To: SampleMan
Best small cars require about 10 horsepower to go 60 mph.
1 hp/hr = 2547 BTUs
10 Hp for one hour requires 25,470 BTU's
Gasoline contains 114,000 BTUs per gallon
10 Hp requires .223 gallons per hour at 100% eff
car goes 60 miles on .223 gal or about 268 miles per gallon.
If car does 53 mpg it is 20% eff at converting heat to power. Not bad for portable, lightweight engine.
40 posted on
08/14/2005 3:24:49 PM PDT by
John Jamieson
(Hybrids are a highway around CAFE, that's all they're good for.)
To: John Jamieson
With the breakthroughs in nano-technology batteries tri-bred cars do not seem that out of the question. I want a solar collector roof and hood, exhaust and radiator heat to power a light weight Stirling engine generators to re-charge these batteries at rest. Keep the plug-in adaptor for emergencies.
*******
Toshiba Corporation's breakthrough in lithium-ion batteries that pushes long recharge times into history. The company's new battery can recharge 80% of a battery's energy capacity in only 1 minute, and it is no gimmick.
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=4297
59 posted on
08/14/2005 3:55:07 PM PDT by
BushCountry
(They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.)
To: John Jamieson
Thanks for the breakdown. Do you think a Sterling engine in a car would be better, as they convert less of the energy into wasted heat?
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