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Old 09-26-2009, 02:49 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Now we are at the point where the concept seems to be a practical solution to the questions seldom asked.

1. How do you make lightweight, inexpensive vehicle that can incorporate all of the hypermilers strategies into the vehicle system itself, thus relieving the operator of the labor intensive efforts necessary to extract maximum efficiency for the fuel consumed?

Answer;

Lets assume my conclusions are basically correct. It's a win-win situation.

The manufacturer can now produce a vehicle that is 20% less expensive to manufacture. US auto manufacturers can now make money on small inexpensive cars, and even more money when the inevitable options are added to the vehicle.

The customer has no additional up front cost to factor into his cost analysis basis with a break even point some time years in the future.

Drive train component elimination in conventional vehicles also has the additional benefit of the "if it ain't there it can't break" scenario. No brakes to wear out. No transmission to fall apart. No clutch, differential, axle shafts, throttle control induction systems. With most of the eliminated parts being the ones that usually are needing service and repair. sometimes very expensive repairs, the cost to operate factor becomes a net positive benefit.

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2. I think the future is all electric drive. How do you propose to make your system compatible with a BEV platform?

Answer;

Electric vehicles still have one serious Achilles Heel (weakness). The weigh and power density of the battery itself. Since any car is constantly bleeding energy whenever it is rolling, how much storage do you really need? You will never need to accelerate from 0-70 MPH after the first acceleration event unless you want to risk incarceration. Battery's are for long term storage of energy. What you really need in a vehicle is capacitive short term storage of energy. Dragging around a 400 pound storage vessel is a real catch 22 situation, more weight requires more power to accelerate, so the larger your battery the more energy you spend dragging the battery weight with you.

I still don't see battery technology as practical for any vehicle that would require a range of more than 200 miles, and a refill time of less than 15 minutes. Maybe we will get there, but a $30,000 + commuter car with a range of less than 100 miles is just not in the cards for the vast majority of people. Imagine the DC area if every car was a BEV with a 100 mile range. I think you would have thousands of stranded cars with dead batteries on the sides of every major artery every day.

Great for the tow truck drivers.

Electric hybrids recover very little of the inertial energy in regeneration. I have seen calculations in the 22-33% range, some may claim as high as 40%, but few even dream of 50% regeneration.

The problem is when you have one panic stop from 60 MPH, you have to recover the energy in 20 revolutions of the wheels on your car. No electric recovery system can handle that surge of energy at this time. If that problem is resolved it will require some serious motor size and a large capacity capacitor. The easiest way to understand this is to consider the time to charge versus the time to drain an electric vehicle. The ratio is about 6-10 times the charge versus discharge time. Its not a situation that will be resolved in my lifetime, at least I don't think so without some new breakthrough technology.

Now take your BEV and add a 50 pound hydraulic accumulator and recover 80+% of your braking energy.

In other words the same power train will work with a battery and electric motor. The additional weight of the battery will cost you in an initial acceleration, but from there on that same weight means you will recapture more energy every time you must stop.

Take the Nissan Leaf, add a rear wheel hydraulic recovery and launch assist system and extend the projected range from 100 to 150 miles. That's a game changer, especially if refinement could get it to 200 miles, which is possible with a little improvement in the battery itself.

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3. How do we get off the fossil fuel addiction that is draining our national net worth?

Answer;

My family came to this country in 1634 as Indentured Servants. We have a huge vested interest in the continuing prosperity of the US, and have fought for this country in practically every conflict.

Today the US faces a critical mass situation, we are bleeding our national net wort at an astounding rate. At its peak the balance of trade deficit reached 600 billion a year due to oil imports alone.

If the govt is going to spend money they don't have, then they should spend it on a solution to our energy addiction, a Manhattan Project scale effort to solve the horrendous energy consumption gluttony we presently tolerate.

In correcting that outflow of capital we would also dramatically change the balance of global power. OPEC would disintegrate as the individual members could now be subjected to us refusing to import their cash crop of dino juice. Most every war ever fought was over economics. We will never stop religious fanatics from sacrificing their lives for their cause, but we could sure cut off the funding necessary for those efforts. At least it would be a positive benefit.

This does not even address the environmental aspects of the potential 50% reduction in global emissions, if energy efficiency improvements are applied to every aspect of oil consumption. Its not a conservative versus liberal confrontation as many would like us to believe.

Its spaceship earth and we are the crew. Its the only spaceship we will every have and we need to make sure it survives. There is no reason to wait to see if addressing global emissions consequences are factual or a myth, just fix the damn cars and other energy consumers and that will solve the problem, for free.

I consider it a compliment to be considered as a conservator of the future, that is the political category I will gladly accept as defining my objectives.

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4. Will my dream ever become a financial success?

I would not presume to assume that my configuration will be the last stage in the evolution of motor vehicles. I would like to think my time and energies would be rewarded, but there is a much greater issues at hand. That is because we are rapidly approaching a tipping point where any solution may be too little too late.

I appreciate every one's patience in taking the time to read these three rather lengthy posts. Knowledge is power and the more people who understand the real possibilities the sooner political pressure becomes enough to begin the real change we need to make in every aspect of the energy infrastructure.

This design has many applications in efficient energy conversion and storage, but that topic would make this thread become a fairly large novel.

Thanks especially to the forum operators for allowing me to take advantage of your forum. I intend to make a financial contribution to cover your costs, regardless of whether the pop ups stay or go .

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

regards
Mech
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