than Pulstar, probably. (http://www.pulstar.com/)

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