Category: Vehicles

This is a Report we want to provide our friends in the industry who require hybrid engines. As requested, we are providing you a description of how a hybrid engine for vehicles works that may be beneficial to your business and daily needs.

New models of the hybrid engine are in the market as introduced by various car manufacturers. How hybrid works fascinates car makers and enthusiasts as well.

Ford has fitted a hybrid engine in Escape and four more models will hit the market in the next few years. Likewise, General Motors (GM) and Daimler Chrysler are also working together to develop an even more efficient technology. They have one now to be introduced to the market. BMW is also in on this collaborative venture. Audi is working flat out on a hybrid engine for its new Q7 SUV, and even Porsche is considering the option of a hybrid solution for its Cayenne SUV. (Gottschalk and Kalmbach 125)

Why hybrid?

Before this hybrid engine is started, there was concept development and research into alternative technologies. There is a clear direction for the program and technology to build the hybrid engine.

A hybrid engine works differently from an ordinary engine. The hybrid system is the car industry’s answer to the environmental problem – climate change and global warming due to excessive coal gas emissions and the use of fossil fuel of industries.

Hybrid means a mix, amalgam, or crossbreed of two different things. Hybrid engines mate two different power technologies into an integrated powerplant. This means hybrids incorporate a high-efficiency gasoline engine and some type of electric drive to boost performance and reduce dependence on the gasoline engine. A sophisticated electronic controller is used to determine which of three options will power the vehicle:

1. the gasoline or diesel engine
2. the batteries
3. both the engine and batteries

The electronic system or controller does the trick.

A hybrid has an engine that runs on oil, and can also shift into the battery. There are numerous problems in building this hybrid car because usually, the problem lies in the battery. The battery driving the motor portion of the hybrid is a continual problem. A key requirement is to make the battery as small as possible so that the car would not be viewed as a “battery carrier,” yet still have the power needed to meet the target of doubling the fuel efficiency of the car.

In short, the battery has to be made smaller, about one-tenth the size of an electric vehicle battery. The problem here is that the battery is very sensitive to heat conditions and would shut down on hot days. Likewise, it also shuts down if the weather is too cold.

A key part of the solution is to put the battery in the trunk, which is the most protected from heat and the easiest to keep cool.

This hybrid system can have a fuel economy consumption of 48 mpg to 55 mpg. Featured in our hybrid system is a small 1-liter gas engine supplemented by an 8-horsepower electric motor mounted between the engine and manual transmission. The vehicle starts on gas power, then adds the electric boost when needed.

A sophisticated battery pack operates the electric motor and recharges while driving. Toyota’s Prius is similar but very different. The Prius utilizes an electric motor to get the vehicle underway, then brings the small gas engine online at roughly eight miles per hour. Recently, several carmakers have introduced sophisticated four-wheel-drive hybrid systems on light trucks and SUVs.

The obvious benefit of hybrid drives is efficiency – lower consumption of fossil fuels.

There are more manufacturers now into hybrid manufacturing because of the many benefits of hybrid cars. More hybrid drive systems are currently in development and headed toward the market as consumers, industry, and government’s focus on alternative fuels and power sources intensifies.

How does a hybrid work?

The types of hybrid are described in how it works. A hybrid is composed of a gasoline engine and an electric motor which both have one purpose – to move the car. When the two works independently to move the car, it is called a parallel hybrid. The two also may work at the same time or may work alternately, to keep the car moving.

A series hybrid is somewhat complicated and works differently. The engine (gas or diesel) is not directly connected to the transmission; instead, it powers a generator that charges the batteries. The batteries power the electric motor which is connected to the transmission. The series hybrid is controlled by a computer monitoring system. (Walker)

“The basic idea is to let the gas engine do what it does well and the battery-driven motor does what it does well, thus recapturing as much as possible the energy generated during driving and braking” (Liker 56).

The gasoline engine has a small displacement. It allows for disabling individual cylinders during specific operational parameters, i.e. cruse speed where less power is needed. This can be accomplished electronically by disabling spark and fuel to specific cylinders with the benefit of increased fuel mileage.

The engine itself charges the battery while running, so that the acquiring and consumption of power becomes reciprocal, meaning it does not stop, or as soon as the engine keeps on running, it keeps on charging the battery. It also has a generator motor and electric motors and its transmission is electronically controlled.

The Austrian Hybrid

Another breakthrough in the hybrid is this one made by an Austrian firm that combines two-stroke crankcase induction with the four-cycle operation. The 4-Mix is the first production four-cycle engine that uses the piston to generate a supercharge effect by pressurizing the crankcase.

The crankcase permits the engine to be operated at any angle, which is an important feature for handheld tools.

This two-stroke engine has a supercharge effect, plus efficient four-stroke scavenging which produces 17 percent more torque than an equivalent two-stroke. It also has power is up 5 percent and a fuel economy of 30 percent, with a rotation speed of 10,000 rpm – the total loss oiling system, combined with Teutonic quality. (Dempsey 12)

As shown in the figure above, this Stihl 4-Mix combines two-stroke crankcase scavenging with a four-stroke operation. The right drawing shows the exhaust valve opens as the piston rises on the exhaust stroke. At the same time, air and fuel enter the crankcase. In the left-hand drawing, the piston has rounded TDC on the intake stroke. The falling piston pressurizes the crankcase, forcing the air-fuel mixture past the open intake valve and into the combustion chamber.

This is a different kind of hybrid engine in that it is different from the hybrid engine system. It is more sophisticated and if it is perfected and introduced in the market, car manufacturers will be surely huddling for the product to be incorporated into their cars.

Conclusion

Hybrid is the technology needed for the century to answer the growing demand for environmentally-friendly cars with low CO2 emissions. This technology minimizes environmental problems.

The goal of hybrid engines is far-reaching than short-term profitability. One benefit we can have is the opening of a mass market for more environmentally-friendly cars. Toyota, a leading car manufacturer, is now selling key components of the hybrid Prius to other manufacturers. It made fundamental innovations in its product development process that are being used for all vehicle development. By this measure, the returns on the project are priceless and the investment is almost trivial. In this 21^st century, we can see more and more hybrid engines being invented and introduced to the market.

There is however a threat to the hybrid. There are more and more technologies being introduced by engineers and car manufacturers which can run a competition against the hybrid. One of these is the so-called ‘Blue Tec’ technology, which has a sophisticated exhaust gas treatment being perfected by Daimler Chrysler. This technology reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by as much as 80 percent, bringing them well below even California’s ultra-strict specifications. Blue-Tec technology depends on the availability of low-sulfur diesel fuels, and requires AdBlue, a urea solution, to be topped up at regular service intervals. This provides serious competition to our hybrid engine on two counts: fuel consumption and environment-friendly properties.

Works Cited

Brand, Paul. How to Repair Your Car. Minneapolis, MI: MBI Publishing Company, 2006.

Dempsey, Paul. Small Gas Engine Repair. United States of America: McGraw Hill Companies, 2008.

Gottschalk, Bern and Ralf Kalmbach. Mastering Automotive Challenges. United Kingdom: Kogan Page Ltd., 2007.

Liker, Jeffrey K. The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles From The World’s Greatest Manufacturer. United States of America: McGraw Hill.

Walker, Michael. Hybrid Engines. 2003-2009. What price? Web.

Introduction

This paper gives an overview of the hybrid designed vehicles that have gained popularity in the US, Europe and Japan due to the environmental concern of conventional vehicles as well as the need for cheaper fuel sourced designs. A brief introduction will be given about the need for hybrid vehicles then the type and workings of a hybrid design will be discussed. Then a discussion of the benefits versus drawbacks will be given providing a feasibility of this type of production and its future in the market. Finally a conclusion will be given to sum-up the paper.

The fuel economy and environment issues have been widely debated worldwide. From these two concepts, cars manufacture invented hybrid vehicles to help save the earth’s environment. Another problem with fuels is the shortage and soaring price of oil. Hybrid cars are vehicles that run on, not only gasoline but a rechargeable battery. These batteries help to reduce fuel emissions because the hybrid engine takes energy from that battery when it is accelerating or braking. Also, hybrid gasoline engines can shut off when the car is fully stopped and run off the electricity gained from the battery so hybrid cars offer better fuel economy and fewer emissions.

Hybrid vehicle

Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a not new concept for cars. In fact, the engineers have designed many of electric cars and HEVs before but they were unable to solve the problems of weak batteries and lack of control. Moreover, the cheap price of petrol put the electric and hybrid cars into the background until recent years. Nowadays, decreasing of oil resources and rising of environment concerns have pushed them to think again about it, and thus hybrid cars are now being manufactured.

The International Engineering Consortium, the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the California Air Resources Board all agree that “a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle with two or more energy storage systems, both of which must provide propulsion power.” (OEERE, 2009)

A hybrid vehicle, as its name implies, is any vehicle that uses two or more sources of power to help run the car. Currently, the hybrid versions of these vehicles run on two primary sources which are electricity (from batteries) and mechanical power (combustion engine). This means that these vehicles can charge themselves and can also work on gas consuming lesser amount of energy and thus giving off very low emissions of toxic fumes. With a mileage of more than 30 miles per gallon, its consumption exceeds the performance that of a gasoline powered car. And the best thing about them is that they don’t need to be plugged in for recharging as charging is done through the kinetic energy reclamation when brakes are applied. (OEERE, 2009)

Hybrid vehicle type

As mentioned above, hybrid designs of these vehicles make them very viable for sustainable consumption of energy. However, this consumption is dependent on the actual design on the hybrid car which comes in ether a ‘parallel’ or a ‘series’ design. “A parallel hybrid design has two independent power plants – an electrical motor and an internal combustion engine both of which can act on the transmission at the same time” (Hybrid Car Chat, 2009). The important thing from the perspective of fuel consumption is that the power from both these sources combine to drive the car, however, it can be manually adjusted to drive only on one source rather than both at a time. (Hybrid Car Chat, 2009)

The hybrid ‘series’ design on the other hand uses the internal combustion engine to provide power to a generator which then charges the car’s batteries and drives the car. “The gasoline engine does not directly drive the transmission or wheels in a hybrid ‘series’ design and the transmission may have only a single gear” (Hybrid Car Chat, 2009). In certain designs, each wheel has its own electric drive motor, and some hybrid designs may eliminate the transmission altogether. The conversion from one power source to another inside the car is seamless and even the most experienced of drivers find it difficult to identify which source of power is active at a certain time. A challenge that most hybrid car drivers face due to this is that they cannot exactly follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for time of oil changes and maintenance intervals since the recommendations for both power sources are different. To help drivers to maximize the efficiency of the car, hybrid design manufacturers have designed special gauges which make the drivers aware about the vehicle’s emissions. (Hybrid Car Chat, 2009)

The advantages of HEVs

Hybrid cars, as mentioned before, have two motors, electric and gas motor. These give the HEV’s more benefits; specifically, electric motor will not use any energy while the car is inactive, and will spend less energy at low speeds than normal cars. Furthermore, gas motor provides more power at high speeds especially for acceleration. In other words, while the car moves and stops, the electric motor will turns on and is more convenient for environment. Another benefit for having gas motor is to recharge the batteries during its working. (Leesa-nguansuk, 2009)

Hybrid cars do not need any extra maintenance than normal cars. Also, because of regenerative braking, the brake pads will last longer than that in the normal cars; the batteries life cycle is now around eight to ten years so it will not need replacement as cars manufacturers had to before. However, with all these brilliant technologies going into building a single car has raised the prices. Moreover, the cost of the batteries is also high thus replacement will cost even more money. (Reynolds & Kandlikar, 2007)

Benefits and drawbacks of hybridization

Hybridization provides two major benefits: decreased exhaust emissions and increased fuel economy. These benefits are the results of downsizing the engine, less transient operation of the engine, and the application of regenerative braking that reduces average power demand. While in conventional vehicles the engine alone had to meet the instantaneous power requirement to propel the vehicle, in HEVs a smaller engine is sufficient with added power from the electric motor to provide the same performance. The electric motor adds the extra power using the electrical energy stored in the batteries. At the same time, the added power from the electric motor makes it possible for the engine to operate in a less transient manner. This results in fuel economy improvement as well as lower exhaust emissions. Probably the most beneficial feature of hybrid and electric vehicles in city driving is regenerative braking. During regenerative braking the controller switches the electric motor to operate in generator mode providing the braking torque on the wheels and generating electricity at the same time. The generated electricity is stored in the batteries and can be used for the next acceleration. (Reynolds & Kandlikar, 2007)

These benefits do not come for free in hybrids, though. The integrated ICE and electric motor drive system makes a heavier and more complicated power-train than that of a conventional vehicle. It costs more money, involves more components with possible failure and increases control complexity resulting in increased price (Popoff, 2009). At the present oil prices the savings on fuel do not compensate for the additional purchasing and maintenance cost involved with hybrid vehicles. This means that fuel prices will have to go much higher before consumers will decide to pay the higher price for hybrids. (Popoff, 2009)

HEVs market

According to Chanaron & Teske (2007), there are different changeable factors that will be driving the market of HEVs. Chanaron & Teske (2007) divides it to three categories:

1. The market demand, which includes how the consumers know and understand HEVs, cost and maintenance.
2. The market supply, including the variety of hybrid cars model afforded, life cycle cost, fuel efficiency and emissions.
3. Other economic factors; in fact, these factors influence the market in general. For instance, the increasing in fuel price, environmental concerns and taxes.

Environmental concerns

According to Department of Environmental Protection (2009), there is a discussion on global warming due to CO₂ emissions. Environmental concerns help and guide the consumers to purchase buying decision. In addition, driving a “green car” allows people to adopt a responsible and proactive role in society (DEP, 2009).

Burning the fuel in the internal combustion process is a direct source of CO₂ emissions and other gases. Nowadays, scientists try to reduce harmful emissions such as CO₂ HC and NOX. HEVs can help to reduce these emissions. Widespread use of HEVs would reduce the emissions of toxic and hazardous gases to the environment that have the ability to destroy the ozone layer by approximately 90%. Not only this, HEVs also will cut the emissions of greenhouse gases by up to one-half from internal combustion type gasoline vehicles. (DEP, 2009)

“HEVs have already met the California Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) standards that take effect in 2004 without sacrificing performance” (DEP, 2009). On a more specific level, the HEV cars reduces toxic gases like carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons emissions while also reducing the emissions of other gases like carbon dioxide that makeup the greenhouse gases. (DEP, 2009)

Hybrid development

Although buying and maintenance still costs more for a hybrid than for a conventional vehicle, the fact that every major car manufacturer works on hybrid designs suggests that there is going to be interest on the market for these vehicles in the close future. R&D departments of different auto manufacturers have different goals, market targets, and different HEV configuration designs. In 1998, Honda and Toyota started the mass production of the Insight and Prius, respectively. Today, September 2004, they are still the only two manufacturers that produce hybrid vehicles commercially available on the market. This part of the chapter attempts to show some of the major manufacturers’ design efforts and to show the trends in hybrid vehicle development. (Mitani, 2009)

The future of HEVS

Today the concept of a hybrid vehicle is gaining vast popularity with a new type called ‘Plug-in’ hybrids taking over. These ‘full’ hybrid vehicles such the ones introduced by Toyota with their Prius model or Ford as their Escape model have the ability to start and accelerate to low speeds without even using the gasoline powered engine. However, the large battery in the car charged only from the built-in combustion engine and through kinetic energy recovered from applying brakes. A slight modification is available in the ‘plug-in’ hybrid models that have the ability to charge themselves from electric sockets as well so that the combustions engine that gives off emissions isn’t used, rather only the grid electricity is used. This is a much safer and a much cheaper option (Anonymous, 2009). The ‘Plug-in’ hybrid model are more effective than initial hybrid models and also better than just simple electric vehicles since even though the car is run on batteries, a backup plan in the form of internal combustion and regenerative braking to charge the battery and drive the vehicle is available. (NRDC, 2007)

Conclusion

Just like the concept of electric cars was ‘killed’, many people are there to de-motivate research and development in the hybrid cars as well for selfish reasons. Hybrid cars are an extremely viable concept and good for the sustainability and protection of the environment. Its numerous advantages not only in the environment but also in cheaper use of resources make it a way-forward for the people especially in these troubled economically hit times. However, there are a few challenges about hybrid cars that must be addressed first before a massive campaign to launch hybrids on an international scale can begin. This includes putting efficiency in the capacity and life of the batteries. If this major drawback is handled soon, Hybrid vehicles are start their inevitable journey in our routine lives.

References

Anonymous. (2009). A glimpse of the future? Chattanooga Times Free Press. Chattanooga, Tenn.

Chanaron, J.J. and Teske, J. (2007). Hybrid Vehicles: a Temporary Step. International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 7, p268-288

DEP (2009). Hybrid Electric Vehicles. Department of Environmental Protection. Web.

Hybrid Car Chat (2009). How Does A Hybrid Vehicle Work? Web.

Leesa-nguansuk, S. (2009). Cleaner, greener, cheaper. The Bangkok Post. Bangkok

Mitani, S. (2009). Get Ready for the Hybrid Wars. Road & Track. New York.

NRDC (2007). The Next Generation of Hybrid Cars: Plug-in Hybrids Can Help Reduce Global Warming and Slash Oil Dependency. Natural Resources Defense Council. Web.

OEERE (2009). Technology Snapshot. Office of Energy Efficiency and renewable Energy. Web.

Popoff, M. (2009). Hybrid cars are a costly mistake. Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg, Man.: pg. A.10

Reynolds, C. and Kandlikar, M. (2007). How hybrid-electric vehicles are different from conventional vehicles: the effect of weight and power on fuel consumption. Environmental Research Letters. IOP Publishing. Assignment 4 Page.

Introduction

The world heavily relies on fossil fuels to power its vast transport system. Curtis and Anderson (2010) document that transportation uses up a significant portion of the total fossil fuels consumed by all industrialized countries.

While this reality was disregarded in previous decades, it has recently come to the attention of the world that overreliance of fossil fuels is detrimental to the environment and also unreliable. Intensive research into new technologies which use less no fossil fuel has therefore been engaged in.

One of these technologies is the use of hydrogen fuel cells to power vehicles. Hydrogen powered cars have been proposed to be the cars of the future due to their zero carbon emission and their significantly high energy efficiency (Mytelka & Boyle, 2008).

However, hydrogen powered cars suffer from significant demerits and this optimistic outlook on the future of hydrogen is called to question. This paper will argue that while hydrogen is a promising fuel, it will not replace fossil fuels for car. To reinforce this argument, the paper will highlight the significant weaknesses which hydrogen as a fuel faces.

Hydrogen Powered Vehicle

Hydrogen powered cars were first envisioned by engineers at General Motors in the 1970s following a breakthrough in fuel cell technology by NASA. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are electric cars where hydrogen powered fuel cells generates electricity to top up the batteries (Boxwell, 2011).

The vehicle then operates in a similar manner to other electrically powered vehicles. Fuel cells are the small modular electrochemical devices that use hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity.

They are the power generator that produces electricity through chemical reaction with hydrogen as opposed to burning the fuel, as with a combustion engine. A major merit of fuel cells is their efficiency and Boxwell (2011) notes that these cells typically extract twice as much energy from their fuel source compared to burning the fuel in an engine.

A Case for Hydrogen Powered Cars

A major advantage of hydrogen over fossil fuels is that is has no CO2 emissions. Fossil fuels are responsible for the worsening of air quality in all countries due to their high CO2 emissions.

Currently, the growth in fossil powered automobiles has been responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases which have been blamed for many negative environmental impacts including global warming and respiratory complications (Spoolman & Miller, 2011).

Hydrogen stands out as the perfect alternative to fossil fuels since it results in high energy efficiency and instead of emitting poisonous gases in their exhaust, hydrogen fueled cars emit water. Therefore, as consumers become more environmental conscious, hydrogen powered cars that have no carbon dioxide emissions are becoming more attractive.

Hydrogen has large support among policy makers and manufacturers to ensure that it gains a foothold in the market as the fuel of choice. Most new technologies fail to achieve popularity due to lack of funding and support.

This is not the case with hydrogen and funding for hydrogen research has increased exponentially in many developed countries as the search for clean energy continues (Jokisch & Mennel, 2009).

As a result of the concern by scientists and policy makers about the overreliance on fossil fuels which are limited in supply, hydrogen has received significant funding. In 2003, the then US president George W. Bush called for the dedication of $1billion in research funding so that hydrogen-powered automobiles would be realizable within the next decade (Grant, 2003).

Many other governments in industrialized countries all over the world are making significant investments to ensure that hydrogen-powered cars become a reality. In January 2012, the UK government made a £400m investment to hydrogen technology research so as to speed the process of bringing hydrogen-fuelled cards into the mainstream (Sky News, 2012).

If efficient means of obtaining hydrogen from water are developed, hydrogen can be used to fuel cars for the next many centuries. Undoubtedly, hydrogen would require vast supplies of water as the raw material.

Grant (2003) reveals that to get a daily hydrogen ration of 230,000 tonnes which is what would be required if all vehicles in the US were running on hydrogen instead of petroleum, over two million tonnes of water would be required.

However, this vast amount of water would not be wasted since after being expelled as exhaust by the vehicle, it could be recycled to the environment unlike the case with fossil fuel exhausts.

A key technology for hydrogen-driven vehicles is fuel cells. Fuel cells enable hydrogen powered cars to be fueled in minutes; which gives them a significant advantage over electric cars which must have their batteries charged overnight.

In the past, the availability of fuel cells has been a major hindrance to the realization of hydrogen powered vehicles (Jokisch & Mennel, 2009). However, the fuel cells have been under development for many years and are now beginning to show signs of reaching maturity in terms of cost and performance.

Hydrogen has a natural compatibility with fuel cells which makes it desirable for powering vehicles. These fuel cells achieve an efficiency of up to 60% compared to 22% for gasoline or 45% for diesel which means that the amount of fuel required is significantly reduced.

Why Hydrogen Can’t Replace Fossil Fuels

For hydrogen to replace petroleum completely as the core fuel for transport, it would require to be produced at a staggering scale. Grant (2003) notes that enormous outlays in capital plant and a significant amount of land would have to be dedicated to hydrogen production efforts.

Enormous production scale of hydrogen would require a lot of electricity to be added to the grid. This is because unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen is not a “primal” energy source and more energy is used to extract hydrogen from its source than is recovered in its end use.

Grant (2003) demonstrates that when electrolysis (obtaining hydrogen by splitting water with electricity) is used to produce hydrogen, enormous amounts of electricity are required to produce the vast amount of hydrogen that would be necessary to power all vehicles in a city.

The most compelling rationale for a hydrogen-powered economy is that it will result in drastic reductions in carbon emissions. However, hydrogen is not found freely like fossil fuel and extracting and purifying hydrogen is a process that is both expensive and energy intensive.

Studies by the Electric Power Research Institute demonstrate that in the US, 97% of the hydrogen is derived from “the thermocatalytic ‘splitting’ of natural gas or refinery gases, or ‘coal gasification’ — the reaction of water (steam) with carbon to yield hydrogen and carbon monoxide” (Grant, 2003, p.130).

Fossil fuels are used to generate the heat for these processes which means that carbon emissions are yielded to derive this hydrogen. These carbon emissions offset the benefits obtained by using hydrogen fuel instead of fossil fuels to power vehicles.

While hydrogen fueled cars purport to have a greater advantage compared to electric cars since they can be refilled quickly at any hydrogen fuelling station, the reality is that the number of hydrogen fuel stations is simply minimal.

The Economist (2008) states that while there have been progress on the development of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles by major automobile manufacturers, the energy industry has lagged behind in terms of building infrastructure such as hydrogen filing stations. The ability to produce hydrogen powered vehicles in large for consumers is therefore not possible due to the lack of availability of the fuel.

For hydrogen powered vehicles to become a reality, the number of hydrogen filling stations available in countries has to increase dramatically. To better underline the problem, the Economist (2008) reports that as of 2008, the global oil giant Shell had 6 hydrogen filling-stations worldwide while BP which had earlier on advocated for hydrogen as a feasible alternative for petrol closed its sole hydrogen filling-station in the UK

. Because there is currently very little demand for hydrogen fuel (due to the small number of hydrogen powered cars in operation), there is little motivation to create a hydrogen supply infrastructure which would be very expensive; and since there is no hydrogen supply infrastructure, people have no motivation to but the mostly expensive devices that use hydrogen as fuel.

The goal that hydrogen powered cars want to achieve is similar to that of fossil fuel powered automobiles. This includes similar or greater cruising ranges, and similar or equal horse power. Tabak (2009) declares that these goals are hard to accomplish since gasoline-based automotive technology has had many decades to mature and is today very highly developed.

To be able to run a car on hydrogen in a similar manner as cars are run on gasoline, hydrogen reserves must be kept in the car in a safe and compact manner. While this is what is being pursued by most car manufacturers and fuel cell companies, the issue presents a major technical challenge.

At room temperature and pressure, “hydrogen takes up some 3,000 times more space than gasoline containing an equivalent amount of energy” (Room, 2004, p.75). The preferred storage options therefore use compressed hydrogen gas and at this high pressures, specialized materials which are expensive have to be used to make the components of the car.

While support for the research and development of hydrogen powered vehicles may have been widespread a decade ago, the emergence of hybrid cars has reduced the competitiveness of hydrogen-powered vehicles with conventional gasoline-powered vehicles.

The attraction with hybrid cars is that they do not require the use of technology that is entirely new to automakers and they offer both efficiency and performance that rivals conventional engines (Spoolman & Miller, 2011).

Manufactures have therefore turned to hybrid technology which makes use of conventional engines whose performance has been made optimal over the decades; and electric motors so as to reduce the fuel consumption of the cars.

Hybrids are gaining popularity in many countries and governments are offering subsidies to encourage consumers to purchase these vehicles. The Canadian government has made investments to fund research in storage devices for hybrid cars (Crowe, 2012). Support for hydrogen powered vehicles has therefore waned significantly in recent years.

Another barrier to the introduction of hydrogen as the main transportation fuel is that an expansive infrastructure has been developed in all countries to support gasoline powered vehicles. This infrastructure has led to a decrease in the cost of delivering gasoline to the consumers.

Major breakthroughs in hydrogen production and delivery are required to reduce the cost of making hydrogen fuel available to a retail network so as to serve a mass market. Tabak (2009) states that this trillion-dollar infrastructure will remain in use for the next many decades and it is unlikely that such an infrastructure will be created any time soon to support hydrogen powered vehicles.

Another setback faced by hydrogen powered cars is that they are currently very expensive and offer no significant advantages for consumers to buy them. There is therefore a common consensus among researchers that significant government funding is needed to realize mass-produced hydrogen cars.

One study in 2008 projected that “over $55 billion in government investment would be needed to make it possible for a mere 2 million hydrogen fueled cars to be operational by 2023” (The Economist, 2008).

All this will be possible if the technology for fuel cells gets significantly cheaper over the years. At the current rate, it is unlikely that hydrogen powered cars will gain large scale popularity or achieve a significant price reduction.

Discussion and Conclusion

At the present, major barriers remain in research to make hydrogen fuel cars available but intensive research is still underway since the potential of hydrogen cars to reduce oil dependence and harmful emissions justifies the cost of the research.

The achievement of the envisioned hydrogen economy future rests on the ability to come up with a pollution-free source for the hydrogen itself and a fuel cell for efficiently converting it into useful energy without generating pollution. At the present, these two pillars upon which the hydrogen economy is to be built are yet to be achieved.

A study by the National Academic of Engineering and National Research Council in 2004 asserted that even in the best case scenario, a hydrogen economy would not be achievable for the next many decades (Romm, 2004).

At the present, fuel cell technology is still in its early stages of development and a major technological breakthrough would be required before they are able to compete on an equal footing with fossil fuels.

Moving from fossil fuel to hydrogen promises to be a difficult and very expensive proposition. While the major incentive for using hydrogen is its positive environmental impact, this paper has revealed that the common means of producing hydrogen still relies on fossil fuels therefore negating the positive environmental impacts that hydrogen fuel promises.

This paper has highlighted the numerous technical and economic hurdles that will have to be overcome before hydrogen can become a practical substitute to gasoline. While there is a lot of government support for the development of hydrogen as a major fuel, major breakthroughs are required before this goal can be achieved.

It can therefore be authoritatively stated that hydrogen will not replace fossil fuels unless major scientific breakthroughs are made to overcome the hurdles that hydrogen currently faces.

References

Boxwell, M. (2011). The 2011 Electric Car Guide. NY: Greenstream Publishing.

Crowe, P. (2012). Canada invests another $34 million in automotive energy storage research. Web.

Curtis, D. & Anderson, J. (2010). Electric and hybrid cars: a history. New York: McFarland.

Grant, P. M. (2003). Hydrogen lifts off – with a heavy load. Nature, 24(1), 129-130.

Jokisch, S. & Mennel, T. (2009). Hydrogen in Passenger Transport: A Macroeconomic Analysis. Transport Reviews, 29(4), 415–438.

Mytelka, L. K. & Boyle, G. (2008). Making Choices about Hydrogen: Transport Issues for Developing Countries. Ottawa: IDRC.

Romm, J. J. (2004). The hype about Hydrogen. Issues in Science & Technology, 20(3), 74-81.

Sky News (2012). Hydrogen-Powered Cars A Step Closer In UK. Web.

Spoolman, S. & Miller, G. (2011). Living in the environment: principles, connections, and solutions. Toronto: Cengage Learning.

Tabak, J. (2009). Natural Gas and Hydrogen. Boston: Infobase Publishing, 2009.

The Economist (2008). Hydrogen cars: The car of the perpetual future. Technology Quarterly. Web.

Bibliography

Scholarly Sources

Boxwell, M. (2011). The 2011 Electric Car Guide. NY: Greenstream Publishing.

Curtis, D. & Anderson, J. (2010). Electric and hybrid cars: a history. New York: McFarland.

Grant, P. M. (2003). Hydrogen lifts off – with a heavy load. Nature, 24(1), 129-130.

Jokisch, S. & Mennel, T. (2009). Hydrogen in Passenger Transport: A Macroeconomic Analysis. Transport Reviews, 29(4), 415–438.

Mytelka, L. K. & Boyle, G. (2008). Making Choices about Hydrogen: Transport Issues for Developing Countries. Ottawa: IDRC.

Romm, J. J. (2004). The hype about Hydrogen. Issues in Science & Technology, 20(3), 74-81.

Spoolman, S. & Miller, G. (2011). Living in the environment: principles, connections, and solutions. Toronto: Cengage Learning.

Tabak, J. (2009). Natural Gas and Hydrogen. Boston: Infobase Publishing, 2009.

Popular Sources

Anscombe, N. (2010). Hydrogen: hype or hope? Engineering & Technology, 24(3): 44-48.

Crowe, P. (2012). Canada invests another $34 million in automotive energy storage research.

Motavalli, J. (2012). The Road Ahead for Gasoline-Free Cars. The Futurist, 46(2): 6-7.

Sky News (2012). Hydrogen-Powered Cars A Step Closer In UK.

The Economist (2008). Hydrogen cars: The car of the perpetual future. Technology Quarterly.

Introduction

In Ken Burns’ documentary, the advent of the automobile caused the National Parks to be more accessible to people of all kinds. This has also led many people who have visited the national parks and the wilderness to appreciate nature and its wildlife. This led the people to realize that the wilderness forms the most special places in the nation. This realization has brought the idea for the need for preservation of the wilderness in its natural form in order to ensure that the future generations would have the opportunity to enjoy the scenery and beauty in the wild. The wilderness should not be preserved for royalty and the rich only but for everyone in the nation. This paper will address on some of the influences this, combined with nationalism, have had on America’s vocation habits. The results that are likely to occur due to this fact will also be addressed.

Impact on America’s vacation habits

The advent of automobile has enabled many to visit the national parks of America and this has led people to appreciate the wild and have a reason to want it to be preserved. Cole, who was a lover of nature and a great contributor to American nationalism, advocated for the preservation of the wilderness. When he went to the upper Ohio Valley, where his family resided, the beauty in the wild forests moved him and that is where he decided to place his career choice. He wanted to represent his feelings in pictures and that is when he decided to pursue art (Nash, p. 78).

Nash acknowledged that the appreciation of the wild began in the cities. It is due to the accessibility to the national parks that various people began to view the wilderness in a different light and their attitudes changed. The people who have come to view wild based on romanticism and deism include the writers, scientists, artists and the vacationers. These types of people viewed the wilderness in another perspective other than the pioneer’s perspective.

Impact on the American wilderness

Due to the continued appreciation of the wilderness, people have resorted to performing activities that do not endanger the survival of the wilderness and its constituents such as wildlife. It is for that very reason that the famous national parks were established in America (Stegner, p. 126).

At some point, Thoreau was worried about the possible effects of civilization to the wilderness and the older and better patterns of living. According to Thoreau, man could not live away from the beauty of the wild (Thoreau, p. 391). He described civilization as a life lived in a mechanized way. This, according to him, would take away the great innocence of simplicity and great taste of the wilderness (Nash, p. 86). Whenever he went far from the wilderness, he felt incomplete and out of place and this forced him to journey to places like Canada and Maine where he could find the wilderness. The feeling of being in an unexplored or uninhabited wilderness excited Thoreau (Nash, p. 87).

The meaning of the word wilderness has been debated a lot due to the changes that have occurred in the nature of the wild (Leopold, p. 277). The original meaning of wilderness was an area that was uninhabited or undisturbed but more recently, the evidence of significant use has been tolerated and the area is still called wilderness (Nash, p. 3). Such activities as lumbering and the grazing of livestock have also been tolerated in such areas. This led to the development of the National Wilderness Preservation System that was meant to preserve the wild.

The development of the roads that lead to the wilderness has also had negative effects to the wild and distorted the original meaning of the word wilderness (Cafaro, p. 56). The Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission defined the term wilderness as an area where no roads have been developed. This also meant that the area was unusable by the public. With the advent of the roads and automobile, the wilderness has been under significant threat of depletion (Nash, p. 6).

Other definitions of wilderness have come up due to the difficulty in locating a vast area that is untouched or unexploited. This has led the wilderness to be referred as an area where limited access is allowed and where there is limited influence from man. Such activities as construction must be minimal. The area ought to be a large expanse with as little modification as possible.

Christopher McCandless’ thoughts about the situation

Christopher McCandless is said to have died in the wilderness where he had gone to hike. His death is believed to have been due to starvation after he got lost and could not locate his way back. He got lost probably due to the nature of the wilderness at that time. It was very natural and there were not much development in the area. There were no roads to lead him to safety. He died in a desperate situation due to lack of a means to locate a safety haven.

With the advent of automobile, roads have been constructed in the wilderness and have made access much easy. This has made the exploration of the wilderness much easy unlike Christopher’s time. He had to go through difficult terrain and a lot of trouble before he could make a significant trip. If he were alive today, he would have felt stupid to go out in the wild alone and without prior planning.

If access into the wilderness had been as easy as it is today, he would have had a great time maneuvering into the wilderness. Christopher loved nature and he would have preferred to access it with so much ease.

Similarities between families in the burns documentary and those in America’s great outdoors

The families in the burns documentary have similarities with those in the America’s Great Outdoors in that both love and appreciate nature. The families in the burns documentary included the rich and poor, the famous and the unknown, the entrepreneurs, the soldiers and many others. All these people had a desire to devote themselves to preserve some valuable portion of the land. This was an act of democracy. The people were involved in stirring adventure in the wilderness. The story traces the birth of the idea of a national park and follows through the process. The families in the documentary showed their concern for the wild and helped in the creation of new parks to save nature from destruction.

The families involved in restoring America’s great outdoors also showed their appreciation for the conservation of historical and cultural sites. This interest has grown over time as they get to access the wild and view the beauty that comes with it. Their efforts on conservation have been seen in the development of the urban parks where wild animals can be protected and where permission to view wildlife is granted. This is when people go to enjoy nature. Where civilization has occurred, community green spaces have been set aside to preserve the portions of the cities that still possess the precious commodity – nature.

The families have also been involved in conserving their own working lands since charity begins at home. It would only be fair to start conserving one’s own space first. The families have become great stewards of their public lands and have been involved in the protection of their rivers and watersheds. This venture of conservation started when immediate funding was made to the Water and Land Conservation Funds that would spearhead the process of conservation of the resources.

President Obama was the one who launched the America’s Great Outdoors initiative. He was interested in developing the conservation and recreation agenda. The president wanted to provide lasting solutions towards conservation of the natural heritage of the state. This was meant to arise from the Americans themselves. This was also an act of democracy that was witnessed in the Burns documentary.

Conclusion

The advent of automobile was a great thing since it led to the enlightenment of the people, especially the Americans. This caused the development of the roads and the improvement of the accessibility into the national parks. This caused many to realize the beauty of nature and wilderness and developed the urge to maintain it in its most natural form through conservation. Conservation initiatives have continued to develop, the latest of them being the one launched by the president himself. The America’s Great Outdoors initiative was meant to bring a lasting solution to the conservation issue. This was done by first altering the people’s way of thinking and changing their attitudes and perceptions towards nature.

Works Cited

1. Cafaro, Philip. Thoreau, Leopold and Carson: Towards and environmental virtue ethics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Print.
2. Leopold, Aldo. A sand county almanac and sketches here and there. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Print.
3. Nash, Roderick. Wilderness and the American mind. London: Yale University Press, 1980. Print.
4. Stegner, Wallace. Where the bluebird sings to the lemonade springs: Living and writing in the west. New York: Wings Books, 1995. Print.
5. Thoreau, Henry. Where I lived and what I lived for. Philadelphia: Running Press Book Publishers, 1990. Print.

The population of Kuwait faces a lot of problems associated with traffic safety. In particular, car accidents make the greatest adverse influence on people’s well-being because they have led to more than 400 deaths every year since 2012 (Toumi). It is revealed that many Kuwaitis are often hurt in accidents that happen every 10 minutes, but the majority of victims include expatriates. Even though the government tries to do its best in order to minimalize associated risks, success is not yet achieved because foreigners who are not aware of particular traffic rules and necessity to follow them are constantly coming to the country.

Kuwait is full of expatriates some of them do not have any particular profession and get occupied with any job they can handle while others work as community helpers and drivers. They all are used to the kind of traffic that is present in their native countries and tend to follow their rules. Even though these foreigners receive Civil ID cards and a Kuwaiti driver’s license, not all of them are made to take learning and driving tests. As a result, they can hardly adapt to the fact that the speed limit on major highways and urban roads is rather limited, and no one educates them or checks whether they do their best to meet these rules or not.

Even though many local drivers fail to follow traffic regulations accepted in Kuwait, the majority of violations are conducted by foreigners. This claim can be proved by the recent claim of the head of the Kuwaiti Traffic Safety Society: in June, “we had 40 deaths, nine Kuwaitis and 31 expatriates” (Toumi). This population is mainly caught on speeding that leads to car accidents and results in deaths while driving alone for any purposes or with a family to the shops. Some expatriates break the speed limit while driving to work because they are afraid of being late. These ordinary situations reveal that foreigners are just used to fast driving, and this habit cannot be eliminated immediately.

Foreigners are in a hurry because they have a lot of things to do and fail to meet the deadline. They are often late, which makes them driving faster than 120 km/h even though the allowed speed limit prevents them from doing it. Moreover, a lot of expatriates learned to drive without any assistance, which affects the quality of this skill adversely (AlSaeid et al. 70). In this way, a lot of them used a car even before obtaining a license.

Thus, it cannot be denied that the improvement of traffic safety and driving behavior is required to minimalize the number of deaths in Kuwait and make its expatriates follow traffic rules developed by the government. The reduction of car accidents caused by foreigners can be achieved in several steps. Along with this purpose, such goals as a reduction of population, careless driving, and congestion should be considered because they are tightly connected with accidents (Hajeeh 87).

In particular, the more people are in Kuwait, the more vehicles are on the streets, and the more accidents can happen. Failing to follow all rules and facing the necessity to spend a lot of time in traffic jams, drivers become less concentrated, which causes accidents.

In order to minimalize the number of car accidents, especially those caused by expatriates, the government of Kuwait should consider the possibility of sending those foreigners whose carelessness while driving led to severe injuries or death of other people back home. Of course, an investigation is needed to ensure that a person was really guilty of the accident. In a similar way, those people who crash their cars more than once or have several fines because of breaking the speed limit should be sent home.

Improvement can be achieved with the development of strict traffic rules and regulations. Drivers should not have an opportunity to create potentially harmful situations that lead to accidents. In this way, enhanced monitoring systems are also needed, as they allow identifying issues that occur on the streets and make it easier to find a person who caused them. These initiatives are to be supported by the awareness campaign to ensure that the population of Kuwait is familiar with the established changes.

Licensing rules for expatriates should become stricter. In this way, those individuals who do not have good driving skills will not have an opportunity to use vehicles. Learning and driving tests should be obligatory for every foreigner to ensure that they are able to meet regulations of Kuwait. Regular car inspection tests should be required to ensure that their condition is good enough for usage and is not likely to lead to any issues.

It can be concluded that one of the most critical problems associated with traffic in Kuwait is car accidents that are caused by expatriates. They often violate the speed limit and other associated rules because of being in a hurry, having poor driving skills, and being careless. As a result, numerous foreigners die every year, taking away the lives of native citizens as well. The improvement of this situation can be achieved if stricter rules are imposed, and the process of obtaining and maintaining a license improves.

Works Cited

AlSaeid, Hana, et al. “Road Safety in Kuwait: Results from a Recent Survey.” International Journal of Transportation, vol. 3, no. 2, 2015, pp. 65-72.

Hajeeh, Mohammed. “Traffic Accidents in Kuwait: A Decision Making Analysis.” International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Informatics, vol. 6, no. 2, 2012, pp. 84-91.

Toumi, Habib. “A Car Accident Every 10 Minutes in Kuwait.” Gulf News. 2017. Web.

As electric cars become less costly and able to cover greater distances per single charge, consumers more and more tend to view them as a potentially preferable alternative to the traditional gasoline-powered automobiles. Electric vehicles seem to perform better on several crucial indicators, such as maintenance costs, environmental impact, and their effect on public health. However, it is also necessary to take other aspects into account to draw meaningful comparisons between the electric and gasoline-powered automobiles. While electric cars have several positive societal impacts, some of these will likely be tempered by the planned obsolescence, and the limited distance per one charge is likely to limit their use in rural areas.

Electric vehicles are expected to have a positive impact on society in several aspects simultaneously. To begin with, they do not need to burn fossil fuels to operate, and, as a result, leave a smaller carbon footprint than their gasoline-powered counterparts (Malmgren 989). Apart from the environmental impact, one may also expect electric cars to be more beneficial to public health. Fine particle pollution inherent in the exhaust of internal combustion engines has numerous adverse health effects, such as cardiovascular and respiratory harm, cancer, and even early death (Malmgren 989-990). Additionally, electric cars should also have a positive effect on national security in terms of gasoline consumption. According to Malmgren, choosing an electric car over a gasoline-powered one saves up to 344 gallons of fuel per year, leaving it available for other uses (990). By doing so, electric cars reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels. Finally, maintenance costs for electric cars are lower than those for the gasoline-powered ones, suggesting that society will also benefit economically from using them (Malmgren 988). Considering these estimations, electric cars seem to have many positive societal impacts.

However, the positive impact of the electric automobiles on the economy in terms of the maintenance costs is likely overstated. The logic of the assumption is fairly straightforward: the less money people spend on maintenance, the more they have for other productive uses, thus benefitting society as a whole. However, Malmgren’s account of this societal impact is solely based on the cars’ technical features and does not take into account the business component of the situation. As noted by Hanke et al., the management of the firms producing cars is under pressure to create “payable sustainable mobility,” and “payable” is at least as important as “sustainable” in this scheme (17). Even though electric cars do not need oil changes or spark plugs and wires, producing goods that have a long life cycle and next to no maintenance requirements is unprofitable. With this in mind, one may expect that the producers will compensate for reduced maintenance via planned obsolescence, such as contrived durability and repair prevention. Thus, the positive impact of electric cars on the consumer’s spending is likely overstated.

There is one more downside to Malmgren’s economic analysis comparing the costs of operating and maintaining an electric or gasoline-powered car. The author accounts for fuel consumption and maintenance alike, successfully demonstrating that electric cars are advantageous in both aspects and yield thousands of dollars’ worth of savings during their life cycle (Malmgren 988-989). However, while assessing these costs, he omits another important one. Newnan et al. point out that, when selecting a machine, the consumer should consider not only the annual energy worth and other operating costs but also the initial costs (230). This is precisely the aspect that Malmgren largely fails to address: the author compares Nissan Leaf and Honda Civic as popular vehicles “comparable in size and function” rather than the options with equivalent initial costs (987). As a result, the article investigates the maintenance and operating costs of the vehicles under scrutiny with sufficient thoroughness but pays little attention to the initial costs of procuring them. The lack of attention to this factor is an evident downside of Malmgren’s economic analysis.

Another aspect of operating an electric vehicle as opposed to the gasoline-powered one is their limited range per one charge. It is also the single most important treason why electric cars remain largely confined to urban and suburban communities and are less represented in rural areas. Contemporary electric cars have a relatively small range per one charge as compared to the gasoline-powered cars per one fill, which imposes corresponding requirements upon the public charging infrastructure (Gunn 2). As the areas with much higher population density, urban and suburban communities naturally surpass the rural areas in the development of said infrastructure, thus making electric vehicles less applicable beyond cities and towns. The logical way to overcome this limitation is to improve battery technology, extending the range of the electric cars, putting downward pressure on prices, and decreasing the required density of the charging infrastructure (Gunn 2). With the range of the electric vehicles increased to several hundred miles per charge, the barrier currently preventing their wider usage in rural areas will lose its importance, although it is unlikely to disappear entirely.

As one can see, for all the advantages of the electric vehicles over their gasoline-powered counterparts, they do not fare equally well in all aspects. They have numerous positive societal impacts, but the producers will likely compensate for lower maintenance costs via planned obsolescence. This fact, as well as the initial costs and range per charge, underscore the otherwise impressive advantages of the electric cars.

Works Cited

Gunn, Taylor. “EVs and EDs: Rural Electric Coops to Benefit from Late Adoption of Electric Vehicles.” CoBANK, 2017. Web.

Hanke, Christian, et al. “Socio-Economic Aspects of Electric Vehicles: A Literature Review.” Evolutionary Paths Towards the Mobility Patterns of the Future, edited by Michael Hülsmann and Dick Fornahl, Springer, 2014, pp. 13-36.

Malmgren, Ingrid. “Quantifying the Societal Benefits of Electric Vehicles.” World Electric Vehicle Journal, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 986-997.

Newnan, Donald G., et al. Engineering Economic Analysis. 13th ed., Oxford UP, 2017.

The development of modern mechanics and supporting technologies can amaze even the most casual person in the field. Having a relatively short history of formation and development, armored vehicles nowadays are one of the most reliable, inviolable and unbreakable mechanism one can imagine. Due to the offensive and defensive functions they perform, armored vehicles need highly efficient and fuel-saving engines.

Jackson notes that “today’s armored vehicles are a mix of technology, metal, and speed” with powerful engines than allow them “to move over uneven land and city streets” (8). Armored vehicle’s main purposes are to carry and defend the personnel inside, to withstand attacks and to conduct attacks in case an armed car is equipped with a weapon (Marshall Cavendish Corporation Staff 164).

Armored vehicles can be either wheeled such as, for instance, armored cars and armored personnel carriers or tracked represented by tanks, infantry fighting vehicles (Mastinu and Ploechl 401). As armored vehicles have a high power-to-weight ratio, they need less gear ratio, which in its turn increases tractive effort over the speed range and diminishes the effect of mass factor (Mastinu and Ploechl 435).

Most of the armored vehicles have diesel engines. Before the World War II, petrol fuel was more widely used. The main problem of petrol fuel in tanks and other armored vehicles was its high flammability rate (Dougherty 310). Comparing diesel engines with gasoline, one can state that the first are less fuel consuming, more thermally efficient and can operate for increased amounts of time.

Such peculiarities are especially important in tanks that have to cope with long distances with uneven surfaces and can be fueled not very often. Modern tanks usually carry about 1200 liters of fuel, which can be consumed to cover around 550 kilometers of the ordinary road; uneven off-roads require mode power from the engine, so more fuel is needed (Marshall Cavendish Corporation Staff 167).

Diesel engines are widely used for both wheeled and tracked vehicles. However, in the case of tracked vehicles diesel engines have to take less space. To achieve this aim, engines with air-cooling, steering and transmission systems are built into a power pack (Mastinu and Ploechl 436).

For heavier offensive tracked vehicles developed in the modern decades gas turbine engines are used. In this type of engine, fuel is not burned but the gas is compressed and heated. Afterward, the energy of the compressed and heated gas is converted into mechanical work on the shaft of the gas turbine (Lee 279).

Compared to diesel engines gas turbine engines have much more power and less weight while having the same size. They also are less noisy and emit less smoke. The vehicle with the gas turbine engine is easier to start. Usually, it is a matter of several minutes in comparison with the diesel engine.

In cold conditions, diesel engine needs to warm-up for a substantial amount of time while the gas turbine warms quickly despite the temperature (Walsh and Fletcher 25). At the same time, gas turbine engines require bigger amounts of carried fuel (Mastinu and Ploechl 437).

Overall, it can be seen that according to the goals, sphere and conditions of functioning of the armored vehicles different types of engines may be used. While diesel engines can establish in lighter armored vehicles that need to run a significant number of kilometers, gas turbine engines are suitable for heavy offensive tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

Works Cited

Dougherty, Martin. Land Warfare: From World War I to the Present Day. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay, 2008. Print.

Jackson, Kay. Armored Vehicles in Action. New York, NY: PowerKids, 2009. Print.

Lee, T. Military Technologies of the World. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2009. Print.

Marshall Cavendish Corporation Staff. How It Works: Science and Technology. New York, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2003. Print.

Mastinu, Giampiero, and Manfred Ploechl. Road and Off-road Vehicle System Dynamics Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC, 2014. Print.

Walsh, Philip, and Paul Fletcher. Gas Turbine Performance. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2008. Print.

The Business Case

The Melbourne-based Slick Jim’s Used Cars is a six-man operation that obtains stock at auction, advertises these, and offers both warranty and insurance services. As well, all three Salesperson earn a commission from every unit they sell. In total, Slick Jim’s incurs four principal categories of expense for each car sold since warranty repair is farmed out to repair specialists and premiums forwarded to insurers. Each expense varies according to the unit price of the vehicle.

Concerned about an unsatisfactory cash position, Jim has already called in an accountant to review hybrid recordkeeping systems that combine manual and incompatible electronic systems. The latter means that three of the staff whose jobs involve administrative tasks for sales, warranty repairs, insurance and advertising need to spend time transferring data. Consequently, they constantly run the risk of inaccuracies. Disparate systems and paper-based records also mean inefficiencies and opportunity losses when files go missing.

Jim has also seized on the chance offered by the presence of RMIT students to provide the company a system that will more reliably generate reports around gross revenues, advertising costs, a schedule of insurance premiums the staff can use, existing profitability by car category and by sales staff member.

This report describes a recommendation for an integrated system of spreadsheet calculators that will accurately tap existing data files, seamlessly and reliably calculate the variety of reports wanted, and provide Jim the operational analyses he requires as well. Usability must also be enhanced by providing a menu-based interface. The systems must have scope for more data as business operations continue. On Jim’s directive, profitability analysis should include inputs about the vehicle models that are more popular domestically. Lastly, concise and meaningful reports must be generated.

An Analysis of Jim’s Car Profits by Category

Going by gross revenues, prestige-class are the primary contributors to Jim Slick’s business for contributing over one-third (36%) of cash inflows. The second most important vehicle types are sedans (accounting for 20% of total revenue), closely followed by 4-wheel drives (4WD’s) with 16% of gross revenues.

At the other extreme, moving poorly off Jim’s lot are wagons (nothing at all), soft roaders (a puny 1% of gross sales), utility vehicles (just 6% of gross dollars), hatchbacks (6%), people movers (7%) and commercial vehicles (7%).

The prestige cars are the most valuable part of Jim’s business. Though the company sold only ten that month, they went for an average of $54,945, 58% better than the $34,757 typically obtained for the second most pricey vehicle type Jim dealt in, the 4WD’s. That average price difference may have been the reason why Jim pegged commissions at the top rate of 5% for prestige-class vehicles versus 4% for hatches and commercial vehicles. A single percentage point may not seem like much but this meant that a relative handful of prestige cars sold kicked in no less than 44% of the total commissions earned by the sales force that month. This is the reason why prestige cars contribute just 33% of gross profit, after accounting for selling price and sales commissions.

Sedans are the most popular model at Jim’s dealership. A total of 20 moved off the lot in January, over a third (35%) of total units sold. Given that they sell reasonably briskly, the sales commissions are among the lowest at 3%. Because sedans are rather like entry-class models that are popularly-priced (averaging under $15,000), contribution to gross revenue is lower (20%) than share of volume sales. Still, the thrifty commission rate ensures that sedans provide a 24% share of Slick Jim’s gross profits that shows up the much-pricier 4-wheel drives (18% of gross profits).

Whether Jim Should Specialise In Any One Particular Category or Which Categories (If Any) He Should Discontinue Stocking

Slick Jim’s does minuscule business in wagons (none at all in January), soft roaders (just 1), and utility vehicles (3 sold that month). Assuming this reflects a general lack of market interest, Jim may well consider not acquiring any more of these unless he can afford the carrying cost.

In fact, digging a little deeper would enable Jim to fine-tune his operation and improve cash flows. For instance, the solitary soft roader got sold after just 17 days on the lot, the fastest turnover of any category except, of course, the ever-popular sedans. If bolstered by market-preference data, this suggests Jim ought to bid aggressively at auctions to acquire more such vehicles.

Jim should drop utility vehicles. Acquisition price is third highest (after 4 wheel drives and prestige cars), his gross margin is comparatively low at around $3,000 per unit, and turnover is the worst of all vehicle types, no less than ten months. After deducting commission, Jim makes a gross profit of just $5,500 per unit, surely not enough to pay for ten months of carrying cost.

By the same token, people movers have to go since each one ties up working capital for about 270 days or nine months.

A case can be made for putting more advertising support behind hatch-class vehicles since stocking carry stands at a relatively speedy 80 days and gross margin is at least satisfactory. In fact, much the same idea might be explored to reduce the half-year carry characteristic of the profitable prestige and 4WD lines.

A useful way to optimize advertising expense is to look at such outlays in relation to the income they generate. The sales and media expenditure for January reveal that Jim spends just 1 percent his hatchback revenue dollars on advertising. Bidding to acquire more of these and ramping up ad spend could well generate more positive cash flows.

At the same time, the amounts spent on slow-moving classes like soft roaders, utility vehicles and commercial types could perhaps be dialled back and spent more profitably on boosting prestige and 4 wheel drive business.

Identification of the Most Popular Cars in the Categories Which Jim Should Continue To Stock

Australian Bureau of Statistics data show that one in six registered vehicles were commercial vehicles. Within the 80% of the market accounted for by passenger cars, AussieMove.com suggests that over two-thirds are semi-automatic or automatic types. As well, there is brisk demand for sports cars/convertibles and “ute”/pick-up in the second-hand market. All these are cues that Jim should consider re-focusing acquisition and advertising resources towards the profitable prestige (European) makes, the fast-moving sedans (like the Holden Commodore but also, increasingly, Japanese makes), sports cars/convertibles and “ute”/pick-up’s. As well, he should veer away from outmoded manual-transmission models.

Ad Expenditures

Prestige and 4WD’s drive half the gross revenue at Jim Slick’s. In both cases, it is obvious from the gap between gross profit and net margin after deducting ad spend that the company is spending disproportionately more to get customer traffic and attention. By comparison, sedan and hatch ad spend is in line with gross revenue.

Spending disproportionately more for advertising is, by itself, not a bad thing since the 4WDs and prestige makes are superior in unit profitability anyway. What may be fruitfully explored, however, is having a media budget for sedans at all since institutional advertising will attract customers to this popular car class anyway and even perhaps drive incidental traffic for the less-popular items.

Recap: How the Spreadsheet Additions Bring New Functionality and Help the Business

The work done at Jim’s behest is at once strategic and advances the operating efficiency of the organisation. The strategic benefit has to do with improving cash position, observing which Jim felt vague unease that there were matters that needed attending to but which he could not pinpoint or prioritise.

Taking just a one-month sample, the spreadsheet solutions revealed that, among the four categories of expense covered by the case, vehicle acquisition and direct selling expenses merited attention. The fairly rapid turnover of sedans needs leveraging into higher margins, perhaps with better selling prices or less intensive advertising effort. There is also an opportunity to bring commission rates for high-margin prestige cars in line with that of 4WD’s so as to maximise gross profits from this important segment.

If the rapid turnover of the single soft roader sold that month is anything to go by, Jim should bid aggressively for more such models. After all, greatly-reduced stocking cost, compared to the hundreds of days other models take to move off the lot, bears its own advantage for strengthening cash position.

In turn, a separate analysis of advertising expenses converted a fairly complex, three-step process of media planning into a campaign-at-a-glance status board. By getting a head start on automating the process of deciding on placement frequency, on medium choice, and on ad material type for each car category, the advertising calculator ensured that costly deviations from standard ‘best practice’ would be brought to Jim’s attention and prevent wasted marketing expense.

In Phase 3, finally, the recommended solution for quickly and easily completing an insurance quote by converting manual calculations of three premium components to an automated premium calculator requiring only the selling price as input is a harbinger of improving the efficiency of the operation. Clearly, converting document-based processes to a robust spreadsheet database not only preserves the completeness of insurance information but also hints at the possibilities for integrating the administrative side of warranty repair procedures.

Over the years since the invention of the hot rod that comprised old car parts joined and modification of an engine and body parts, various types or classification of the hot rod have come up. Some of these types include rat rod cars and custom cars. These two types of hot rod cars have many similarities mainly because they have the same origin.

Like any other hot rod manufacture, the two types named above have used body parts from different makes of cars and engine swapping is not something foreign to any of them. However, differences have emerged in both technologies leading to the different names given to the two cars.

Accordingly, the rat rod has proven to be the more preferable on the grounds of functionality, performance, and the ability to provide an opportunity to the builder to explore their mechanical abilities. This paper labors to show the superiority of the rat rod over the custom car on these three grounds.

A rat rod is a style of car customization that involves putting together various car parts to come up with a drivable device or a car. On the other hand, a custom car is usually a passenger vehicle built from ground-up creating a flow then changing the engine and transmission system to improve performance.

The classifications of different types of hot rods aforementioned led to differences in their features in terms of performance, functionality, and the opportunity available to mechanics to modify the cars. Functionality implies the ability of the modified car to fulfill the purpose of the manufacturer while performance is an indication of the level of efficiency of the modifications done on the vehicle.

The different types of hot rod cars present different opportunities to the mechanics depending on the dynamic modifications that they can perform to the car. The more the opportunities available, the more dynamic designs a customizer has the opportunity to design.

Custom builders and Rat Rod builders both belong to a general class of typical American cars known as Hot rods, but the Rat rod car is more functional, is a higher performing vehicle, and allows builders to demonstrate greater mechanical abilities, thus a better car than a custom car.

Rat rod cars were modified generally for driving and not to show off. This implies that not much attention is paid to the other functionalities of beauty or appearance, but the basic concept is to ensure that the manufactured vehicle can be driven.

The different parts that make up a rat rod could be collected from spare parts of different makes of cars, which allow maximization of the different good qualities of those original makes of cars. The custom made cars, on the other hand, does not have the primary function of drivability as the rat rod. The focus is usually beauty and the quality of the finished car parts even though modifications are done on the car (Scheller, 2006, p.16).

Custom cars are delicate and meant for shows, and therefore, much attention is given to the form and appearance of the finished product. Most of the custom cars are modified for shows and not for driving; hence; they do not fulfill the function of a car. The main goal of building custom cars is appearance, that is, eye-catching exteriors.

Rat rods involve joining old steel vehicle parts that are sometimes from un-roadworthy vehicles to make a moving automobile, which is the basic functionality. The parts involved may be made out of any metal. A rat rod is said to have many less important parts removed and composed of a mixture of parts of different makes, models and aftermarket parts (Villicana, 2007).

Rat rods are unlike what other hot rods have evolved to be, that is, untouchable, ‘undriveable’ or expensive.-Therefore, rat rods can be driven around almost at any type of roads like gravel or rocky terrains. There is not much worry about the possibility of damage to the vehicle involved.

The custom cars, on the other hand, are light and made out of aluminum sheet metals with addition of lead to give a smooth form and a better finish of the paint (Marian, 1985, p.14). Custom cars are usually painted unusual colors, and to them, painting is considered important. The delicate coats of paint and the slender finish make custom cars suitable only for shows and exhibitions and not for driving on the roads around.

A custom car cannot be driven on any road; actually, in most cases cannot be driven at all Further on functionality, rat rods are manufactured out of steel thus tend to be more durable in comparison to the delicate custom cars. They are made out of body parts from other cars; sometimes they are incomplete leading to them being more durable.

They also receive very little modification in the form of painting or change of body parts and fact; they may be sometimes incomplete. This means that one can have a car on the road that can be driven but lacking one or several body parts; for example, a bumper. Custom cars modification is mainly on the body parts although importance is also attached to engine performance.

Custom cars are made out of very light and less durable materials since their primary purpose is to show off and not driving. Further, the interiors of custom cars are usually stylish and beautiful to look at. On the other hand, the interiors of the rat rods are designed mainly for functionality without much attention to the comfort of the driver.

Some of them may be fully finished while others may be comprised of barebone forms and Mexican blankets with bombers seats forming the basis. This forms a collection of very durable materials that can go a long way before any replacement compared to the custom cars whose interior, like other parts of the car, is delicate and less durable (Hot Rods, 2007).

The interior is homemade and meant for off-street engagements; thus the main goal is its functionality. The performance of rat rods surpasses that of the custom cars. They may be fitted with engines with varying displacement and modifications like the Chrysler Hemi engines or small block V8’s from any manufacturer (National Street Rod Association, 2011).

Initially, custom cars used flathead as the most preferred but later began using early Hemi. However, custom cars seemed to have sacrificed the performance of engines with SB Chevy due to the cheap spare parts and ease of maintenance (DynoValve Connects at SEMA, 2010). They have also shifted focus to beauty and cosmetics instead of working on increasing engine power.

The custom car has followed the tradition of swapping engines all along with history. Another area of difference between custom cars and rat rods lies in their suspensions. The custom cars have the engine over the suspension where it is mainly involved in transverse suspensions to allow the car to ride low leading to the poor braking system.

The rat rod, on the other hand, can use either transverse, parallel, or coil setup springs both in the front and in rear ends of the car (Lambert, 2010, p.34). The other advantage is that rat rods may sometimes have airbag suspension meaning that, it is possible to raise or lower the car. This feature makes a rat rod more preferable considering that both the rat rod and the custom car are very low.

The engine for the rat rod like any other hot rod is placed before the front suspension (Villicana, 2007). This suspension system has improved the damping and braking system for rat rods to handle the improved power for the car. The improved tire traction helps to enable the rat rods to hold the road firmly. The front and rear suspensions make it possible for the car to be four-wheel driven hence improved performance.

Concerning the last ground, while custom cars have adopted the concept of a beautiful and sleek finish to the car, rat rod cars are considered mechanically able because they are built squarely at the discretion of the builder. Therefore, a custom car is limiting to the customizer and regardless of their creativity, the standard is already set and does not change, for example, the old tradition of hot Roding of fine art flame jobs which is expensive and complicated is still upheld in building custom cars.

They focus less on the functionality of the cars thus easier to build. The customizer does not have many options to create his/her ideas in building a custom car unlike when building a rat rod car where the customizer can collect spares from any car and join them. Rat rod cars are not built with essential concerns of beauty and cosmetics but the main goal of drivability or functionality.

Building a car through piecing together parts from different sources with the main goal of making it drivable makes building a rat rod complicated (Guttormson, 2011). However, it does not have to be finished in terms of paint or bodyworks like in the case of a custom car; as long as it can be driven, then it qualifies to be a rat rod car

The spare parts from old cars or road unworthy vehicles are easily available while the materials used in the manufacture of custom cars are expensive. Custom cars have become just a show for the financially able as the painting and customization constitutes a high cost in the affair.

However, a rat rod uses old materials implying that it is much easier and cheaper to manufacture since the body parts from older cars are readily available. The customizers can, therefore, not be limited by finances and they can explore their mechanical ability. Any parts obtained at whatever cost, of whatever design, make a rat rod generally cheap because it does not have to be complete, or painted for it to be driven.

Rat rod cars present an opportunity for the builders to model cars that are yet to be built by anyone else. Custom builders have stuck to the manufacturing of beautiful cars with a perfect finish on the body of the car. In the light of the insights given here, rat rod cars are therefore better than custom cars because they are more functional, are high performing vehicles, and allow builders to demonstrate greater mechanical abilities in their hunger for new designs.

References

DynoValve Connects At SEMA. (2010). The Pak Banker. Web.

Guttormson, M. (2011). How to Build a Rat Rod. Web.

Hot Rods. (2007) Rat Rods. Web.

Lambert, L. (2010). Rat Rod Rockers. Journal Newspaper, 35(453), 34.

Marian, D. (1985). Affordable Aluminum V8’s. Hot Rod Magazine, 6, 12-14.

National Street Rod Association. (2011). A Giant Leap Forward-the power train has arrived. Web.

Scheller, G. (2006). American Hot Rod: The Fine Art of the Custom Hot Rod. New York: Universe.

Villicana. S. E. (2007). Rat Rods: roll through the South Valley. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. Web.

Executive summary

This project management process is about Saudi car Maker Company, the carmaker company aims at establishing a market niche in its operational area. The project implementation involves several activities from the start to the end. The activities are managed by the project manager who is appointed to oversee the implementation process. Some of the major steps in the implementation of this project include; definition of the project scope, permission and legal requirements, budgeting and cost allocation, project commencement, plant establishment, target planning, market target, product launching, and project conclusion. Since the process requires risk management, this implementation process described provides a platform for risk management that the project will encounter in the course of the implementation process.

Introduction

The project implementation process is usually a daunting task that requires commitment from the parties involved. Parties involved in a project are; the project owners, or stakeholders, the sponsors, the steering committee, and the project manager. The entire project is usually left to the project manager, it is, however, imperative to maintain constant communication between the project manager and the stakeholders, this usually aids in risk management and expectation supervision.

In this case, the project involves the construction of a car maker company in Saudi; the company aims to manufacture different models of cars and sell them within Saudi or even outside the country. The company will also create employment for the Saudi people and also play an important role in increasing the countries revenues through taxation that will be accrued in the process.

Business needs

Saudi Car maker projects objectives;

• To enhance the portfolio of car manufacturing in the Saudi region and be in a position to serve the clientele more effectively. This will thus be in line with the company’s vision and mission of offering the best designs and models of cars.
• To meet the ever-growing demand for different models of cars in Saudi and the entire emirates.
• To provide skilled workers with job opportunities in the Saudi region.

Project description

Scope of the project

The Saudi car Maker Company will commence with the establishment of the fund sources as the stakeholders of the project meet for the first time. It will be of the essence for the business to seek legal authorization from the Saudi authorities for the project to progress. The company will aim at providing its market with the best possible models of cars, the market scope of the company will be in the Saudi republic and outside the Saudi region especially Africa where there is a growing demand for different fuel-efficient car models. To the people of Saudi Arabia, the company will provide several skilled labor opportunities to immerse their potentials. To the government, the taxes that the company will pay will aid in increasing the economic growth of the country.

Business objectives: Reasons for undertaking the project

Justification of the project

• Development of a highly efficient and world car manufacturing plant that will reduce costs related to importing motor vehicles.
• A lot of job opportunities will be available for the local population in Saudi Arabia.
• The multiplier effects owing to job creation and increased trade from the export of vehicles will have a great effect on improving the Saudi Arabian economy.
• Development of plant will lead to strategic improvement of the car industry and positioning Saudi Arabia in a vantage position in the global car production industry.
• Development of a car plant that will tap the skills of the Saudi people and prevent the brain drain of skilled employees in the automotive industry.

Project deliverables

Project deliverables are the outputs of the project in terms of what will be gotten from the project. It includes tangible and non-tangible products as a result of the project’s completion. Deliverables are used to measure the success or failure of a project. In our case the project deliverables are:

• Fully equipped and automated car production plant.
• A design of a concept car.
• Licenses from the Saudi Arabian government.
• Availability of skilled labor.
• Availability of a substantial market.

Roles and project stakeholders

Various stakeholders have a critical role in ensuring the project’s success in its implementation.

Risk assessment: Any constraints or risks

In any project implementation process, there are a number of risks that are involved; there is thus a critical need to address these risks. The effects of risks in a project cannot be over-emphasized; it can result to total failure, poor service delivery and even late implementation process due to suspension of some project activities. In this sense, it is imperative for the project process to have a pre-planned mitigation plan.

This Saudi car maker company project implementation is a critical process that requires a risk plan in order to mitigate chances of these risks occurring. The best way of solving this problem is through a risk classification process which classifies the risks involved in terms of probability of occurrence as; unlikely, most likely, highly likely. Highly likely have a 50 % chance of occurrence, most unlikely have a 50 % and less chances of occurrence and can thus not be neglected as they can create a substantial stumbling block in the project implementation process. Unlikely risks have the least chances of occurrence but they cannot be over-looked however. For the Saudi car maker company, the table below provides a list that shows the likelihood of risk occurrences.

Project Estimates

Project Activity

Saudi car Maker Company will have several steps or activities that are provided in the Ms. Project. The Saudi company aims at providing Saudi Arabia and the outside world with several different new car models. The project is funded by different stakeholders including the government as a result of the fruitfulness of the establishment process. The major activities of the project are discussed at length in the following activity list in order from the start to the finish.

Project start

The project commences with stakeholders meeting to discuss the aims and the objective of the project that is a critical point in the determination of the feasibility of the project. The stakeholders will evaluate the scope of the entire project as a preparation for the project commencement. It is of the essence for the stakeholders at this stage to determine the sources of funds for the project. The sources of funds are critical as it determines if the project will be established or not.

Permission and other legal requirements

In any business establishment, it is essential to meet the obligations of the law. In this kind of business, legal restrictions include the assessment of the environment to determine if the environment is suitable for this type of business. Since this project is a car-making company, there is a need to carefully consider the requirements of the project. After a careful assessment of the environment and the risks that the plant may bring which also includes mitigation strategies will be forwarded to the Saudi authorities for permission and licensing to be granted.

The Saudi city council will be expected to issue feedback that is positive for the project progress to continue. After the payments have been done, the project will progress without any further hesitation. The other important factor in this stage is ensuring that the company sets the legal requirements that are necessary for the implementation process; this will be done and authorized by the project’s stakeholders.

Budgeting and cost allocation

This is one of the critical phases in the project implementation process; sources of funds must be carefully allocated by the steering committee. This will ensure that the project receives all its funds necessary for different phases until the end of the project. Since most sources of funds will be accumulated internally by the stakeholders, other sources of funds will be expected as proposed in the project proposals delivered to the government and other agencies that will require a stake in the business. After the proposals have been delivered to these sources of funds, it will be necessary to get their response to effectively progress with the allocation process.

Upon the response of the agencies and the government concerning the funding of the project, the steering committee will employ a project manager who will oversee the entire process within the stated time.

Project commencement

In this stage, the implementation process will begin with site determination; the project manager will be responsible for the acquisition of the sub-contractors of the plant. The sub-contractors will ensure that the project building process is done according to the specifications of the project manager who will then oversee the process to the completion. As the process of construction progresses, the stakeholders, the project manager, and the steering committee will be having a meeting to discuss several milestones that have been achieved.

Plant establishment

After the construction of the plant, this stage will require seeking raw materials for the plant to start its operation. In seeking the raw materials, several factors will be considered, some of the factors necessary include; cheaper and nearer raw materials, which will reduce the cost

of obtaining the necessary raw materials which may then lead to increased cost of production translating to the high cost of products in the market. The transportation of the raw materials will also be considered, this is to reduce the overall cost of the process, and one way of doing this is through outsourcing. The other important task is contracting with the plant machinery equipment necessary for the process. For the process to begin after acquiring the necessary raw materials and the machinery for the process, it will be the right time to begin employment of skilled workers to work in the plant; this will be done as the stakeholders have their meeting before the next stage begins.

Target planning

After employing the required human resource, it will be necessary to set out their roles in the plant, every employee will be allocated their task according to their skills and professional qualifications necessary for the execution process. It will also be necessary to give the employees necessary training for them to work efficiently in their different fields. Different car designs will also be provided to employees of the company for them to be fully acquainted with the process.

Market target

Since this car-making company will require clientele to survive, it will be essential for the company to employ a marketing department that will play a pivotal role in determining the market for the company. The marketing department will thus be obliged to explore the market options available and be in a position of getting the market niche. In acquiring the market niche, the company will be in a position to grow and increase its scope.

Product launching

After the process of raw materials, employees, and market acquisition, it is usually imperative for the company to showcase its product samples through show organizations. These shows will ensure that the target market is attracted to the products of the company. The unveiling of different car models that the company will be manufacturing will be critical in this stage before the official opening of the company.

Project conclusion

In this final stage, the stakeholder together with the project manager will be required to determine the milestones and the challenges that the project has undergone in its implementation process. Again the stakeholder will set the commencement date of the company. Any other requirements of the project will also be discussed at this phase.

Resource requirements

Since this project is a Saudi car Maker Company, it is a resource-intensive process and it will thus require several resources as follows;

• Project manager
• administrative staff
• Contractors
• Steering committee
• Raw materials
• Car manufacturing machinery
• Skilled laborers
• License fees

The table below shows the different resources required and their cost estimations.

Event analysis & diagram charts

Risk management and project control

Risk management and project control are necessary for the implementation process of an entire project that is of this magnitude. This Car Maker Company has the following controls that will ensure that the risks involved are minimized.

1. Meetings of the stakeholders that will ensure that the process is under control, will essentially be a quarterly meeting.
2. There will be a monthly status report that will be required by the steering committee. The report will state the project progress, challenges, risk management, and the milestones that have been achieved so far.
3. Risk management plan.

This plan will ensure that the employed project manager is in full charge of the project. The risks that the project faces will be carefully analyzed by this department. This management plan will be done every week to prevent any possible escalation of the risk process. The management process will be included in the project charter.

Management of communication process

For the process to run smoothly, the management must establish a communication process. This will be based on a designed protocol that will manage the flow of communication. Any issue that arises will be initially communicated to the project manager; the project manager will, in turn, communicate with the stakeholders and the steering committee through regular meetings that will be held in the course of the implementation process.

Authorizations

This sets the authority levels that the project needs; this follows an implementation hierarchical process. The process of the authorization will generally ensure that the changes to the project plan, deliverables, and raw materials are properly approved to avoid any conflicts. The following parties will be liable for the approval process.

The project plan Statement will be approved by:

• The Project Manager
• The Project Steering committee
• The Project Sponsor/ owner

Project Changes will be approved by:

• The Project Owner

Project deliverables will be approved by:

• The Project Owner/sponsor
• The Steering committee
• The Key Stakeholders

Conclusion

This project management process has explicitly provided the fundamental steps and risks together with their management and implementation process. The activities of the project as evident in the screenshots and the attached MS project reveal allocation of resources and cost estimation of the entire project. The risk management process ensures that the process experiences minimal risk as backup plans for the occurrence of the risk are well catered for.

As evident from the analysis above, several considerations are made in the process, these include authorization and licensing of the project. The project cannot proceed without authorization from the city council of Saudi. Some of the requirements for the license to be awarded include; meeting the environmental requirements as required by the government and being able to settle the license payments.