Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic
James, I don't want to take this thread in the wrong direction. I was reading a consumers report last week and they tested a Leaf. Lost 15% of the energy charging the battery.
We should not fall into the trap of making comparisons of systems driven by hypermilers, the real world includes a lot of wasted braking energy and making a vehicle that recovers that energy at a rate of over 80% wheel to wheel will never be accomplished by any combination of batteries and capacitors that NASA could build today with unlimited funds.
On the other hand a hydraulic accumulator has a life expectancy measured in decades. Rebuilding it is a matter of replacing the rubber bladder. The cheapest capacitive storage you can buy today. Not something that may be available in a decade, not even considering the cost.
regards
Mech
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This is the way that I believe is the future, the only problem is cost. To keep it low you would have to go with a 3,000 psi accumulator- 5k max but even that is expensive (since you then need a less common 5k pump to fill it). Point in case, you can't jam THAT much into a 3k accumulator, although it is still much more efficient than any capacitor or battery being filled at a fast rate.
BTW I wound be providing or seeking investors, I realized this as soon as they walked into my office lol. However, I still think the concept of a stirling (more like a quasiturbine stirling) is pretty good due to the low (non existent) compression needed to light the fuel = less toxic gasses.