Posted on 06/12/2009 8:36:49 AM PDT by janetjanet998
Langford Performance Engineering (www.lpengines.com), headquartered in Wellingborough England, designed and modified the Ford S-Max seven seat crossover vehicle into a series hybrid plug in vehicle with a C30 under the hood as an electric range extender. Langford reports that the "Whisper Eco-Logic" car gets up to 80 mpg in early stage demonstration testing. "The Ford modified by Langford is an extremely practical solution and one that Langford has been working on for over two years," said Jim Crouse, Capstone's Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing. "The design characteristics of Capstone's turbine permits ultra low emissions, high fuel economy, multi fuel capability, no coolants or lubricating oil, and little to no maintenance in an automotive application," added Crouse.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
“>>>If trains can pull what they do, I’m sure at some point a hybrid vehicle can pull your RV. :)<<<
Yep, probably just like a train...which can only negotiate inclines of 2%.
He’s in trouble if he wants to go anywhere interesting.....except for Kansas or Nebraska.”
It’s simply a matter of engineering. Larger turbine to charge the battery and a larger motor to drive the vehicle. It should be a simple (granted more expensive) matter to make a truck with greater range and power than the truck you drive now that gets 40 mpg driving and near 30 mpg towing.
Chorus Motors is making a motor to taxi jumbo jets that is the size of a water mellon. Newer batteries with greater power and storage are getting less expensive. Turbine engines are a mature product. It’s just a matter of time.
“You seriously think we can collect enough energy from “sewer gases” to power electric cars? Seriously?”
You can collect enough sewer gas to run the sewer and water plant and turn a profit.
These decissions should be made based on economic grounds. Just because the greens may approve of something, doesn’t mean it is always wrong.
Oh, look - 100-year-old diesel-electric train technology.
Well, FINALLY... a hybrid that works.
Of course, downhill only. Just think of all the power the brakes will generate when you try to stop at the bottom of the hill!!
Agree the left is not known for thinking.
You need SOME batteries, to buffer the generator for acceleration. This is exactly how trains work, and it works great.
Umm... He said 9-sec 1/4 miles, not *29* seconds. ;-)
I know. I am just saying ditch the big battery pack in favour of smaller ones for the uses that you mentioned.
I would buy one, as you describe it. I am frusted that they are not on the market already!
Ironically, the biggest problem with battery powered series hybrids, is the problem I’ve never seen addressed before - Secondary market value.
Take the Volt for example, the battery pack in that thing is estimated to cost between 6 and 7 thousand dollars.
If you buy a Volt, you had better plan on paying it off.. Because who in their right mind is going to buy a used car with a seven thousand dollar bomb under the hood?
And that’s just the battery.. Now you have to have it installed.
Will these costs come down? Possibly. But with different manufacturers all using proprietary battery types, and shapes, etc, I don’t know that the issue can simply be dismissed out of hand as a development cost that can be expected to drop significantly by the time the second and third generation vehicles come around.
Fire is a concern also. The amount of current required to move an entire vehicle, even a small one, is substantial. There’s allot more power there than most people probably suspect. If you ground it, even for a second, it becomes a seven thousand dollar arc welder.
Actually it is faster than that. It should do 8.54 in the quarter if you drop it off a cliff.
Two, they did not show the MicroTurbine, Unless I scanned the video to quick.
Three, Capstone's units have built in recouperators and use "Foil" bearings and need no lubrication and or cooling system, tons of oil and anti-freeze saved.
Four, Turbines are potentially Omnivorous, and that is a huge plus to be able to burn anything.
Five...And now the bad news....
About a year ago I spoke with a friend who actually worked on such a project that will remain anonymous. In his humble opinion, this was a good technology for buses or larger vehicles but nothing smaller. I trust this gents judgment.
Food for thought....
>> You can collect enough sewer gas to run the sewer and water plant and turn a profit.
These decissions should be made based on economic grounds. Just because the greens may approve of something, doesn’t mean it is always wrong. <<
Economics should always be the driving force, not the silly ECO-nomics that rely on wasteful subsidies and inane regulation.
Ummm... I raised this concept to one of my engineering gnomes and their retort was ya but try steering it, it will act like a gyroscope and add to unsprung weight. All that glitter is not gold...
Alternatively: The biggest problem with battery powered hybrids of the plug in variety is also one I’ve never seen addressed anywhere before - What do you do if you live in Minnesota?
Battery power degrades significantly in the cold, and that has been mentioned many times in the past.. But what do you do for heat?
There’s only one way to make an electric heater, you dump a bunch of current through a resistive load and you cook it off. There’s your heat.
The problem is, it takes allot of current to do that. Who in their right mind wants to be stuck in Minnesota traffic, at night, in the cold, with their heater positively destroying the range left in their plug in hybrid?
You can do what GM did in the EV1 and use a heat pump type of arrangement. That will work great, if you have 2 hours for the thing to heat up in the morning and defrost, and if you never open the doors... Cause then you’re going to freeze your buns off. This is part of the reason the EV1 was only leased in warm areas.
Contrary to popular opinion, Gm didn’t “kill” the electric car. They did a great job with the EV1. It just wasn’t up to the task.
..good post...Capstone was founded with the idea of a microturbine for cars....they have found other uses for it over the years including the buses you talked about...but now we fianlly have this...of course this is only a step..but it looks promising....and hopefully as time goes by it will get better and better and cheaper
Nonsense, where are you getting your information from? Parts count is high, not low: Say 16 blades in the compressor, 24 in the turbine. Each blade in the turbine is very expensive to produce, using high-temperature alloys which are also very hard.
74 posts and not one mention thay Chrysler was driving a turbine car around 40 years ago.
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