Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
(the S-Max probably weighs less than 4,000 pounds) -- and they ALL beat the Volt for efficiency, and even the S-Max (seating SEVEN people!)
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A bog standard S-max with a gas engine and manual transmission weighs 3538lb. That goes up to 3900 lb for a automatic diesel. You can bet the series hybrid weighs well over 2 tons.
2009 Ford S-MAX - Exterior - MSN Cars
A C30 (30kw) Capstone turbine on its own costs
$30,000. Capstone has built thousands of these over the last few years. Even at that price it has never turned a profit on any of them. The metallurgy is simply too expensive. I've been following the company for years through my work. Its turbines are inherently less efficient than the diesel generators they are trying to replace. Their 1 big advantage is the air bearing and single moving part which means the Capstone generator needs fewer man hours of maintainance than internal combustion generators. They are mostly used in cost is no object applications like far flug oil rigs where fuel is cheap and plentiful but man hours are expensive. CPST is a fun speculative stock with some interesting technology but in 8 years of production they've never been able to break into the main stream.
The 80MPG claim for the Capstone powered S-max included 40 miles on plug in electric power so the car really only traveled 40 miles on turbine power. Oh and thats UK MPG so more like
33mpg US. The standard diesel Smax can beat that by a wide margin.
http://www.capstoneturbine.com/news/...alkDL.asp?id=2
I tried to find the curb weight of the PML Mini 640HP but they conveniently left that out of every news release. But sure enough they touted the 15kg ICE everywhere you looked. I'm willing to bet its also substantially heavier than the regular gasoline mini. 80mpg UK claim is equivalent to
66mpg US
By the way, a standard Mini D sold in europe today gets the exact same 80mpg (66mpg US). On the same test cycle the Prius is rated at 72mpg UK (60mpg US) This is pointless.
Toyota
MINI - MINI Cooper D - Facts & Figures
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
Serial hybrid (when correctly done!) beats a parallel hybrid every time.
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Ehh, no. So far we have established that a series hybrid is much more expensive, much heavier with essentially the same or sometimes worse fuel economy than existing diesels and parallel hybrids. The only thing we've established so far is that every serious attempt at a series hybrid has been an abysmal failure. The only advantage a series hybrid has is that it can in fact be driven on plug in electric power alone which begs the question, why transport around an ICE and generator when you don't need it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
A Prius has a 1.8L ICE, a generator, an electric motor, a transmission, and a battery.
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No. The prius doesn't have a dedicated generator. It has 2 small electric motors connected to the wheels through a power split device that can also function as a generator. These are dual use components that can switch either power the wheels or generate electricity as the computer sees fit. Its a very compact and efficient use of space and weight that a series hybrid simply can't replicated. The generator in a series hybrid is large, heavy and only use part of the time. The Prius power split device also functions like a continuously variable transmission so the atkinson cycle ICE is always running at its most efficient point.
http://www.myprius.co.za/technical.htm
The series hybrid car is fundamentally flawed.